Montefiore News Releases

New Office will Coordinate and Manage Clinical Trials; Designed to Improve Therapies, Technologies and Overall Patient Outcomes

Bronx, NY (December 5, 2011) - Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have established an Office of Clinical Trials (OCT) to bring new therapies more rapidly to patients through the facilitation of efficient, compliant and timely conduct and management of clinical studies.

"The ultimate goal of the OCT is to improve the infrastructure investigators need to help navigate the conduct of a clinical trial," said Barrett Katz, MD, MBA, Executive Director of the OCT, Frances DeJur Chair in Ophthalmology, and Professor of Ophthalmology, Neurology and Neurosurgery at Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine. "We are striving to provide exceptional support to our physicians, which will foster better health outcomes for our patients and afford them access to state-of-the-art therapies and pharmaceuticals."

Through the OCT, investigators will be provided with resources and advice on best practices for finding, activating and conducting trials. They will receive assistance with subject enrollment and retention, financial counsel on how to secure funding and negotiate budgets and advice on contracting issues and business development. The OCT will help administer Montefiore's research billing compliance program.

"Montefiore is committed to ensuring that our patients have access to the best and most ground-breaking treatments," said Steven M. Safyer MD, President and CEO of Montefiore Medical Center."With our partner, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, we have established the Office of Clinical trials (OCT), to support promising investigators and researchers in their pursuit of new knowledge to improve the health and well-being of our patients."

"The OCT will not only increase the scope and volume of clinical trial activity at Einstein and Montefiore, but also encourage young faculty to participate in clinical and translational research," said Allen M. Spiegel, MD, the Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz Dean of Einstein. "This collaboration is paramount in our efforts to improve health outcomes."

The Office of Clinical Trials is located on the eighth floor of the Moses Research Tower on the Moses Campus, and on the fifth floor of the Mazer building on the Einstein Campus. For more information, visit the website.