Texas Medical Center Bringing More Researchers to Houston
We all know someone fighting a battle with cancer or another life-threatening illness. So, we understand the importance of research to find a cure for those illnesses. Research can be a long, tedious process riddled with red-tape and administrative obstacles.
But, Houston’s Texas Medical Center (TMC) just initiated a new Institutional Review Board as part of its Clinical Research Institute to simplify the research process.
TMC’s new review board means more research will be done at a faster pace.
This will allow for more clinical trials to take place throughout the complex. Research will be more streamlined and create an opportunity for more researchers to come together to find cures for cancer and other diseases.
The main focal point of the review board is to make sure that clinical research at the center is performed ethically. Before a research project can even begin, it will have to be presented to the Institutional Review Board for approval.
TMC has 29 review boards at this time. Prior to the new endeavor, if a researcher wanted to create a trial at different sites, they had to receive approval from each review board in charge of the relevant sites. It was a process that previously could take two years.
The new board will improve that process. Researchers will now be able to get a single approval from the new committee to move forward.
This will help some clinical trials to see results sooner, which could speed up the discovery and development of new treatments that will save more lives. Patients with rarer diseases will also have an increased chance of having a spotlight on their disease, and perhaps a cure.
The new project will bring more researchers, startups, and major organizations to the campus and to Houston.
In addition to the board’s experts currently working within the vast medical center, outside reviewers from a certified review board, Western IRB, will begin reviewing the clinical trials. Bert Wilkins, TMC’s Institutional Review Board chairman, points out that phase II and III drug trials are the most likely to benefit from the new process, citing that it’ll be more efficient to deal with the review board just once, rather than 29 times.
“The ability to tap into that environment and to make this a seamless process will increase the amount of research here,” Wilkins said.
Grant researchers will also have more access to varying types of patients for greater impact and fewer logistical challenges.
Steven Kornblau, M.D., an Institutional Review Board member who also serves as a professor at MD Anderson Cancer Center, said: “If you’re a pharmaceutical company, supervising one trial is less of a headache than supervising multiple trials in separate institutions.”
The initiative will no doubt attract industry experts from outside of Houston, allowing them to leave a footprint in their respective fields. This means Houston’s population will continue to see new people coming into the city to live and work.
A population influx means more need for short-term housing in Houston.
With new talent coming to Houston to work at Texas Medical Center, there’s an increased need for short-term housing solutions. New residents come to Houston all-year long to work for different industries. Houston sees a constant influx of new residents, which means housing can be challenging for those residents to find.
Thankfully, Luxurway has a steady stream of new short-term luxury corporate housing solutions to meet the ongoing need. It’s also great that many of these luxury homes are located near the hospital campus for an easy commute.
Short-term rentals from Luxurway have everything you need, from furniture to all the amenities you could hope for. Schedule an appointment today to view one of Luxurway’s prime properties.