When the General Assembly and governor approved $26.5 million to establish the Virginia Tech Patient Research Center at VTC, located in the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC on the health sciences and innovation campus in Roanoke, they made a strategic investment in the health and economic future of Southwest Virginia. This was part of a larger investment in the biomedical and health sciences by the state that also includes initiatives by our colleagues at the University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University and Old Dominion University through an initiative now known as the Virginia Research Diamond.
That bipartisan decision creates momentum, but momentum must be sustained if we are to achieve our goals.
For many families in our region, including those living in rural areas, participating in advanced clinical research has meant traveling, often outside of Virginia. The new Patient Research Center will help change that.
The center will expand Southwest Virginia’s capacity to conduct investigator-initiated clinical research, adding to the clinical trials programs already in place at Carilion Clinic while incorporating contemporary technological advances in science and medicine from Virginia Tech. It builds on the investments and research success of the last sixteen years that has contributed to transforming the Roanoke campus into one of the most rapidly emerging leading biomedical and health sciences research, education and health care enterprises in the nation, with an annual economic impact recently estimated at over $475 million.
Scientists at FBRI are identifying and translating discoveries in cancer, cardiovascular disease, neuroscience, addiction, and metabolic health. The Patient Research Center will build on that foundation, bringing world-leading physician-scientists and their teams to add the dimension of carefully designed clinical studies, in partnership with Carilion Clinic, evaluating promising new approaches to prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
This is transformative for our region.
Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in Virginia. Cancer affects nearly every family and brain disorders impact one of every five Americans during their lifetime – often leading to a lifetime of disability for the patient with attendant impact on the emotional and economic health of their families. Rarely is a family not impacted by at least one of these diseases. Translating the discoveries made at FBRI into patient based clinical research increases our community’s access to innovation and reduces barriers for patients who cannot easily travel long distances to participate in such research. Too often, these families are excluded from research – resulting in a dual consequence: limited access to leading-edge scientific and medical advances, and study outcomes that disproportionately reflect urban and suburban populations.
The Patient Research Center will use innovative technology including remote sensing, artificial intelligence, and advanced data analytics to engage a broader range of patients in research. Beyond health, the center will strengthen our economy. Biomedical research is a high-skill, high-wage sector. FBRI already has seven centers that together have contributed over $1.7 billion cumulatively to the economy since its founding in 2010. This newest FBRI enterprise – the Patient Research Center will recruit physician-scientists and clinical research support professionals, reinforcing Roanoke as a growing hub of health science innovation. FBRI is already an engine for generating intellectual property and startup companies based on its researchers’ early-stage translational research. The Patient Research Center will also add to that success through increased opportunities for commercialization of lab bench discoveries and clinical innovations. One exciting example is the Tiny Cargo Company, a spinoff that developed from the laboratory of FBRI investigator Rob Gourdie, that will be producing a next generation therapy delivery system for patients right here in Roanoke.
In addition to the research breakthroughs and their translation to clinical trials, there is a major component of workforce training on Roanoke’s Health Sciences and Technology campus that includes opportunities for learners at all levels (undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, medical students) for experiential learning that will provide them with skills in high demand for employers in the biotechnology and life science sector in the Commonwealth. One important example is the Virginia Tech Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory at FBRI led, by Carla Finkielstein and her expert team, that provided SW Virginia with rapid accurate Covid-19 testing during the pandemic and has recently expanded to carrying out nationally accredited next generation cancer diagnostics.
The Commonwealth’s initial investment, coordinated through the Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority (VIPA), reflects a disciplined strategy to strengthen Virginia’s life sciences ecosystem from discovery to clinical trials and commercialization. If Virginia is to compete nationally, Southwest Virginia must be part of that strategy. A key advantage of the Virginia Research Diamond is that it will accelerate individual institution priorities, including our Patient Research Center but also foster a strong unparalleled level of cross-institutional collaboration, creating statewide synergies that will advance biomedical and health science innovation across the Commonwealth.
But one time state funding alone is not enough to sustain this effort. Leaders from the Governor to the General Assembly as well as leadership of the state’s academic research institutions, industry, philanthropy, and local communities share a collective responsibility and opportunity to continue investing in Virginia’s future. The health and wellness of our families, friends, and neighbors as well as our economic vitality depend on it.
Southwest Virginia is ready. Now we must build — together.
Michael J. Friedlander is:
Vice President for Health Sciences and Technology, Virginia Tech
Executive Director, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC
Senior Dean for Research, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
Professor, Biological Sciences, Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine
Affiliated Faculty, Biomedical Engineering and Science
Virginia Tech Faculty of Health Sciences