10/27/2011
New Bloomfield Research Facility Will Focus on Personalized Medicine that Improves Patient Outcomes and Reduces Unnecessary Treatment
PITTSBURGH, Oct. 27, 2011 – UPMC announced today that it will invest nearly $300 million to create the Center for Innovative Science, a research facility that aims to revolutionize the way treatments are designed for individual patients.
Funded by UPMC and scheduled to be completed in 2014, the center will focus on personalized medicine and the biology of cancer and aging, with the goal of developing new understandings of disease to improve patient outcomes while reducing over-diagnosis and unnecessary treatments.
“Through the UPMC Center for Innovative Science, we will bring together leading scientists willing to develop bold, new approaches to understanding complex diseases, such as cancer,” said Jeffrey A. Romoff, president and chief executive officer of UPMC. “With our investments in good science and smart technology, UPMC is developing new models of patient-focused, accountable care that will transform delivery of health care in Pittsburgh and throughout the world.”
Added Steven D. Shapiro, M.D., UPMC chief medical and scientific officer, “This major investment in good science will help us to develop the personalized treatments necessary to improve the effectiveness of health care. For diseases like cancer, we will identify the genetic and environmental factors that determine the susceptibility of each individual and the best course and type of treatment.”
The 350,000-square-foot center, to be located on the site of the former Ford Motor Co. Building on Centre Avenue, will support 375 new scientific and administrative jobs. UPMC purchased the building in 2007 and previously had announced plans to add research space there. Construction of the Center for Innovative Science is expected to cost $294 million, with UPMC also contributing to annual operating expenses.
“With recent advances that have been made in such fields as genetics, genomics and computational biology, the time is right to challenge the conventional paradigms that have guided most medical research to this point,” said Dr. Shapiro. “UPMC is uniquely positioned to become a national model for research innovation, thanks to our large population of patients and the significant investments we have already made in gathering and analyzing huge volumes of complex data.”
UPMC and its academic partner, the University of Pittsburgh, are recruiting nationally for a scientific leader in genetics and genomics to focus on such areas as the genetic and environmental underpinnings of cancer, the role of viruses, and the normal and abnormal cell changes that occur with aging.
Follow this hyperlink for a downloadable artist’s rendering of the proposed UPMC Center for Innovative Science.
About UPMC
UPMC is a $9 billion global health enterprise with more than 54,000 employees headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pa., and is transforming health care by integrating more than 20 hospitals, 400 doctors’ offices and outpatient sites, a health insurance services division, and international and commercial services. Affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences, UPMC is redefining health care by using innovative science, technology, and medicine to invent new models of accountable, cost-efficient, and patient-centered care. For more information on how UPMC is taking medicine from where it is to where it needs to be, go to www.UPMC.com.