The Institute for Clinical Research (ICR) has been created to assist in the coordination of post-award clinical-trial management. The new administrative unit will help with responsibilities that previously fell to investigators and their departments, and encompasses a newly created Office of Clinical Research (OCR), the General Clinical Research Center, a bioethics component, and selected Core facilities, such as the Clinical Research Methodology Core and the Citicorp Biomedical Imaging Center.
Dr. Rache Simmons
Many of the Institute's responsibilities, formerly undertaken by the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, include implementing a new policy of streamlining check flow and account setup, invoicing for the Institutional Review Board, monitoring of budgets, and developing a centralized database of research costs.
An associate dean for clinical research will be appointed to head the ICR. Dr. Rache Simmons, the Anne K. and Edwin C. Weiskopf Associate Professor of Surgical Oncology and associate professor of surgery, has been appointed medical director and Kaarel Laev, M.B.A., M.P.H., has been named the administrative director of the new Institute. Mr. Laev previously served as administrator for sponsored research and clinical trials for the department of medicine at Weill Cornell.
One of Mr. Laev's key responsibilities will be administrative operation of the OCR, providing support for clinical trials with: grants and contracts reviews; legal review; information systems support for investigators; finance; training for principal investigators and study coordinators; and liaison with regulatory units as appropriate.
"We believe the Institute for Clinical Research will greatly enhance and facilitate the conduct of clinical research at Weill Cornell Medical College," said Dr. David Hajjar, dean of the Graduate School.
"We are eager to embark on this new chapter in the history of clinical research at Weill Cornell Medical College," added Mr. Laev.