Research
International Services strives to cultivate relationships that support collaborative research in areas of shared interest. Allegheny International recognizes that our affiliated hospitals can improve the quality of health care internationally through innovative research.
Scientists at our affiliate institutions of Medicine conduct studies in 14 major disciplines and clinical research in several subspecialties. Our affiliate medical academics are structured so that investigators from related disciplines work together in five interdisciplinary research centers:
- Neurosciences
- Cancer
- Cardio/Pulmonary
- Muscoloskeletal/Trauma
- Human Genetics
The Neuroscience Research Center conducts, supports and develops basic and clinical research in all neuroscience-related disciplines, including neurosurgery, psychiatry, neurology, neuroradiology, neuropathology, neuro-ophthalmology and neuro-otology. Neural plasticity in aging studies with emphasis on Alzheimer’s disease and strokes, child and family studies, acute spinal cord injury studies, and cryomedicine represent some of the research interests in this center.
Some of our affiliate hospitals are host to a cooperative group engaged in the nation’s foremost research and treatment for breast and colorectal cancer. Scientists there work with international colleagues, testing new chemoprevention strategies and other innovative concepts in cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Furthermore, research in perfecting the tools and techniques to accomplish percutaneous mastectomy has provided a quantum leap in breast cancer care.
The Cardiovascular/Pulmonary Research Center fosters the development of interdisciplinary research programs, encouraging and supporting research in cardiac, vascular, pulmonary and renal specialties. Some of the leading projects of the center are:
- The development of the AB-180, a low-cost, left-ventricular assist device.
- The perfection of a surgical technique to use a back muscle to help boost an ailing heart. With the help of an implanted electrical stimulator, the back muscle handles every other beat, removing considerable burden from the heart.
- The development of a procedure in which surgeons temporarily place a donor lung inside a trauma patient’s body to help with breathing while the patient’s own lungs recover.
- In the Musculoskeletal/Trauma Research Center, scientists use advanced experimental techniques and sophisticated computer simulations to better understand the dynamics of fracture, injury healing and joint degeneration.
- The Human Genetics Research Center sponsors an expanding program of basic and clinical research, clinical genetics laboratories and consultation services that bring analysis and counseling directly to the patient and family. The center’s core research support laboratories in fluorescent imaging, cell and DNA preservation, flow cytometry, DNA sequencing and gene mapping provide molecular and cellular technology to investigators throughout the institution.