Doctors have long been able to evaluate neurological disorders like Parkinson's and ALS. What they haven't been able to pinpoint are many of the specific nerve-connection changes that lead to those problems.
The Wright State University and Premier Health Partners Neuroscience Institute is poised to change all that. Late last month, Wright State and Premier Health announced a partnership that will create the $22-million state-of-the-art institute and a new department of neurology within Wright State's Boonshoft School of Medicine.
Molly Hall, chief academic officer and vice president of academic affairs for Premier Health, says the institute will provide both a residency training program in neurology within Premier Health's hospital system and a mechanism for moving Wright State research into clinical trials. Such a program will help keep medical graduates in the region, attract new talent, and move the region toward national leadership in the neurosciences, she says.
The institute will focus on neurological problems that lead to movement disorders, says Tim Cope, director of the new institute and professor and chair of department of neuroscience, cell biology and physiology at Wright State.
As many as 95 new jobs will be created initially, but Cope says the ability to marry research with clinical trials will pave the way for federal grants -- and more jobs and funding.
Premier Health will contribute $4.35 million over five years to form the new neurology department at Wright State; a department chair is to be named by the end of the year. The residency program is expected to be in place within four to five years. WSU, meanwhile, is raising $22 million for the 64,000-square-foot laboratory from state, federal and private sources.
Sources: Molly Hall, Premier Health Partners and Tim Cope, Boonshoft School of Medicine
Writer: Gene Monteith