Contact: Will Sansom, office: (210) 567-2579, or cell: (210) 275-2160

HARLINGEN (Nov. 29, 2007) – Diabetes and children’s health research will be the initial areas of focus in the Academic and Clinical Research Building, a state-of-the-art, $25.5 million clinical research facility dedicated today by The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio at its Regional Academic Health Center (RAHC) Harlingen Campus.

Related links: RAHC fifth anniversary dinner Statistics about the RAHC Academic and Clinical Research Building facts

The UT Health Science Center also celebrated the fifth anniversary of the RAHC Nov. 28.

Research will focus on chronic health concerns
“This new clinical research building will be an important venue for collecting and analyzing data on the Rio Grande Valley’s most pressing health problem, type 2 diabetes,” said Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D., president of the UT Health Science Center. “Our School of Medicine will launch a diabetes research program at the RAHC that makes full use of our internationally renowned diabetes research faculty at the Health Science Center.”

(Left to right) Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr.; James Eastham, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Valley Baptist Health System; Robert Estrada, a member of The University of Texas System Board of Regents; and James Springfield, president and CEO, Valley Baptist Health System; visit at the Academic and Clinical Research Building dedication.
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Diabetes-related mortality in the Rio Grande Valley is roughly 1½ times the state average. Prevalence of diagnosed diabetes in Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr and Willacy counties is about 8 percent, compared to 6 percent statewide. However, actual prevalence is believed to be much greater because so many cases of diabetes go undiagnosed and unreported.

RAHC to be part of landmark National Children’s Study
The children’s health research focus at the RAHC will be part of the landmark National Children’s Study (NCS). The Health Science Center recently was awarded a $33.8 million contract to be a study center, and a portion of that effort will focus on genetic, environmental factors and social factors affecting childhood in Hidalgo County.

South Texas Veterans Health Care System to lease 34,000 square feet of space
The 80,000-square-foot Academic and Clinical Research Building also includes 34,000 square feet of space leased to the South Texas Veterans Health Care System for the Harlingen Veterans Health Center, which opened its doors to patients in November. The building will be the site of a 3-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system housed in a specially shielded containment suite. The South Texas Veterans Health Care System has generously agreed to purchase the MRI system at an estimated cost of $2 million for placement in the RAHC building.

“We are proud to continue our more than 30 years of partnership with the South Texas Veterans Health Care System by offering a wonderful venue for the new Harlingen Veterans Healthcare Center,” President Cigarroa said. “As I have said in the past, it is truly a privilege and honor for our Health Science Center residents, students and faculty members to serve the men and women who so courageously defended our country.”

3-Tesla MRI system to be used for clinical research and diagnostics
Services offered at the VA’s Harlingen center are planned to include primary care, radiology, dentistry, pharmacy, clinical laboratory, audiology, physical therapy, mental health and social work. The MRI system will be of great benefit to both the VA clinical and Health Science Center research operations in the building.

“A 3-Tesla MRI system is considered to be high-field strength for clinical research and the diagnostic imaging needed to care for the veteran population of the Valley,” said William L. Henrich, M.D., M.AC.P., dean of the School of Medicine and vice president for medical affairs at the Health Science Center.

Dr. Henrich also noted that having the VA patient population in a RAHC building will provide medical students and residents great opportunities to learn about caring for veterans.

UT System Regent Robert Estrada formally accepted the building
Community and business leaders, elected officials, health care providers, VA representatives and a UT System Board of Regents member joined Dr. Cigarroa, Dr. Henrich and Leonel Vela, M.D., M.P.H., regional dean of the RAHC, at the dedication ceremony. The regent, Robert Estrada, formally accepted the building on behalf of the board of regents.

Research opportunities will enhance medical students’ clinical rotations in the Valley
The addition of clinical research to the RAHC will enhance the education of Health Science Center medical students who complete their third and fourth years at the RAHC Medical Education Division, all the while doing rotations in internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, surgery and other areas of medicine at Valley Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen, Su Clinica Familiar and with RAHC clinical faculty throughout the Valley. “This offers our students the opportunity to be involved in clinical research, which more and more is becoming a requirement for students as we move forward,” Dr. Vela said.

MRI will join VA patient space and university’s clinical research area
In addition to the VA patient care center, the Academic and Clinical Research Building features 8,400 square feet of examination rooms, a laboratory to process samples, and offices for a nurse manager and a clinical research statistician. The MRI space will be situated between the VA patient space and the UT Health Science Center clinical research area.

“We will have support personnel to collect and process samples such as blood draws,” said Robin Brey, M.D., associate dean for research in the School of Medicine. “A research nurse will record vital signs and perform other study-related procedures, freeing investigators from having to hire others to do that work. This will be of great benefit to RAHC faculty members conducting clinical research projects.”

Kleberg Medical Scholars will benefit from enhanced research opportunity
The core facility also will benefit the Kleberg Medical Scholars, a select group of RAHC internal medicine residents whose research projects are supported by stipends from the Robert J. Kleberg Jr. and Helen C. Kleberg Foundation. “It will be very helpful to the scholars to have statistical help for their pilot studies, for example,” Dr. Vela said.

A bridge for the academic and research divisions
The clinical research facility will be a bridge to the RAHC Medical Research Division in Edinburg, which is a basic science facility. Discoveries generated at the Edinburg campus will be tested in clinical research in Harlingen and ultimately may be utilized with patients at the bedside. “These two facilities are going to function together, and what will tie them are the translational applications of research, from the bench to the bedside,” Dr. Vela said.

In July 2006, President Cigarroa discussed the second Harlingen RAHC building with Valley leaders at a luncheon. He said the building represented “a firm and enduring commitment by the Health Science Center to the people of the Lower Rio Grande Valley, chief among them our veterans.” At today’s ceremony, the president reiterated that commitment. “The Academic and Clinical Research Building will be a major clinical research and patient care center, and all 80,000 square feet of it is dedicated to the people of South Texas,” he said.

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The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is the leading research institution in South Texas and one of the major health sciences universities in the world. With an operating budget of $576 million, the Health Science Center is the chief catalyst for the $15.3 billion biosciences and health care sector in San Antonio’s economy. The Health Science Center has had an estimated $35 billion impact on the region since inception and has expanded to six campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. More than 22,000 graduates (physicians, dentists, nurses, scientists and allied health professionals) serve in their fields, including many in Texas. Health Science Center faculty are international leaders in cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, aging, stroke prevention, kidney disease, orthopaedics, research imaging, transplant surgery, psychiatry and clinical neurosciences, pain management, genetics, nursing, allied health, dentistry and many other fields.