The Merkin Family Foundation recently announced a commitment to the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT to establish the Merkin Institute Fellows, a program that will support some of the most promising and ambitious scientists at the Broad Institute. The Merkin Family Foundation commitment will be used to create the first endowed fellowship program at the Broad Institute and will provide sustained support for these scientists as they focus on innovative research in science and medicine, with an emphasis on stem cell biology, regenerative medicine and neurodegenerative disease.
Cambridge Health Alliance(CHA) has been awarded a grant from Medline Industries, Inc. to support research designed to develop and test innovative methodologies and clinical interventions for reducing or preventing healthcare-acquired harms. The Prevention Above All Discovery Grant is one of 10 awarded to institutions across the country.
CHA will launch a six-month pilot study focused on developing a standardized thorough body cleansing to reduce prosthetic joint infections at CHA’s Cambridge Hospital campus. The researchers will explore the efficacy of using 2% chlorhexidine wipes the morning of surgery for a group of 80 patients anticipated to be evaluated during this pilot period. Medline has provided more than $1.6 million in grant funding through its Prevention Above All Discovery Grants Program to front-line healthcare workers researching evidence-based solutions and interventions that Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has declared as preventable, including pressure ulcer prevention, catheter associated urinary tract infection, ventilator associated pneumonia, and others. An estimated 1.7 million patients are affected by hospital acquired infections in U.S. hospitals each year, many preventable, causing nearly 90,000 deaths and costing facilities an estimated $25 billion, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
