Arizona State University has announced the creation of a new Office of Clinical Partnerships to build and enhance collaborations between the university's researchers and scientists at Arizona's biomedical institutions.

Kathleen Matt, a professor in ASU's Kinesiology Department, has been appointed director of clinical partnerships. She will report to the vice president for research and economic affairs and the president's office.

"Over the past two years, Kathy has established close ties between ASU and the clinical community in metro-Phoenix, which provide a valuable foundation for her expanded duties," said George Poste, director of ASU's Arizona Biodesign Institute. "Her untiring efforts, creativity, and unlimited enthusiasm for seeing discoveries translated to the clinic are the exact credentials needed to fill this important role."

"This is an important role because we don't have a medical school at ASU, but we have some exciting research with huge medical potential," says Matt.

Matt also points out that such ties already exist between individual ASU researchers and certain clinics and hospitals throughout the state. A key focus for the new initiative will be to lend structure to those collaborations and to simplify the process of making new ones.

The office will work to develop collaborations by establishing seed grant funds, joint faculty appointments, graduate student sharing, and shared educational programs with ASU's partners in the biomedical community.

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For more information:

"New office to support clinical partnerships," ASU press release, 05/07/2004