The University of Virginia has announced a surprising new partnership. Charlottesville’s largest medical center is teaming up with one of Northern Virginia’s power players in what experts say could be a win/win for UVA, Inova and their patients.
Sandy Hausman has details.
The University of Virginia does a lot of medical research, but it’s short on two things – laboratory space and patients to take part in clinical trials. Enter Inova, a Fairfax-based health system serving more than 2 million people. It owns five hospitals and a newly acquired space for labs.
“ Inova bought the old Exon-Mobil plant, which is about 117 acres of land right adjacent to the Inova Fairfax Hospital,” said Dr. Rick Shannon, executive vice president for health affairs at UVA. He says Inova was interested in doing more research, so the university seemed a logical partner.
“The principle focus at the start will be cancer genomics – the idea that signals in tumor cells can help us target specific therapies. UVA has been part of a national cooperative where we bank our tumors, so that now we have access to 2,500 different tumors, and Inova will become part of that.”
And the state of Virginia liked the idea of training and keeping more doctors in the Commonwealth. Shannon thinks that will happen if more of UVA’s med students work in the D.C. Metro Area.
“About 25% of our class comes from Northern Virginia, so it will be an opportunity for them to do their clinical training close to where they grew up, and we think will create more of a bond between them and the likelihood that they’ll stay in Virginia to practice medicine in the future.”
The collaboration also puts UVA closer to a beehive of scientific activity – the National Institutes of Health. To make this marriage happen, Inova put up $56 million, UVA offered 28 million and the state of Virginia added another 28 million dollars. They hope other institutions in the state will join their alliance to create a powerhouse of medical research, education and care for patients. In Charlottesville, I’m Sandy Hausman.