Stony Brook Medicine Celebrates Opening of a New Clinical Trials Unit at Commack

The ribbon was cut November 10 at the new 6,000-square-foot Clinical Trials Unit at Commack. Photos courtesy of Stony Brook Medicine.

Stony Brook Medicine marked a major milestone on November 10 with the opening of a new Clinical Trials Unit at Commack by hosting a ribbon-cutting ceremony and tours of the 6,000-square-foot state-of-the-art space.

The unit provides an opportunity for patients to be enrolled in cutting-edge therapeutic research studies and a one-stop collaborative environment for physicians and researchers to conduct innovative clinical trials at the Advanced Specialty Care at Commack facility, located at 500 Commack Road in Commack, New York.

The space builds on Stony Brook's capacity and research infrastructure to support ethical, high-quality clinical trials that bring together discovery and innovation to find new ways to cure diseases and improve patients' lives. The unique environment accommodates participants in clinical trials across the lifespan, from children to older adults, as well as those with physical disabilities.

The Clinical Trials Unit features:

• 12 examination/consultation rooms
• Cardiopulmonary exercise testing facility
• Physical performance and gait testing suite
• 3-bay infusion area to allow the conduction of trials using chemotherapeutic and intravenous infusions
• Procedure room for running trials that require outpatient procedures
• Wet lab equipped with a refrigerated centrifuge and a -80 freezer to enable processing of blood and other human samples

Tours were provided of the new Clinical Trials Unit.

William Wertheim, MD, executive vice president of Stony Brook Medicine, called the opening an exciting milestone in Stony Brook Medicine's ongoing story of innovation. "As we cut the ribbon on this new Clinical Trials Unit here in Commack, we're celebrating the opening of a new facility, but more importantly, we're opening doors to discovery and to hope," he said. "This space represents the bridge between groundbreaking research in the laboratory and the patients and families we serve every day, right here in our communities."

"For decades, Stony Brook Medicine has been known for translating research from bench to bedside," Wertheim added. "With this new unit, for the first time, we're extending that promise beyond the hospital, bringing access to advanced clinical trials closer to where people live and work. It's a tangible example of how we're strengthening our connection to the community and ensuring that participation in world-class research is not limited by distance or circumstance."

Susan Hedayati, vice dean for research in the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, explains the Cardiopulmonary exercise testing facility.

"Academic medicine brings added value in the form of expertise of our academic faculty clinicians, as well as access to state-of-the-art technologies and access to clinical trials, and that's why we have built this facility," said Peter Igarashi, MD, Knapp Endowed Dean of the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University. "We look forward to the exciting discoveries that will emerge from the research program for years to come."

The Clinical Trials Unit is fully operational and staffed with a dedicated team of specialists, professionals and principal investigators to implement clinical trials from planning to execution. Trials would encompass treatments for a wide range of diseases, including but not limited to neurological, cardiovascular, pulmonary, kidney, cancer, mental illness and infectious diseases.

"Currently, we have 260 active clinical trials," said Susan Hedayati, MD, vice dean for research in the Renaissance School of Medicine. "These trials account for a vast majority of all of the clinical trials within SUNY academic institutions. By building this Commack Clinical Trials Unit, we're very enthusiastic that we will have the capacity to significantly and substantially increase this number."

To learn more about Stony Brook clinical trials, visit the Office of Clinical Trials website.