The University and Care New England, a Rhode Island health care provider, signed an agreement to bring together the two institutions’ biomedical health services research, according to a March 14 press release.
Through the agreement, the University’s Office of BioMed Research Administration will work to “administer and support” CNE’s research efforts by expanding their efficiency and capabilities, according to the press release.
“Together, we can expand best practices, eliminate duplication of efforts, improve investigator support and eliminate administrative burden” at the two institutions, said Mukesh Jain, senior vice president for health affairs and dean of medicine and biological sciences, in the press release.
“We're excited … at Care New England,” said Mary Marran, president and COO of Butler Hospital, which is owned by CNE. “Like every administrative core, (we) are struggling with resources, so we don't want to invest in technology on this side if we're heading to an integrated program with Brown and Lifespan.”
Jain added that the agreement will also make the institutional board process more efficient for human subjects researchers by making it so they “only have to go through one (Institutional Review Board) versus one at the hospital and one at Brown.”
“At Care New England, we have a lot of dedicated investigators and we want to make their lives easier,” Marran added.
In November, the University signed an aligned research collaboration agreement with CNE and Lifespan, which aims to help the three institutions “compete for larger funding opportunities by combining strengths in state-of-the-art research infrastructure, core facilities and specialized equipment,” Kathleen Hart, director of public relations at Lifespan, wrote in an email to The Herald.
But given the “size and complexity” of the November agreement, Jain anticipates that the three-way integration involving Lifespan may take up to 12 months before being operational.
The interim period during the three-party agreement’s ongoing integration — which involves a “series of working retreats and meetings,” according to the press release — motivated the second agreement between the University and CNE.
Jain wrote that he hopes this agreement will remove barriers, “help researchers become more productive” and “foster collaborations between hospital- and campus-based researchers.”
Ryan Doherty is a Section Editor covering faculty, higher education and science & research. He is a sophomore concentrating in chemistry and economics who likes to partially complete crosswords in his free time.
