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About the Clinical Center For Researchers and Physicians Participate in Clinical Studies

 
Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center

Aerial View of the New Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center
Aerial view of the new Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center.

Finishing touches are being put on  the Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center. Dedication of the structure was Wednesday, September 22, 2004 with the first patient move-in projected for early December. Each day brings more news and progress updates. The facility will be home to new inpatient units, day hospitals and research labs and will connect to the existing Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center, which opened its doors to patients in 1953. Together, the Magnuson and Hatfield centers form the NIH Clinical Center, the world's largest clinical research complex, serving a dual role: providing humane and healing patient care as well as the environment clinical researchers need to advance clinical science.

Named in honor of Senator Mark O. Hatfield of Oregon, who supported medical research throughout his congressional career, the Clinical Research Center will promote translational research — that is, the transformation of scientific laboratory research into applications that benefit patient health and medical care. The "bench-to-bedside" approach adopted in 1953 and continued in the new facility — with patient care units in close proximity to cutting-edge technologies and laboratories doing related research — facilitates interaction and collaboration among clinicians and researchers. Most important, patients and families in the Clinical Center benefit from the cutting-edge technologies and research and the compassionate care that are the signature of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The 870,000 square foot complex is expected to open with 242 inpatient beds and 90 day-hospital stations. This arrangement can be easily adapted to allow more inpatient beds and fewer day-hospital stations, or vice versa, as the new facility's design is highly flexible.

The Clinical Center complex is part of the NIH’s intramural science research program. NIH is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the medical research agency of the U.S Government.


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