AUBMC Research Group Awarded NIH Grant

The Division of Hematology-Oncology at the AUB Medical Center was recently awarded a two-year grant of $480,000 by the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a participating research center in a Phase II randomized, double blind placebo-controlled trial, comparing the effect of Deferoxamine with or without oral Deferiprone on cardiac left ventricular function assessed by MRI in adults with transfusion-dependent beta thaleassemia.

The principal investigator in the trial is Dr. Ali Taher, professor of medicine at the Department of Internal Medicine. The study is sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the NIH through the Thalassemia Clinical Trials Network and the New England Research Institutes, which will serve as the Data Coordinating Center.

In announcing the award, Dr. Kamal Badr, chairperson of the Department of Internal Medicine, said, "This is the first major NIH-sponsored clinical trial to be funded at AUBMC, and represents a watershed event for the Department of Internal Medicine and the Faculty of Medicine. As we develop our clinical research efforts further, this award will hopefully inspire efforts by other research groups to obtain additional NIH funding. Congratulations to Dr. Taher and his team on this groundbreaking achievement."