Basic and clinical research relevant to COVID-19 are essential activities at Washington University. Conducting this research in the midst of a health-care system responding to a global pandemic poses a number of challenges, which the university is actively working to surmount. Even as we respect the enormous pressures facing our frontline physician providers and hospital staff, ultimate success in reducing the harms of COVID-19 requires all parties to work together in an environment that promotes rapid completion of COVID-19 studies.
To achieve this, the university has created a COVID-19 research governance structure led by Drs. Jeff Milbrandt, Bill Powderly and Sean Whelan to coordinate research activities with patient care, and to prioritize studies that require biospecimens, data resources and access to patients. Dozens of faculty and senior staff are engaged in efforts to provide rapid logistical support and streamlined regulatory review so that important studies can be started quickly. Investigators intending to conduct a study relevant to COVID-19 must provide details to the Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences at icts@wustl.edu. Additional details will soon be posted on the ICTS website.