Our Department of Medical Education focuses on quality improvement research that brings best clinical practices to the bedside. We have successfully completed numerous quality improvement projects that have resulted in national presentations, publications and ongoing funding. We have partnerships with research institutions within Providence Health and Services that allows are residents to participate in health outcomes and clinical research.
The Center for Outcomes Research and Education (CORE) at Providence measures and assesses health care treatments and services through the application of research and systematic evaluation. It has gained national attention for pioneering the first randomized control trial of the impact of health insurance on patient health. NIH funding of this trial drew in collaborators from Harvard and MIT and promises to direct public policy in national healthcare.
The Earle A. Chiles Research Institute (EACRI) is a unique part of the fabric of Providence. Founded in 1988, EACRI is dedicated to bench to bedside investigation in the fields of cardiovascular diseases, infectious diseases and oncology. The EACRI occupies the top floor of a major patient care tower of PPMC.
Oncology research is a major activity at PPMC. The Robert W. Franz Cancer Research Center within the Earle A. Chiles Research Institute today garners more than $2 million annually in federal grants and has a research staff of 60.
The Franz Cancer Research Center was established to promote translational research, where researchers take novel discoveries from their laboratories and collaborate with physicians to “translate” those discoveries into new treatments that can directly benefit people being treated for cancer. The center translates the most promising results from our own laboratories into novel treatments for patients in Oregon and southwest Washington, and throughout the Pacific Northwest.
The main area of investigation at the Robert W. Franz Cancer Research Center is immunotherapy, a specialized field of study focused on triggering the immune system to fight cancer. Our research has led us to test vaccines in patients with cancers of the lung, prostate, kidney, breast and skin.
The Robert W. Franz Cancer Research Center houses a suite of class-10,000 cancer research laboratories that are GMP-capable. These facilities are fully equipped to process and prepare autologous and allogeneic tumor vaccines, and to process and expand PBMC and T-cells through our Human Applications Laboratory.
Multiple residents have taken part in research projects through the Robert W. Franz Cancer Research Center, including presenting projects at national meetings or publishing papers related to their research. Several of our residents have done a 1-year immunotherapy research fellowship at the Robert W. Franz Cancer Research Center before starting a clinical hematology/oncology fellowship.
Providence investigators are also very active in a large number of clinical trials for cancer, heart and vascular, brain and women's health.
