BCM Global Programs to serve as clinical core for NIH Point of Care Technologies Research Network

Baylor College of Medicine Global Programs and the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center will serve as the clinical core for the Center for Innovation and Translation of Point of Care Technologies for Equitable Cancer Care (CITEC), one of the National Institute of Health’s newest Point of Care Technologies Research Network (POCTRN) centers. The network focuses on the development and translation of point-of-care cancer screening and early detection technologies for global health.

“We are thrilled to expand on our longstanding collaboration with Rice University’s bioengineering team to develop more affordable, robust community-based technologies for cancer screening in the U.S. and worldwide,” said Dr. Sharmila Anandasabapathy, vice president of Baylor College of Medicine Global Programs, CITEC co-principal investigator and member of the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center. “Cancer is a leading cause of global mortality, and these efforts are critical to stemming this rising tide.”

As the clinical core, Baylor will partner with Rice on oversight and administration of the CITEC sites, focusing on clinical assessment, validation and dissemination efforts for high-impact and relevant point-of-care technologies for cancer detection. Other Baylor co-investigators for POCTRN include Drs. Susan Hilsenbeck and Daniel Rosen.

Along with a coordinating center, CITEC is one of six research and development centers around the country that will parlay the momentum of the network established in 2007 by the National Institution of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB). CITEC is led by co-principal investigators Drs. Rebecca Richards Kortum, Tomasz Tkaczyk (Rice University) and Sharmila Anandasabapathy (Baylor). Other collaborators include investigators from partner institutions in Houston, the University of Sao Paolo, Barretos in Brazil and the Universidade Eduardo Mondlane in Mozambique.

The POCTRN model builds multidisciplinary partnerships that drive the development and application of technologies needed to deliver healthcare closer to patients with unmet medical needs in the United States and around the world.

CITEC is funded by NIBIB grant #U54EB034652.