FNUSA-ICRC is Expanding Its Collaboration with the Mayo Clinic
Research collaboration between the International Clinical Research Centre of St Anne’s University Hospital in Brno (FNUSA-ICRC) and the prestigious Mayo Clinic research hospital has been expanded.
The Sleep Medicine research team established collaboration with Dr. Lyle J. Olson from the Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic. Collaboration focuses on breathing disorders and post-surgery complications, especially during chest surgeries. “One track of our joint research is to specify the risk level of post chest surgery complications in patients with different breathing disorders,” explains Dr. Ivan Čundrle, a member of the Sleep Medicine team. “The second field of joint research explores whether different types of anesthesia affect the frequency of apnea occurrence in patients with obstructive sleep apnea.”
The Biostatistics research team at FNUSA-ICRC established collaboration with Dr. Jay Mandrekar who is the primary statistician for the Mayo Clinic Department of Neurology, and the Divisions of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology. “The purpose of the joint project is to correct the Cox proportional hazards regression model which is the most frequently used model for statistical clinical and biological data analyses. We will focus on accuracy when testing the importance of variables and estimating risk and survival functions in a model with repeated observation,” explained Silvie Bělašková, the Head of the Biostatistics research team at FNUSA-ICRC.
Over long term, joint research carried out by both institutions has focused on treatment and prevention of both cardiac diseases and circulatory system diseases, and neurologic diseases. “The expansion of our collaboration proves that our joint research to date has worked and is meaningful, which is also documented by its results,” said FNUSA-ICRC’s Chair Gorazd B. Stokin. These include, among other things, almost 200 joint scientific articles and several US and international awards for young Czech researchers. The method and equipment for heart arrhythmia treatment developed by a research team comprising five researchers from the Mayo Clinic and five researchers from Brno is about to be granted an US patent.
On the occasion of the foundation of the independent Czechoslovakia, a representative from the Mayo Clinic and the FNUSA-ICRC collaboration coordinator, Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology Yonas Geda, was awarded a commemorative medal by the 1st Deputy Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Jan Hamáček for his contribution to the development of collaboration between FNUSA-ICRC and the prominent US hospital. “Dr. Geda received his award on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Czechoslovakia’s foundation that was celebrated at the Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Chicago on 28 September,” said FNUSA Director Martin Pavlík who also participated in the event.
The ceremony took place in the Union League Club where the future Czechoslovak president Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk gave a lecture during his tour in 1918 when he was promoting the foundation of an independent country. The festive event was attended by Czech countrymen, US investors in the Czech Republic, Czech exporters and collaborating institutions from the Czech Republic and the USA, including FNUSA-ICRC.
