The MLSC awarded Baystate Medical Center $3.9M in capital grant funding to expand Baystate’s capacity to perform clinical trials in Western Massachusetts by building a clinical trials unit at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield and a satellite unit at Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield, and enhancing training in clinical research in collaboration with local community colleges.
This support will expand our capacity to perform efficient and compliant clinical trials by building a Clinical Trials Unit at Baystate Medical Center, speed medical advances, and make novel treatments available to our diverse patient population. We are grateful to MLSC, our legislators, the Governor and the citizens of the Commonwealth for this investment in the future of biomedical research in Western Massachusetts
Dr. Peter Friedmann, Chief Research Officer for Baystate Health and Associate Dean for Research, University of Massachusetts Medical School-Baystate.
For Baystate and its partners in Western Massachusetts, the project will increase access to innovative treatments for the patients and communities within the region, expand collaborations with academic and industry partners, and develop a workforce skilled in clinical research. The grant will expand local capacity to perform clinical trials in digital health and medical device innovations and as a result, patients in Western Massachusetts, will now have access to clinical trials infrastructure.
Baystate has long partnered with UMass Medical School, the Pioneer Valley Life Sciences Institute, and the Institute for Applied Life Sciences at UMass Amherst, and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute at Tufts University to promote translational research in the western part of the state. Baystate’s Clinical Trials Office, launched in 2018, builds upon these research partnerships, as well as relations with industry sponsors to conduct innovative translational research and high-impact clinical trials.
Since inception, the MLSC capital program has contributed to the creation of more than 1.9 million square feet of new life sciences research and manufacturing space across the Commonwealth, while creating more than 6,000 jobs in the building trades and life sciences sector. During this past year, nine funded capital projects were completed, bringing the total completed projects to 72 representing over $396 million in MLSC investments.
