Patricia Emmanuel, MD

– Dr. Patricia Emmanuel to help transform USF Health’s clinical research enterprise –

Tampa, FL (Nov. 1, 2007) – Patricia Emmanuel, MD, professor and chief of infectious diseases in the Department of Pediatrics, has been named the new associate dean for clinical research at the USF College of Medicine. She succeeds Sally Houston, MD, who recently left USF to join affiliate partner Tampa General Hospital as its chief medical officer.

Dr. Emmanuel’s appointment, effective Nov. 1, is another strategic advance in the plan to transform how patient-oriented research is fostered and implemented at USF Health and its affiliates across the Tampa Bay area.

In addition to her role as associate dean, Dr. Emmanuel will direct the new Clinical & Translational Research Institute — a resource for USF physicians, students, residents and fellows conducting investigator-initiated or externally-funded clinical or translational research. The Institute will be a critical in vying for one of 36 remaining Clinical and Translational Science Awards available to eligible academic health centers. The grants are awarded through the National Institute of Health’s National Center for Research Resources.

“We have a broader, integrated and more ambitious initiative for how we’re going to help our faculty conduct clinical research,” said Dr. Emmanuel. “In order to get to the next level in competing for federal research funding, we must enhance and streamline the services we offer to our investigators. We will work to make it simpler for our young physician-scientists to bring promising research ideas from the laboratory to the bedside and then out into the community.”

“Dr. Emmanuel is a NIH-funded investigator with longstanding experience and expertise in conducting successful clinical trials. Her research interests include HIV infections in infants and young adults,” said Abdul Rao, MD, MA, DPhil, senior associate vice president for USF Health. “She has the trust and confidence of peers both within and outside our institution, which will be quintessential in transforming and enhancing the clinical research mission at USF Health.”

Dr. Emmanuel will work closely with affiliate hospital partners, community physicians, research centers/institutes, pharmaceutical companies, device manufacturers, and other organizations engaged in biomedical research to create a network of life sciences clinical and translational research opportunities in the Tampa Bay area.

Dr. Emmanuel is the principal investigator for federal research grants totaling nearly $8 million. She recently received a prestigious NIH Fogarty International Center grant to create an interdisciplinary training program focused on detecting, treating and preventing HIV/AIDS among adolescents in India. She directs USF’s nationally-recognized Tampa Bay Adolescent Medicine Trials Unit, one of 15 NIH-funded clinical sites across the country providing comprehensive services to HIV-infected adolescents.

Her new responsibilities as associate dean will include:

— Directing enhanced training and mentoring to make sure investigators can navigate an increasingly complex and regulated research system.

— Streamlining the research infrastructure such as regulatory processes, contract review and approval, and logistics of project implementation.

— Building upon the success of the Signature Interdisciplinary Research Programs by further assisting interdisciplinary teams that cover the biomedical, behavioral, cultural and ethical aspects of research.

— Developing core support services in the Institute.

“I hope to draw upon what I‘ve learned in performing multi-site clinical research at USF Pediatrics, Tampa General Hospital, All Children’s Hospital and other affiliates to reduce the barriers that face investigators trying to implement projects.” Dr. Emmanuel said.

For instance, Dr. Emmanuel said, plans call for an investigational pharmacy to be housed in the new Morsani Center for Advanced Healthcare, which will include space dedicated to clinical research. An investigational pharmacy is certified to dispense drugs, vaccines or other therapies approved for use in clinical trials, but not for the routine treatment of patients. “This would give us the opportunity us to conduct — on an outpatient basis from the USF Tampa campus — federally-funded Phase I clinical trials,” she said.

“Clinical and translational research is a critical element of our core missions at USF Health,” Dr. Rao said. “It informs and enhances the clinical care of our patients and the efforts of Dr. Emmanuel and her team will facilitate the accomplishment of this objective.”

Dr. Emmanuel graduated from the University of Florida College of Medicine in 1986, and completed her residency in pediatrics and a fellowship in infectious diseases at USF. She joined the faculty of the USF College of Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics in 1989. Her clinical practice has been at the Children’s Medical Services at USF Health. She is also the Medical Director for USF/CMS Pediatric HIV Program for Tampa, St. Petersburg and All Children’s Hospital. She serves on the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Pediatric AIDS, and on the board of the HIV Medical Association.

– USF Health –

USF Health is dedicated to creating a model of health care based on understanding the full spectrum of health. It includes the University of South Florida’s colleges of medicine, nursing, and public health; the schools of biomedical sciences as well as physical therapy & rehabilitation sciences; and the USF Physicians Group. With $308 million in research funding last year, USF is one of the nation’s top 63 public research universities and one of Florida’s top three research universities.