Coordinated Clinical Research

Coordinated Clinical Research is comprised of physicians and coordinators who want to practice medicine and do research.  Being in both worlds offers advantages to everyone concerned.

Physicians who participate in studies are exposed to the latest theories about diseases and their treatments.  They are in a position to offer their patients a chance to participate in the future of medicine. 

Patients who have practicing specialists evaluating them are assured that they have physicians who understand the full scope of their diseases and will be able to address their concerns before and during the time of the research study. 

Sponsors are able to obtain research subjects who come right out of a physician's practice and are more likely to match the inclusion/exclusion criteria of a study.

We have seven community neurologists who work at our center.

When you participate in a scientific study to test out a new medication you become a part of the team that is developing the treatments of the future.  Out of the research efforts of a pharmaceutical or biotech company emerges a potential medication.  The companies then work with physicians to come up with a protocol which is  a plan to test whether the medication is better than placebo in treating the condition.  The protocol specifies what improvement they are going to measure to prove their hypothesis.

Only if this measure proves statistically better than a placebo can the drug be considered successful.  It must not only must it be effective it also must be safe to be approved by the FDA.

The patient volunteer is the most important part of the drug discovery process.  After laboratory studies and animal studies the testing is done in humans.  First the drug is tested in healthy volunteers and then in patients with a particular disease.  Although almost every volunteer hopes that they will obtain the real drug and that the drug will help them, we tell them that they must be satisfied with the idea that they will advance the knowledge of future treatments.  Only a few drugs ultimately are successful but the efforts of the company, physicians and patients are never in vain.

EDUCATION

We have written a brief description of the latest theory describing our most commonly studied conditions.  We have also provided links to outstanding articles or websites. 
We have a close relationship to Center for Neurologic Study, a non profit foundation which provides community support, education and research to help those with chronic neurological diseases.

SIGNING UP FOR A TRIAL

We have set up a simple sign up to match those interested in participating in a study to our current or future trials.  We have deliberately designed the information needed to protect your privacy.  The information is only used by our medical research staff.  It is not given out to any other party without consent.