CIMIT Announces $3 Million in Medical Research Grants

Awards will support projects targeting brain injuries, pain management, and innovations in healthcare delivery systems.

A wide variety of early-stage, healthcare technology innovation projects in NeuroHealth, Traumatic Stress Disorders, and integrated clinical environments were among those chosen to receive more than $3 million in CIMIT seed grants for FY11.

From seeking novel approaches in the Interoperability of portable X-Ray machines with ventilators in monitored settings to a pilot telehospice project that connects patients at end of life to providers in an effort to reduce rehospitalization, these innovative approaches seek to improve patient care and control healthcare costs. 

Also selected for award are projects to benefit America’s wounded warriors through a novel application of intranasal Huperzine A in treatment of traumatic brain injury and a low-cost, low maintenance mechanical ventilator for use on the battlefield, in the developing world or in the event of mass casualty.

And among the seven projects selected to launch the CIMIT consortium-wide strategic initiative on Integrated Clinical Environments is an inter-institutional collaboration focused on using network analysis to improve the qualities of neonatal intensive care teams and their work flow functions.

Each of the thirty, $100,000 grants will support a multidisciplinary research team that is developing an innovative medical device or clinical system. A key goal of the CIMIT grant program is to bring together entrepreneurial scientists, often from different institutions, to accelerate medical innovation so that better care can be delivered to patients more quickly.

Through the award of seed grants and facilitation, CIMIT helps to launch new or translational research projects that will then produce enough results to be able to secure outside funding for further development.

CIMIT CEO John A. Parrish, MD remarked, “We are determined to help improve healthcare.”  He went on to explain, “By supporting promising innovation, we are enabling clinicians and engineers to work together and ultimately to discover novel methods that provide better treatment more quickly.”

The thirty successful proposals were selected from 195 applications submitted by inter-institutional research teams from across the CIMIT consortium of twelve institutions.  Of the 30 projects selected for support:

• over one-third of these awards are in the CIMIT NeuroHealth initiative — projects in the areas of neurotechnologies, traumatic brain injury (TBI), neurotrauma, traumatic stress disorders (PTSD), and pain management; 
• seven projects will help advance the Integrated Clinical Environments initiative — a consortium-wide effort to help transform healthcare delivery systems and advance the integration of clinical care within all care environments; and
• nearly two-thirds of these projects have direct relevance to improving care for wounded warriors. These novel innovations will improve care of the injured soldier on the battlefield, during evacuation and in other trauma care settings. Other projects are focused on the needs of veterans during rehabilitation and in managing chronic conditions.

“We were very impressed by the quality of proposals and the new opportunities to truly impact how care is delivered,” said Steven Schachter, MD, Chief Academic Officer. “Teams brought together by these grants have the chance to make a major difference in innovative medicine.”

Recipients of FY11 CIMIT Innovation Grants are:

CIMIT
A clinically-based consortium of Boston-area hospitals and engineering schools, CIMIT supports translational research by multidisciplinary teams for medical device and clinical technology system applications.  CIMIT attracts world-class clinicians, scientists and engineers working together with industry and government to accelerate the clinical impact of innovative technologies.