Name change reflects the investment that MaineHealth has made in research across its geographic footprint in Maine and Carroll County, New Hampshire.
SCARBOROUGH – The Maine Medical Center Research Institute has changed its name to the MaineHealth Institute for Research to accurately reflect the organization’s role in conducting a range of health care research throughout the MaineHealth system, in Maine and New Hampshire.
MHIR supports and encourages a broad spectrum of research ranging from basic laboratory-based studies to translational research (the application of basic discoveries to medical problems), to clinical research (the testing of new drugs, devices and treatment protocols on patients), to health services research (evaluation of health care delivery programs and new technologies), to population health research (to understand factors that influence the health of population groups or whole populations, such as the social drivers of health). While the research institute’s main offices are in Portland and Scarborough, its scientists, investigators and other staff engage in research with impacts and participants far beyond greater Portland.
For example:
· MHIR has 275 clinical trials underway at 10 Maine hospitals and health systems including Franklin Community Health Network, LincolnHealth, MaineGeneral Hospital, Maine Medical Center, Mid Coast Hospital, St. Mary’s Regional Hospital, Southern Maine Health Care, Pen Bay Medical Center, Waldo County General Hospital and Western Maine Health.
· MHIR is a leader of the Northern New England Clinical and Translational Research Network (NNE-CTR), a consortium funded by the National Institutes of Health that supports clinical and translational research throughout rural areas of Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire. The NNE-CTR has funded 29 pilot research projects in rural communities, investigating a range of topics from cardiac care, to COVID-19 to substance use disorder.
· MHIR’s Center for Psychiatric Research recently tested the feasibility of screening for psychosis in MaineHealth primary care settings from Norway to Brunswick to South Portland.
“Researching better ways to provide care is one of the cornerstones of MaineHealth’s mission,” said Liz Jacobs, M.D., MAPP, Vice President of Research at MaineHealth. “This name change recognizes the fact that our researchers are engaged in studies impacting the lives of our patients across Maine and the MaineHealth system as part of our vision of working together so our communities are the healthiest in America.”
While MHIR is already operating under its new name, signs at the research institute’s offices will not reflect the change until later in the summer. Federal grants to MHIR are not affected by the name change, as the research institute has been applying for grants as MaineHealth for years.
