60 Erie County Medical CenterResearch Medical Research at ECMC ECMC has long been a pioneer in basic and clinical research. Working in laboratories over the years, busy doctors at the hospital have sought solutions for a variety of health problems. In fact, the hospital’s surgical research laboratory was the first in Buffalo. As one of the first trauma centers in the nation, the medical center has been a leader in trauma research and in the establishment of national trauma care standards, introducing the first trauma intensive care unit in Western New York. ECMC researchers have also collaborated with investigators at the University at Buffalo in clinical pharmacology studies, investigated drug interactions and therapeutic drug monitoring of antiretrovirals in patients with HIV/AIDS, and conducted important studies at ECMCinthefieldof psychiatricresearch. TheDepartment of Nephrology has conducted nationally-recognized clinical research in a number of transplantation-related studies. The following are some examples of medical research conducted at ECMC, often in collaboration with the resources of the University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. After his time as a resident physician at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, Dr. David K. Miller came to Buffalo City Hospital in 1937 as Director of Laboratories, and then Director of Medicine. Throughout the years of his work at Meyer Memorial, Dr. Miller continued his keen interest in medical research. His primary research interests revolved around nutritional deficiencies and anemia—including nutritional studies in TB—and later the treatment of bacterial infections in humans—especially pneumonia and tuberculosis—as well as management of cirrhosis of the liver. In 1972, Dr. Helen Ranney received a Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Medical Achievement Award in recognition for her research in sickle cell anemia. Dr. Ranney, a professor of medicine at UB, worked both in her laboratory and with sickle cell anemia patients at Meyer Memorial Hospital. Through her research, Dr. Ranney hoped to make it possible for patients to more easily manage this disease. In 1973, the Psychiatry Department at Meyer Memorial received a $30,000 grant from McNeil Laboratories Pharmaceutical Co. to study a new type of long-acting antipsychotic drug called Pimozide which promised to help reduce hospitalization of mental patients. Beginning in 1983, Dr. Gene Morse conducted research at ECMC in the area of antimicrobial treatment of infectious diseases. Dr. Morse began his collaborative research in the ECMC Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis (CAPD) unit that opened in 1982. Working with other investigators at ECMC, Dr. Morse studied the pharmacokinetics and clinical efficacy of novel approaches to the treatment of bacterial peritonitis, a common infectious complication during CAPD. A series of clinical pharmacology studies led to new information that guided the development of intraperitoneal antibiotic administration, which in turn led to the implementation of novel treatment protocols that became national models for the treatment of CAPD-related bacterial peritonitis. Dr. Morse also collaborated with the University at Buffalo and ECMC Division of Infectious Diseases when the HIV/AIDS epidemic emerged within the United States. According to Dr. Morse, “What began with a single area of research at ECMC has resulted in other researchers with different pharmacotherapy research interests now working in renal, cardiovascular, critical care, family medicine, and other areas. I’m gratified that my efforts have helped to grow the other programs as part of a larger research center that collaborates at ECMC.” In the late 1980s, research facilities for the Infectious Diseases Division at UB, located at ECMC, developed vaccines to prevent bacterial infections in adults and children. Researchers collaborated with a major pharmaceutical manufacturer to bring this vaccine to fruition. In 1988, the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine received a $500,000 grant from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research to investigate the therapeutic value of exercise in alleviating pain of arthritis.