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Medicine is evolving almost daily. Being on the forefront of new discoveries and new treatments that benefit patients is of the utmost importance. Faculty members at Nova Southeastern University's Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Allopathic Medicine (NSU MD) actively participate in innovative research, both in the lab and clinical setting, to further develop discoveries that can benefit patients.
As part of NSU's research-focused M.D. program, students can participate in research that will shape their understanding of medicine.
Although much progress has been made over the last several years on bringing new cancer therapies to patients, the need for novel approaches remains. NSU MD is helping to advance molecular fingerprinting of cancers in order to determine the most appropriate treatment course for an individual patient. Focusing on sarcoma, prostate, and breast cancers as model systems, novel genomic tools are being developed in this regard. Further, NSU MD faculty researchers are identifying cancer therapies particularly targeting cancers that are resistant to current drugs. Some of these approaches are evaluating the repurposing of currently approved drugs so that the pathway to the clinic can be shortened significantly.
We Focus On
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Accelerating advancement of next-generation approaches to precision medicine such as targeted immunotherapy and regenerative medicine with an initial focus on treating cancers, heart disease and disorders causing blindness.
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Tackling pediatric cancer. NSU is focusing on sarcomas, a promising research area hindered by low funding due to their long bench to bedside lag times. The team developed a new process that expedites discoveries by repurposing sarcoma tissues, normally incinerated after surgical removal, which are now harnessed for scientific investigation instead. The goal: transfer discoveries made here to durable cures for other cancer types.
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Creating an expanded tumor library for further research. This initiative is a collaboration with the NSU AutoNation Institute for Breast and Solid Tumor Cancer Research, which focuses on how DNA damage and defects in DNA repair contribute to cancer.
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Regenerating damaged heart tissue. With the ultimate goal of reducing transplants, which are always costly, difficult and complicated, NSU and visiting researchers are investigating new clinical strategies for heart tissue repair and the best type of stem cells to regenerate heart valves.
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Reversing vision loss due to macular degeneration and related diseases by replacing the degenerating, damaged retinal cells in the eye with healthy stem cells.
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Chaired by Vijay Rajput, M.D., this department of Medical Education is focused on undergraduate allopathic medical education, medical education research and interprofessional education in the health profession.
NSU MD is focusing on the nervous system in order to increase our understanding of and clinical approaches to common diseases such as Alzheimer’s and opioid addiction. Opioid addiction is a national health care crisis and deciphering the molecular etiology of this addiction will be important to solving the crisis. The NSU MD neuroscience effort is led by Deborah Mash, Ph.D., and NSU is home to one of the nation’s largest brain banks, which researches donated posthumous brains to identify causes of addiction and neurodegenerative diseases. This unique resource positions NSU MD to lead novel approaches to these highly prevalent diseases.
This department is focused on the well-being of large groups of individuals, especially those with chronic and costly illnesses, such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and lung disease, that are all highly prevalent in South Florida. The current focus is on health IT, health analytics, and underserved minority populations in South Florida.
NSU MD is developing a robust research foundation with a variety of event types to encourage, enliven, and enrich the research lives of both students and faculty. Journal clubs expose students and faculty to the most recent published research, and the seminar series provides a showcase for students or faculty to present their work before colleagues or mentors. The NSU MD Research Administration Committee serves to direct the various arms of research being conducted by NSU MD students and faculty. Such administration ensures that project work is coordinated among the researchers and efforts are not being duplicated by researchers working in isolation. NSU MD is proud to sponsor three large research events in 2020: REACH Day (Research Education And Collaboration in Health), the RISE Conference (Research, Innovation and Service in Education), and HCA-NSU MD Research Day, a showcase for research performed by residents of Health Corporation of America and NSU MD students. Last, NSU MD’s Cell Therapy Institute (CTI) holds semi-monthly research presentations which afford faculty the opportunity to present research before their peers and students.
At NSU MD we believe in empowering the next generation of researchers. Our faculty researchers support student success through mentorship to cultivate the next generation of scholars and professionals. NSU MD students engage in complex, real-world issues, explore their intellectual curiosities, and make a meaningful impact on society.