July 8, 2002
Contact:
Amy DiCresce
P. (313) 577-1429
University Research Network Inc. to Speed Clinical Trials at Wayne State
The explosion of biomedical science has created a need for streamlined research operations
at academic health centers. Like many others across the nation, Detroit’s Wayne State University
(WSU) has established an academic research organization to improve its infrastructure and expedite
clinical development.
University Research Network Inc. (URNI) is a private, nonprofit corporation that was incorporated
in January 2002. Owned by The Fund for Medical Research and Education (a nonprofit corporation
affiliated with the WSU School of Medicine), University Research Network Inc. will provide accelerated
clinical development services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries,
while promoting the safety and well-being of patients, and the academic mission of the WSU School
of Medicine.
In the past, all contract clinical research was filtered through an extensive hierarchical system.
The new operation is expected to dramatically shorten the lead time of contract research, reducing
development time and allowing new therapies to be brought to the market faster. The academic research
organization will also increase commercialization potential of WSU discoveries by conducting
pre-clinical studies to support an Investigational New Drug Application (IND) submission and
conduct Phase I clinical studies that would lead to a viable commercial venture, thus bridging the
gap between discovery and licensing.
Doctors and faculty members are not the only people interested in high quality clinical research.
University Research Network allows a single contact point for many stakeholders in the health care
enterprise, including pharmaceutical companies, corporate purchasers of health care, medical
professionals, inventors, managed care organizations, investors, and private researchers—all of
whom have something to add to the advancement of clinical research and medical discoveries.
Nobody understands this better than URNI’s management team: President and CEO Roy Baynes, MD, PhD;
Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of Clinical Operations Mayland Chang, PhD; and Chief
Administrative Officer and Vice President of Business Operations, Beverly Simmons, MBA. Members
of the leadership team have spent their careers conducting and facilitating multidisciplinary
research – Dr. Baynes in the traditional academic health care setting, Dr. Chang in private industry,
and Simmons in the health care industry.
Dr. Baynes is a professor of medicine and oncology at the WSU School of Medicine. Joining
University Research Network Inc. from the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, Dr. Baynes
brings 20 years of basic and clinical research experience in an academic setting. He was recently
recruited to Amgen Inc., a large biotechnology company in California, but has established a solid
infrastructure for URNI’s business operations to continue. A search for a new president will begin
soon. Dr. Chang had worked as a senior scientist at Pharmacia & Upjohn Inc. for nearly a decade.
Before that, she was a senior research chemist at the Dow Chemical Company for four years. Beverly
Simmons brings 21 years of health care experience from the Detroit Medical Center, including external
business development, financial analysis, cost management, and program development. (See attached
biographies for more information.)
“We are trying to fix the scientific bottleneck that occurs as scientific developments get caught
in bureaucracy, stalling their usefulness to the public,” said Dr. Baynes. “The mission of this
enterprise is to promote the efficiency, quality and excellence of research activities at the WSU
School of Medicine and to provide quality clinical development services.”
The contract research organization will serve many functions:
to formalize relationships between the university, investigators and industry;
to streamline administrative procedures related to contract research;
to allow entrepreneurs and new investigators to contract and partner with academic experts;
to establish and participate with a network of scientific investigators outside the university setting;
to have a central organization for all contract clinical research conducted at the School of Medicine;
and to attract further funding for clinical research trials.
John Crissman, MD, dean of the WSU School of Medicine is pleased that the University Research
Network will directly link funding partners with WSU faculty members. “For the first time, people
from outside the university can bring their ideas to Wayne State experts and contract with the
academic research organization to perform research projects. The ‘idea people’ may not have expertise
in study design and research protocols, but the WSU faculty members will partner with them to provide
the necessary expertise. Furthermore, WSU will continue to abide by the most stringent standards for
ethics and patient safety. URNI combines fresh ideas with proven expertise,” Dr. Crissman said.
The Wayne State University School of Medicine is the largest single-campus medical school
in the country. Together with the Wayne State University Physician Group, the school is a leader
in patient care and medical research in a number of areas including cancer, genetics, women’s and
children’s health and the neurosciences.
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