PHILADELPHIA – Life-threatening injuries – like those sustained in car crashes, falls, shootings – happen in a flash, and illnesses like cardiac arrests and strokes can strike without warning. These patients are often brought to a hospital outside of standard daytime hours of operation, or in conditions that prevent them and their families from being approached about participating in research exploring new treatments for these critical conditions. To address these gaps in research, on Thursday, Penn Medicine formally launched the Penn Acute Research Collaboration (PARC), a first-of-its-kind initiative to give a much needed shot of support to research projects in emergency departments, trauma bays, operating rooms, and intensive care units.
“Research studies require time-intensive screening and processes to receive patients’ consent that often make it difficult or impossible to examine new treatments or procedures for sudden and potentially life threatening illnesses and injuries, where time may be of the essence,” said Benjamin Abella, MD MPhil, an associate professor of Emergency Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, PARC Medical Director, and director of the Penn Center for Resuscitation Science. “PARC streamlines these efforts and eliminates processes that so often end up wasting time, resources, and precious research funding. This is a model that we believe will both save lives in real time and map the future of care for these deadly conditions.”
Led by a multidisciplinary team – including faculty from Emergency Medicine, Traumatology, Orthopedic Surgery, Neurology, and Neurosurgery, PARC will make it possible for teams to conduct acute clinical research on injuries and illnesses involving patients who are incapacitated, require specialized emergency or intensive care, or have a narrow window for receiving new or experimental treatments.
Studies could include patients with sudden cardiac arrest, hemorrhagic shock, pelvic fracture, acute coronary syndrome, or traumatic brain injuries. PARC will include a trained, dedicated workforce of research staff who will screen and enroll eligible subjects 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
As part of the PARC initiative, opening at the same time is the 770 square feet collaborative translational laboratory spaces at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. The new state-of-the-art space will house laboratory equipment that will be shared among the multidisciplinary team, creating an innovative blend of laboratory and clinical support.
“Questions around ethical and legal requirements have hindered research on new ways to prevent and treat life-threatening conditions. But, recent research has shown that there is a desperate need for improved patient care in these areas, and we have a moral and ethical obligation to meet that need,” said Carrie Sims, MD, MS, an associate professor of Surgery Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and PARC Translational Laboratory Director. “By combining experience and training, and sharing resources and technology, the PARC model fosters creativity and collaboration, allowing our teams to apply for and secure a wider breadth of research funding, and carry out life-saving research in an expedited and efficient way.”
Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, excellence in patient care, and community service. The organization consists of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Penn’s Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine, founded in 1765 as the nation’s first medical school.
The Perelman School of Medicine is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $550 million awarded in the 2022 fiscal year. Home to a proud history of “firsts” in medicine, Penn Medicine teams have pioneered discoveries and innovations that have shaped modern medicine, including recent breakthroughs such as CAR T cell therapy for cancer and the mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System’s patient care facilities stretch from the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania to the New Jersey shore. These include the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Chester County Hospital, Lancaster General Health, Penn Medicine Princeton Health, and Pennsylvania Hospital—the nation’s first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional facilities and enterprises include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, Penn Medicine at Home, Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, among others.
Penn Medicine is an $11.1 billion enterprise powered by more than 49,000 talented faculty and staff.