Investment in clinical research represents investment in a healthier society. Clinical research conducted at a major medical center complements university based pre-clinical research because the questions being asked arise directly from the clinical setting and proceed rapidly to the lab bench for translation to the patient’s bedside.  Physicians involved in rigorous, high-level, clinically relevant research are closely familiar with the most up-to-date therapeutic modalities and trials. 
 
Rambam Health Care Campus established the Clinical Research Institute at Rambam (CRIR) in 2008. The institute is rapidly fulfilling its aim of becoming a benchmark for clinical research excellence in Israel and worldwide by combining first-rate innovative research with high-quality patient care.

The Institute will combine the expertise of established investigators recruited from leading research centers in the U.S. and elsewhere with the vigor of talented and promising young clinician-scientists from Israel and abroad. Of the approximately 40 principal investigators to be recruited, the CRIR has already appointed five principal investigators, and several more are in advanced stages of recruitment. 

CRIR clinician-scientists also have active appointments to Rambam Health Care Campus clinical divisions and departments and academic cross-appointments to the adjacent
Rappaport Faculty of Medicine of the Technion. Rambam physicians who wish to partake in clinical research will be encouraged to collaborate with CRIR researchers, whose willingness and track record for engaging clinicians in research is an important criterion in their recruitment.

A rigorous and competitive recruitment process, and scientific oversight by an in-house Scientific Working Group and an international Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) ensure that research conducted at the CRIR meets uncompromising scientific standards. Entrusted with Scientific Working Group leadership are Prof. Rafael Beyar, Director and CEO,  Rambam Health Care Campus (RHCC); Prof. Karl Skorecki, Director of Medical and Research Development, RHCC; Prof. Michael Aviram, Director, CRIR; and Prof. Eliezer Shalev, Dean of the Technion's Faculty of Medicine.

A number of thematic areas have been chosen for the Clinical Research Centers of Excellence to be established under the auspices of the CRIR. The first such hub, the Diabetes and Metabolism Clinical Research Center of Excellence, was launched in 2010. It is directed by world renowned expert Prof. Derek LeRoith, Emeritus Chief of the Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. The aim of the Center of Excellence is to build a critical mass of researchers who will place Rambam Health Care Campus at the forefront of clinical research discovery. Other planned CRIR hubs include Centers of Excellence in Genomic Medicine, Clinical Neurosciences, Cardiovascular Diseases, and Translational Cancer Research. 

A matching grant from the American Friends of Rambam Medical Center (AFORAM) has enabled the CRIR leadership team to get this project off the ground. Donor funding is sought to help establish the additional CRIR Research Centers of Excellence and to provide Clinical Research Fellowships for graduate students and clinicians. 

In the future, licensing of novel diagnostic and therapeutic modalities emanating from the CRIR, together with significant external grants and other revenue streams, will help support the Institute's long-term operating costs and sustain its growth and development.