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CMC leaders enroll in MURDOCK Study
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Published: October 12, 2009
CMC-NorthEast President Mark Nantz and Bob Kinney, the chairman of the Board of Advisors at CMC-NorthEast, rolled up their sleeves on Friday to give blood samples, as the hospital begins the push for staff to enroll in the MURDOCK Study.
"This is a study we are trying to support — an opportunity for people in our region to participate in what may be groundbreaking medical discoveries," Nantz said. "It was a pretty easy process, taking about 15 to 20 minutes. They didn't take a lot of blood, and it didn't hurt. It didn't feel like an invasion of my privacy. It wasn't bad at all."
CMC-NorthEast, which employs about 4,500 people, will enroll employees who wish to volunteer for the study Oct. 15-17, at the hospital.
"Nothing like this has been done before, to my knowledge. It could change the face of medicine," Kinney said.
Spearheaded by the Duke Transitional Medicine Institute, the study was funded through a $35 million gift from Dole Food Co. owner David Murdock.
The goal is to gather and generate medical data from 50,000 participants in Cabarrus County.
Ashley Dunham, community health project leader of the MURDOCK Study, believes that number is one third the adult population of the county.
The 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimate of adults over 18 years of age living in Cabarrus County is 123,349.
To date, the study has enrolled between 1,600 and 1,700 people, according to Dunham.
"We have been operating at about 25 percent capacity," she said. "We are meeting our benchmarks, but the benchmarks will grow exponentially in 2010. We wanted to use 2009 to get our feet wet and make sure our infrastructure was operating effectively. We have accomplished that goal."
Officials hope to enroll 1,000 people a month, beginning in 2010, and hope to have the full 50,000 by 2013.
Dunham said there are no plans to go outside the county for volunteers.
Researchers involved in the MURDOCK Study will follow participants from the area over a long period of time, collecting biological samples — blood and urine — and will track visible behaviors and physical characteristics.
Dunham explained that it is constant work to educate the public on what the study is, and what significance the study holds.
"We are slowly educating people," Dunham said.
She explained the study doesn't have any medical care associated with it. Joining the study does not involve any medical diagnosis or tests run.
"We bank their samples, which means we freeze them," Dunham said.
Participants may also withdraw their consent at any time during the study.
Duke University researchers are studying the genetic causes and differences of certain human diseases — such as osteoarthritis, hepatitis C and cardiovascular disease.
The MURDOCK Study will also focus on molecular data — DNA, RNA, proteins and metabolites.
Researches have said the undertaking aims to "rewrite the textbook of medicine."
"It will allow us to personalize medicine, bring medicine to a point where we can treat people at an individual level, not a group level," Dunham said.
• Contact reporter Robin L. Gardner: 704-789-9140
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