HITS | The HITS Consortium

The HITS Consortium

HITS currently involves five member institutions:

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Pacific Northwest Research Institute
Puget Sound Blood Center
Swedish Medical Center
University of Washington Medical Center
Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason

Pacific Northwest Research Institute

The focus of the Pacific Northwest Research Institute is to prevent and cure diabetes. The Institute was established in 1956 by Dr. William B. Hutchinson, Sr. as one of the first private non-profit biomedical and clinical research institutes in the Northwest. With seven laboratories, PNRI conducts basic and clinical research in biochemistry, molecular biology and immunology toward the prevention and cure of diabetes.

R. Paul Robertson, M.D.

In July of 1997, R. Paul Robertson, M.D. was named President and Scientific Director of PNRI. A distinguished diabetes specialist, Robertson focuses his research on pancreas and islet transplants and pancreatic gene expression. In addition to his duties at PNRI, Robertson also serves as director of islet and endocrine research at Swedish Medical Center. He is the Program Director of the Hits Consortium.

Contact:    Rich Murphy, Ph.D.

Phone:    (206) 568-1484

E-Mail:    rmurphy@pnri.org

Address:    720 Broadway, Seattle, WA 98122

Puget Sound Blood Center

Providing blood to Western Washington hospitals is just one of many services provided by the Puget Sound Blood Center. The Blood Center's Northwest Tissue Center recovers and processes musculoskeletal tissue for transplantation. Its Immunogenetics Laboratory matches organ donors with recipients, and Blood Center research programs have made significant contributions to transfusion and transplantation medicine. Using its expertise in cell recovery and processing, the Blood Center is responsible for isolating and recovering pancreatic islet cells for transplantation.

Michael Strong, Ph.D.

D. Michael Strong, Ph.D., is Executive Vice President of Operations, Puget Sound Blood Center. Dr. Strong's research has focused on ways to make tissue and organ transplants more successful by studying the role of the immune system and looking at ways that storage and preservation techniques affect a transplant. He is an internationally known expert on cryopreservation of tissue and helped establish the National Marrow Donor Registry and the Puget Sound Blood Center's Northwest Tissue Center.

Jo Anna Reems, Ph.D.

Jo Anna Reems, Ph.D., M.T., (ASCP), S.B.B., is the primary investigator for the Islet Core and Cell Processing Laboratory at Puget Sound Blood Center and is an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Washington. She received her Ph.D., at the University of Colorado in biochemistry and her post-doctoral training at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Her research focuses on understanding the regulatory mechanisms involved in the growth and development of stem cells into lineage specific cells for the purpose of improving cellular therapeutic regimens in a clinical setting.

Contact:    Steve McLean

Phone:    (206) 292-6511

E-Mail:    stevemc@psbc.org

Address:    921 Terry Ave., Seattle, WA 98104

Swedish Medical Center

Founded in 1910, Swedish Medical Center is the largest, most comprehensive not-for-profit health system in the Pacific Northwest. Based in Seattle, Swedish is comprised of three hospital campuses (First Hill, Providence and Ballard), Swedish Home Care Services and Swedish Physicians - a network of nine primary-care clinics. In addition to general medical and surgical care, Swedish is known as a regional referral center, providing specialized treatment in areas such as cardiac care, oncology, orthopedics, high-risk obstetrics, neurological care, sleep medicine, pediatrics and organ transplantation.

William Marks, M.D., Ph.D.

William Marks, M.D., Ph.D., serves as chief of Swedish Medical Center's Organ Transplant Program and Laboratory for Transplantation Biology. He was recruited to establish and direct the Organ Transplant Program in 1993. In 1999, Dr. Marks was awarded the Robert B. McMillen Chair for Organ Transplantation. In addition to his responsibilities at Swedish, he is also medical director of LifeCenter Northwest, the region's organ procurement agency.

Andrew Precht, M.D.

Andrew F. Precht, M.D., is a surgeon with the Swedish Medical Center Organ Transplant Program. His primary interests include kidney, pancreas and liver transplantation as well as adult and pediatric liver surgery. Prior to joining Swedish in July 2003, he did two fellowships at University of California San Diego (UCSD) Medical Center, one in their Abdominal Organ Transplantation Surgery Division and a second in the Pediatric Abdominal Organ Transplant Surgery Program. While at UCSD Medical Center, he took part in numerous research projects, including one involving the isolation of pancreatic islets for pancreatic islets transplantation. Dr. Precht earned his doctorate of medicine degree from the Medical Academy of Gdansk School of Medicine in Poland.

Contact:    Ed Boyle

Phone:    (206) 386-2748

E-Mail:    ed.boyle@swedish.org

Address:    1120 Cherry St. Seattle, WA 98104

University of Washington Medical Center

University of Washington Medical Center serves as a regional primary care, referral and treatment center, a teaching hospital of the UW School of Medicine, and a major research institution. The facility is licensed for 450 beds and offers more than 80 specialty clinics and multidisciplinary specialty centers. U.S. News & World Report ranks UW Medical Center as among the top dozen hospitals in the nation.

Connie Davis, M.D.

Dr. Connie Davis is a professor of medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine and the medical director of the kidney and kidney/pancreas transplant program at University of Washington Medical Center. She is a member of the Women's Health Committee of the American Society of Transplantation and chair of the society's audit committee. Davis has served on the editorial board of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology as well as on the editorial board of the journal Liver Transplantation. Davis is a recipient of the Fujisawa Clinical Investigator Award for her work as a nephrologist. She works continually on community outreach efforts, to further understanding of kidney disease prevention.

Contact:    Pam Sowers

Phone:    (206) 685-4232

E-Mail:    sowerspl@u.washington.edu

Address:    1959 NE Pacific, Seattle, WA 98195

Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason

Virginia Mason Medical Center, founded in 1920, is a non-profit comprehensive regional healthcare system that combines a primary and specialty care group practice of nearly 400 physicians with a 336-bed acute care Seattle hospital. In addition, Virginia Mason has a world-renowned research center. The Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason conducts approximately 150 clinical studies every year. The studies primarily focus on Diabetes, Arthritis and Immunology, and Cancer.

Gerald Nepom, M.D., Ph.D.

Gerald T. Nepom, M.D., Ph.D., founded the Immunology and Diabetes research programs of the Virginia Mason Research Center in 1985, where he is currently Director at the Benaroya Research Institute. Dr. Nepom has been on the affiliated faculty of the University of Washington School of Medicine since 1982, where he now serves as Professor in the Department of Immunology. Dr. Nepom has published over 200 scientific papers in the area of immunology, genetics and autoimmunity, and serves on several editorial boards and corporate scientific advisory boards.

Contact:    Kim Davis

Phone:    (206) 583-6451

E-Mail:    Kim.Davis@vmmc.org

Address:    1201 Ninth Avenue, Seattle, WA 98101