Trinity Health Of New England is pleased to announce research partners from the University of Oxford have arrived in Hartford for a site visit of Mount Sinai Rehabilitation Hospital’s Joyce D. and Andrew J. Mandell Center for Multiple Sclerosis Care and Neuroscience Research. The group of researchers, clinicians, and administrators will visit the Mandell MS Center along with Quinnipiac University leaders to explore opportunities to replicate in the United Kingdom the MS care model provided at the Mandell Center.
“We are so proud of our relationships with the University of Oxford and Quinnipiac University,” said Mary Bailey, M.D., Regional Medical Director for Rehabilitation and Multiple Sclerosis at Trinity Health Of New England’s Mandell MS Centers. “Through this teamwork, our clinicians and researchers collaborate to give access to groundbreaking research projects and the latest in MS care.”
Visitors from Oxford include Gabriele DeLuca, M.D., Professor of Clinical Neurology and Experimental Neuropathology at Oxford, who leads the U.K. contingent. The group, which is looking to spearhead change within the National Health Service in the U.K., will be looking at the comprehensive care model that the Mandell MS Center provides to patients. This comprehensive care model includes fellowship trained neurologists to fight disease progression along with a customized approach to treatment, rehabilitation therapy, and support services.
“The Oxford-Quinnipiac partnership provides an exceptional opportunity to break down boundaries between clinical neurosciences and rehabilitation to deliver world-leading integrated clinical care, education, and research,” said Dr. DeLuca. “The complementary strengths of our institutions have already inspired medical students and nurtured cutting-edge research. The meeting of clinical leadership between Oxford and Trinity Health Of New England is an important step in making the provision of multidisciplinary patient-centred care across our centres a reality. In so doing, we hope to make a palpable difference for the better in people with neurological conditions, together.”
The Mandell MS Center, which was the first in Connecticut to be recognized by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society as a Center for Comprehensive Multiple Sclerosis Care, provides focused care and supportive services for MS patients. This includes field-leading innovative MS research in partnership with Oxford and Quinnipiac. Through an exchange program with both universities, researchers are able to conduct innovative academic studies, where teams learn and implement the newest care models as soon as they are available. Patients have the option to participate in cutting-edge studies in the same place they receive care. The partnerships between providers at the Mandell MS Centers and researchers at Oxford and Quinnipiac lead to early intervention and better quality of care sooner after diagnosis.
“On behalf of our entire Quinnipiac University community, I am pleased to welcome Dr. Gabriele DeLuca and his colleagues from the U.K. as part of the vibrant, collaborative partnership among the Frank H. Netter, M.D. School of Medicine, the University of Oxford, and the Mandell MS Center at Trinity Health Of New England,” said Phillip M. Boiselle, M.D., Dean of the Frank H. Netter, M.D. School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University. “Through this partnership, we are advancing interdisciplinary education, cuttingedge research, and patient-centered care in the areas of neuroscience, clinical neurology, and rehabilitation medicine.”
The exchange program involves medical students from Oxford and Quinnipiac’s Frank H. Netter, M.D. School of Medicine. Oxford medical students participate in a clinical rotation at Mount Sinai, the primary partner for Quinnipiac’s Institute for Rehabilitation Medicine. They also spend time at the Netter School, joining Quinnipiac students in learning opportunities that focus on the foundations of neurologic care with the view of bringing this experiential knowledge to the U.K. to enhance clinical care. Quinnipiac medical students participate in a six-week program that includes an intensive seminar series at Oxford and four weeks of clinical neurology at The John Radcliffe Hospital, a large teaching hospital and leading center for medical research.
About Mount Sinai Rehabilitation Hospital
Mount Sinai Rehabilitation Hospital, located on Blue Hills Avenue in Hartford, Conn., is a licensed chronic disease hospital and certified by Medicare as an acute rehabilitation hospital. It is accredited by The Joint Commission and the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities for its General Rehabilitation and Stroke Specialty programs. Mount Sinai Rehabilitation Hospital is the largest provider of acute rehabilitation services in Connecticut. In 2015, Mount Sinai became part of Trinity Health Of New England, an integrated health care delivery system that is a member of Trinity Health, one of the largest multi-institutional Catholic health care delivery systems in the nation, serving communities in 22 states.