COVID-19 Research

COVID-19 Virus

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research launched a rapid and forward-looking response committee to harness our resources and networks to accelerate translational COVID-19 research.

The following reflects the Irving Institute's past efforts to respond to the crisis.

Services Adapted for COVID-19 Response

COVID-19 Biobank

The Columbia COVID-19 Biobank was launched in March 2020 in partnership with VP&S and NYP and contains biospecimens, tissues and data on thousands of unique COVID-19 positive patients seen in our health system.

Consults for COVID-19 clinical trials design

Our Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Research Design data management consultants have provided guidance in the selection of data management tools and assisted in their design and implementation for COVID-19 clinical trials, cohort studies, and registries. 

Dedicated research space for COVID-19 clinical trials

We have dedicated one of four outpatient research unit areas for research with COVID-19 positive/convalescent participants. Phlebotomy, specimen processing, and staff support will be made available, as well as training for clinical research coordinators on lab safety, regulatory support, and good clinical practices.

COVID-19 clinical data for researchers

All COVID-19 clinical data for CUIMC is being managed by the Department of Biomedical Informatics and the Clinical Data Warehouse (CDW). The Irving Institute as well as many departments, each have a Clinical Data Navigator who can help organize and fulfill CDW data requests for COVID-19 data. 

Searchable COVID-19 clinical trial database for patients and clinicians

ClinicalTrials.gov currently lists 1,674 studies targeting COVID-19, and 347 in the United States as of mid-May 2020. Our COVID-19 Trial Finder is a simplified method for patients, clinicians and healthy volunteers to search for appropriate COVID-related clinical trials in their general location. 

Support for Multi-Site clinical trials

The NCATS Trial Innovation Network (TIN) helps investigators propose and obtain a funded NIH multi-site clinical trial.  The Irving Institute TIN resource can support your proposal and help identify potential patients at Columbia for NIH funded, multi-site clinical trials. 

Demographics by State COVID-19 Reporting (DSCovR) Dashboard

A data visualization dashboard compiling state-level COVID-19 demographic information for age, race/ethnicity and gender. The Demographics by State COVID-19 Reporting (DSCovR) Dashboard allows policymakers, scientists, and the public to visualize and compare COVID-19 time trends and demographic information among cases, hospitalizations, and deaths across states and time.

In January 2020, the United States declared a public health emergency in response to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic. Since then CUIMC and NYP have mobilized hundreds of research and academic groups and launched a campus wide coordinated research effort to tackle this fundamental threat to our local, national and global communities. By April 15, 2020 NYC was in the most intense period of devastation (early plateau) with 12,725 confirmed and probable COVID-19 deaths in six weeks. At that time, Manhattan had the lowest rates of COVID-19 infection New York City yet our Upper Manhattan and Washington Heights/Inwood communities, accounted for the majority of cases in the borough. In response, CUIMC/NYP doubled its capacity for ICU beds and ventilators, launched multiple treatment and prophylactic clinical trials, and is at the cutting-edge of diagnostic and prognostic testing strategies for patients and workforce.

Additional Resources

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