# Clinical Research Resources and Facilities

> **NIH NIH U54** · WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $622,019

## Abstract

Mortality in Appalachia has consistently risen over the past fifteen years, in contrast to decreasing mortality rates
observed for the remainder of the U.S. Rural populations are consistently underrepresented in clinical trials, and
few comprehensive data resources exist to support studies of health and correlates of adverse health outcomes.
Clinical and Translation (C/T) research focused on the health issues confronting poor rural populations is critical
to addressing and remediating WV's significant health disparities. While building on the considerable
achievements in Years 1-5 of three distinct cores (i.e. Ethics & Regulatory Knowledge, Biomedical Informatics
Resources, and Clinical Trials Research Unit), the proposed new core, Clinical Research Resources and
Facilities (CRRF), has been specifically designed to address the limitations of recruiting rural participants into
clinical trials and to support new analyses of relevant clinical databases. In addition, CRRF addresses the need
for more efficient and timely processes for supporting clinical research. The overall goals of the CRRF core are
to create clinical research infrastructures to translate basic research to clinical practice, assuring West Virginians
access to cutting edge clinical trials and providing answers to research questions relevant to the health of rural
communities. These overall goals will be accomplished by expanding research partnerships to support
continued development and implementation of innovative approaches to understand and improve the health of
WV through realization of the following specific aims: 1) create a Clinical Trials Center of Excellence (CTCOE)
with connection to rural communities and practitioners, thereby providing access to cutting-edge trials addressing
health disparities affecting West Virginians, 2) leverage the Integrated Data Repository (IDR2), containing
clinical data on 2 million persons, and partnership through the Appalachian Research Consortium to facilitate
outcomes research, predictive modeling, and geospatial analysis, and 3) establish the Environmental Exposures
Unit to stimulate environmental health research in collaboration with the National Institute for Occupational Safety
and Health (NIOSH). Achievement of Aim 1 will result in facilities to conduct Phase 1-4 trials while Aim 2 will
provide access to clinical information from not only the 2 million WV patients in IDR2, but to clinical data from
the Universities of Kentucky and Cincinnati. Truly innovative is the availability of an urban comparator,
accomplished by connection to clinical data from Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. Finally, Aim 3
leverages NIOSH expertise to examine the health impact of energy extraction methods. Environmental exposure
studies will be enhanced by the availability of geospatial coding of IDR2 data.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10004068
- **Project number:** 5U54GM104942-05
- **Recipient organization:** WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** JUDITH FEINBERG
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $622,019
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** — → —

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10004068

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10004068, Clinical Research Resources and Facilities (5U54GM104942-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10004068. Licensed CC0.

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