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This article was written by Petros Okubagzi, MD, Vice President, Clinical and Translational Research.
Translational, decentralized research at MedStar Health Research Institute brings the latest treatments to communities in the MedStar Health network, advancing science and helping ensure tomorrow’s treatments benefit everyone.
Clinical research is a quiet, hardworking engine that allows us to advance medical science. Our work transforms raw discoveries into practical medical breakthroughs that improve care and elevate community health in the long term.
If you look at any prescription bottle or medical device, you’re looking at years of research and hundreds or thousands of people who chose to participate in the studies to test and develop that product. By stepping forward, these volunteers impacted the future.
By working together, trial participants and clinician researchers throughout MedStar Health Research Institute are improving care for generations to come. This focus on delivering groundbreaking research that advances medicine is at the heart of our work.
Why we focus on translational research.
Medicine is a field that’s always changing, so we merge groundbreaking trials with real-world healthcare delivery expertise. In this way, we conduct translational research: designing applied science that moves safely from the laboratory to patient bedsides across MedStar Health’s 300 regional care sites.
When we work to develop a new medical device or drug, we partner with government agencies, private industry, other researchers, and patient participants to ensure it’s safe and effective. This includes precise testing in the lab setting before we ever work with human participants. The stepwise process includes:
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Virtual and lab modeling
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Pre-clinical research to test safety
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Tightly controlled Phase I human trials to study dosage and side effects
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Phase II and III human trials to test effectiveness and confirm results
Phase I trials are restricted to fewer than 30 participants to test safety, and so we can act quickly if side effects appear. This rigorous process helps ensure a new treatment is safe before we compare it to medical standards to improve care.
Related: Read “Publication to Practice: How Research Drives Clinical Action to Improve Patient Care.”
How does joining a study benefit you?
People who participate in clinical trials are making a tangible impact on future generations. Joining research is a gift for the good of all humanity, and it can have real benefits for you today.
For instance, joining a clinical trial places you at the front of the line for powerful, disease-altering therapies before they become widely available to the public. We’ve seen this happen again and again, such as when we helped pioneer minimally invasive heart valve disease treatments or when we developed ways to connect patients with adult muscle degradation to modern gene therapies.
Trial participants also get exceptional medical care. Studies have shown that they achieve better health than patients in traditional care. When you join a study, you build a deep relationship with the team, including research nurses assigned to your care.
Research nurses ensure your safety and the best care through:
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Constant symptom tracking: Actively monitoring your day-to-day physical responses to be sure you’re safe and healthy
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Side effect monitoring: Analyzing real-time data to address any unwanted reactions right away
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Coordinated well-being: Managing your whole health, including scheduling appointments to help manage your chronic conditions, such as diabetes or high blood pressure
Related: Read "Why Black Women Should Enroll in Endometrial Cancer Clinical Trials.”
How we’re bringing research closer to you.
For decades, most medicines and devices approved by the federal government were tested only on white men in large medical centers. This left a large gap in our understanding of who could be best helped and whether these innovations were safe for everyone.
Today, studies are available in communities throughout the MedStar Health network. Neighborhood-based (or decentralized) clinical trials benefit people in many ways:
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Our research involves a wide variety of different people. Industry partners know this improves our research, so they seek us out for partnerships.
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You can enroll in research at more than 40 local sites, bringing research close to home and reducing barriers to access. People who would otherwise have to travel can more easily take part in research opportunities closer to home.
Related: Read “Bringing It All Back Home: Collaborating to Bring Clinical Trials Home for Patients.”
How does research leadership improve care?
There are countless examples of how MHRI-led research has improved care for patients in our communities and beyond. One of the most powerful stories is how we were on the leading edge of studying the first transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR).
Millions of older adults in the U.S. have aortic stenosis, in which calcium buildup narrows the heart valve and restricts blood flow. TAVR is a minimally invasive procedure to replace the faulty valve without open heart surgery by passing a catheter through a small incision in the groin.
Following a chance meeting with device developers, MedStar Health Research Institute leadership including Dr. Augusto Pichard and Dr. Paul Corso prioritized this important work. Bringing together cardiac surgeons and interventional cardiologists, we joined the historic first TAVR trial in 2007. We’ve been involved in every study since.
The Food and Drug Administration approved the procedure for patients at high risk in 2012. We led the studies to expand access to patients at low risk, which was approved in 2019.
Today, we perform about 550 of these minimally invasive procedures each year. We’ve built deep expertise in TAVR, which paved the way for a new standard of care. Through many years of ongoing testing, MedStar Health patients have had access to this life-saving technology first, and they’ve collaborated with researchers every step of the way.
Exploring the next frontiers of medicine.
MedStar Health Research Institute is building the next era of health equity and clinical delivery. By partnering with patients and providers throughout our network and with Georgetown University, we’re moving advanced discoveries out of our labs and into clinics where they can benefit patients.
In the next major leap forward, our researchers are focusing on therapies that change how the body heals itself.
Scientists have been leveraging the human immune system to help fight cancer for many years using chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy. This revolutionary approach involves removing a patient’s own immune cells, reprogramming their internal instructions, and deploying them to fight cancer.
Now, researchers are using this approach to explore treatments—and potential cures—for autoimmune diseases such as lupus or myasthenia gravis. We were selected as one of few clinical trial sites for a landmark study investigating CAR-T cell therapy for multiple sclerosis.
At MedStar Health Research Institute, we bridge academic science with real-world medicine to bring breakthroughs directly to our communities. By leading national and global clinical trials and decentralized studies, we’re working to increase access to care and safe medical innovations for everyone.
