Clinical Research Unit (Core)
Clinical Research Unit
Josephine M. Egan, MD, Senior Investigator, Clinical Director
Chee W. Chia, MD, Associate Research Physician, Deputy Clinical Director
The NIA/IRP Clinical Research Unit (CRU) is a state-of-the-art clinical research center designed to study human aging and age-related diseases. CRU, located at MedStar Harbor Hospital in Baltimore, has a pharmacy equipped for compounding research drugs, an apheresis facility for PBMCs donation, a dedicated glucose clamp facility to study whole-body glucose metabolism, a procedure room, 15 beds for overnight stay, a specialized gait lab, a modern facility for cardiovascular testing, a 3T MRI facility, an in-house core lab facility for real-time sample processing and testing, dedicated nursing and support staff, and a protocol office for administrative support of all clinical protocols.
The NIA clinical studies that are conducted on-site, span a whole spectrum: epidemiology, natural history studies, intervention studies, phase I study of novel compounds, and development of cutting-edge techniques for potential clinical applications. These studies include the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA), one of the longest ongoing longitudinal studies of aging in the world. All clinical studies are in close collaborations with other NIA/IRP investigators in various Laboratories/Branch. The NIA CRU leadership team oversees the running of the clinical protocols from study concept inception, protocol development, scientific review, IRB review and approval, study implementation, and recruitment of participants.
Clinical Core Lab and Biorepository
Portfolio/Research Areas
- Epidemiology
- Observational studies
- Intervention studies