History
In 1994, Dr. Prem Pais began work with cardio vascular disease research and set up the Clinical Epidemiology Research and Training Center (CERTC) in the St. John’s Medical College. This later evolved to Division of Clinical Research and Training (DCRT) and was integrated into the St. John’s Research Institute in 2004.
Research Projects
The Division of Clinical Research and Training (DCRT) designs and conducts, large national and international clinical trials and observational studies in cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetes, oncology, nephrology and infectious dieases. Our collaboration includes over 220 Institutions in India and South Asia. Since 1999 we have recruited about 144,000 participants in over 60 research projects. Most of these are investigator-initiated studies funded by peer-reviewed grants and some are supported by Industry. Our studies have been published in leading journals including the Lancet, JAMA, NEJM, Nature Cardiovascular, American Heart Journal, Circulation, European Heart Journal, Indian Heart Journal, JAPI, IJMR etc. Click here for our publications.
NIH Center of Excellence
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) USA recognised us as a Center of Excellence to counter chronic diseases in developing countries (2009-2014). We have also received research funding from the Medical Research Council, UK, Wellcome Trust (UK), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Indian Council of Medical Research, Department of Biotechnology, Government of India.
We have the expertise in national and international regulatory procedures, handling study drugs, managing large databases, statistical analysis and research dissemination.
Training
Since 14 years we are conducting courses and workshops on clinical research methods for faculty and postgraduate students in medical colleges, personnel in government agencies, ethics committees and industry. Till date we have conducted 31 programs and about 2000 participants from 83 institutions in 45 cities across 12 countries participated. Click here for more details.
Contribution and Future Focus
Over 2 decades we have helped to understand the burden of ischemic heart disease and strokes across the country, its risk factors and effective treatments. Our new areas of focus include knowledge translation research in these areas as well as multi morbidity. We are currently evaluating interventions for self care in chronic diseases, including optimal use of health technologies. Click here for a list of our projects.
Updated on 22 Nov 2023