Georgia CTSA Clinical Research Center Spotlight: Center for Health Discovery & Well Being

The Center for Health Discovery & Well Being (CHDWB) is a collaboration between Emory University, Georgia Tech and the ACTSI. Part of the Emory Predictive Health Institute, the CHDWB is a research core and clinical testing site located at Emory University Hospital Midtown focused on finding new predictive biomarkers of health, disease risk and prognosis aimed at keeping people healthy.

A cohort of 697 "essentially healthy" employees (651 from Emory, 44 from the general public and 2 from Georgia Tech) were enrolled as a random sample as of December 31, 2010. Within this new paradigm, investigators define the unique characteristics that predict disease risk for individuals and emphasize maintenance of health rather than treatment of disease.

The research program links the biomedical research and biostatistical strengths of Emory, the computational life sciences initiatives, expertise of the systems biology, informatics and health systems engineering programs at Georgia Tech and the joint Emory/Georgia Tech Biomedical Engineering Department. CHDWB targets cutting-edge patient care that incorporates genetics, nanotechnology, information technology, proteomics, epigenetics, bioinformatics, psychosocial factors and computational biology.

Recently, a new project with childhood cancer survivors began with the Children's Helathcare of Atlanta's AFLAC Cancer Center. The ACTSI's Biomedical Informatics Program (BIP), Research Technologies, Pediatrics and the Georgia CTSA Clinical Research Centers (GCRCs) (with the CHDWB as a Tier 1 clinical research site) all provide support to this initiative.