Rockefeller University Hospital shares $2.8 million contract to study preventing drug-resistant infections in the community

A collaborative research team at The Rockefeller University Center for Clinical and Translational Science and Clinical Directors Network has received a $2.8 million contract award from a nonprofit organization to study a home-based intervention to prevent recurrence of a community-acquired drug-resistant staph infection known as MRSA. The study is among 46 projects funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), established under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to fund research on clinical effectiveness.

The Community Acquired MRSA Project will enroll patients with skin infections, provide English- and Spanish-language health education materials about community-acquired drug-resistant staph infections, and incorporate a home visit program by community health workers to evaluate the effectiveness of household decontamination in preventing reinfection and transmission.

MRSA up close. An electron micrograph shows clumps of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria, the pathogen responsible for a serious community-acquired infection. (Image by Janice Carr, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.)

The project, known as CAMP2, will be led by Jonathan N. Tobin, president and CEO of Clinical Directors Network (CDN) and co-director of community-engaged research and an adjunct faculty member at Rockefeller, Alexander Tomasz, Dr. Plutarch Papamarkou Professor and head of the Laboratory of Microbiology and Infectious Disease, and Rhonda G. Kost, co-director of community-engaged research and clinical research officer of The Rockefeller University Hospital.

“This is an innovative, patient-centered project to determine the best method to prevent recurrence of community-acquired MRSA,” says Barry Coller, director of the Center for Clinical and Translational Science and physician-in-chief of The Rockefeller University Hospital. “By focusing on what patients and clinicians identified as their highest priority in combating this disease, we are confident that we are devoting our scientific expertise to the community’s major concern.”

The PCORI award is among $102 million committed this fall to projects selected from among 409 proposals. Awards were made through a competitive review process by a committee composed of clinical scientists, patients, clinicians and other stakeholders. It has been approved pending completion of a business and programmatic review by PCORI staff and issuance of a formal award contract to The Rockefeller University Hospital.

“This project was selected for PCORI funding not only for its scientific merit and commitment to engaging patients and other stakeholders, but also for its potential to fill an important gap in our health knowledge and to give people information to help them weigh the effectiveness of their care options,” said PCORI Executive Director Joe Selby. “We look forward to following the study’s progress and working with Clinical Directors Network and The Rockefeller University to share the results.”

PCORI is an independent, nonprofit organization authorized by Congress in 2010 to fund patient-centered clinical comparative effectiveness research that will provide patients, their caregivers and clinicians with evidence-based information needed to make better-informed healthcare decisions. PCORI has approved $671 million to support 360 research studies and initiatives since it began funding research in 2012.