{"id":324,"date":"2021-04-16T11:52:21","date_gmt":"2021-04-16T16:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.uthscsa.edu\/crpm\/?page_id=324"},"modified":"2023-11-16T12:14:11","modified_gmt":"2023-11-16T18:14:11","slug":"about-us","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp.uthscsa.edu\/cpm\/about-us\/","title":{"rendered":"About Us"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Our Mission<\/h2>\n

The primary mission of the Center for Precision Medicine (CPM) is to enhance the precision of individualized patient treatments by providing unique resources for biomarkers and imaging. There is a clear unmet need to find new solutions to cross the so called \u201cvalley of death\u201d to take remarkable basic science discoveries to the clinic. The CPM seeks to help investigators cross the valley of death by incorporating and integrating biomarker and imaging data with phenotyping from clinical trials, pre-clinical models and cell culture. Biomarker imaging and discovery, basic science breakthroughs and patient-centered bioinformatics will be integrated by CPM to advance therapeutics via collaborative synergistic research. CPM plans to support UT Health San Antonio\u2019s goal to be a regional and national leader in precision health.<\/p>\n

Careful tracking of individual differences in lifestyle and environment with biomarkers will help researchers uncover the most relevant biochemical paths that can accelerate deliverance of precision medicine and precision healthcare. Therapies will be designed based on precise molecular diagnoses for individual patients, in partnership with the Center for Innovative Drug Discovery<\/a> (CIDD), the Institute for the Integration of Medicine and Science<\/a> (IIMS), and other strategic partnerships (e.g. UTSA<\/a>, SWRI<\/a>, Texas Biomed<\/a>). CPM will analyze a spectrum of biological variables and clinical parameters as well as environmental and lifestyle data.<\/p>\n

With Artificial Intelligence (AI) software rapidly advancing and changing healthcare,\u00a0and the multi-omics revolution\u00a0going\u00a0full stream, the CPM is uniquely positioned to respond to this need due to its leading-edge spatial omics tools, in vivo<\/em> imaging capacities and biomarker program. CPM will enable UT Health San Antonio to be a leader not only in the region but throughout the country to incorporate omics and imaging data for delivering the best healthcare decisions and novel treatments for our patients and communities.<\/p>\n

Our Vision<\/h2>\n

In the short-term, CPM will apply the tenets of precision medicine and precision health to major chronic diseases, including cardio-metabolic complications of obesity and diabetes, cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Long-term, CPM will generate the knowledge base needed to advance precision medicine and health in other chronic and acutecomplex conditions, optimizing health for civilians, our unique patient population in South Texas and the warfighter. CPM will also leverage the biobanks at UT Health San Antonio and contribute to the educational experience of students in the health sciences in quantitative biology as applied to clinical medicine.<\/p>\n

Our Leadership<\/h2>\n

Dr. Kumar Sharma, Professor, Chief of Nephrology and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Medicine at UT Health San Antonio, will be the inaugural Director of the new Center for Precision Medicine (CPM). Dr. James Lechleiter, Professor of Cell Systems and Anatomy at UT Health San Antonio, will be the co-Director.<\/p>\n

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\"\"Kumar Sharma, MD, FAHA, FASN<\/a><\/h4>\n

Co-Director, Center for Precision Medicine<\/p>\n

\n

The primary goal of Dr. Sharma\u2019s laboratory is to understand the underlying mechanisms of multi-organ failure due to metabolic diseases and to develop novel treatments based on biomarkers from human studies. He has had continuous NIH funding for the past 30 years and has ongoing NIH-, VA- and DoD-funded projects that identify novel paradigms in multi-organ complications and he has conducted several clinical trials investigating novel treatments for kidney disease.\u00a0 He plays a leading role in the NIH Kidney Precision Medicine program, the RECOVER program<\/a> for long Covid and is developing UT Health San Antonio as a national hub for analysis of spatial metabolomic profiling of different tissues. He has a patent submission identifying new biomarkers of kidney and cardiac failure and new therapeutics based on a novel pathway linked to fibrosis and inflammation. He is the scientific founder of SygnaMap<\/a>, which is developing computational platform for spatial omic analysis via SBIR grant support from NIH and NSF. He is also an avid tennis and baseball enthusiast and a big fan of Bogie movies.<\/div>\n

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\"\"James Donald Lechleiter, PhD<\/a><\/h4>\n

Co-Director, Center for Precision Medicine<\/p>\n

\n

Dr. Lechleiter\u2019s laboratory is interested in the molecular and cellular mechanisms of protection after traumatic brain injury (TBI), ischemic stress and age-associated neurodegenerative diseases. A major focus of his work is to understand the role of astrocytes in these disease processes. Dr. Lechleiter is Director of the Optical Imaging Core Facility<\/a> and has extensive experience with this technology and its application towards biomedical research. He was a co-winner of the prestigious Erwin Schrodinger Prize for Interdisciplinary Research. He also shares patents on a confocal microscope for simultaneous imaging with visible and ultraviolet light, a multi-photon laser scanning microscope using an acoustic optical detector and two patents for compounds to treat neurological injuries. He co-founded Astrocyte Pharmaceuticals, Inc.<\/a>, a privately held company that has entered into an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement with UT Health San Antonio, to develop and commercialize novel therapeutic approaches associated with his research. Astrocyte Pharmaceuticals is now advancing a promising neuroprotective molecule AST-004 through phase 1 clinical trials in humans. Phase 2 efficacy trials in humans are planned for late 2023 \/ early 2024. Dr. Lechleiter is an avid amateur astronomer who enjoys both visual observing and astrophotography as well as just viewing the summer meteor showers on an outdoor lounge chair.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Contact Info<\/h3>\n
\n

Division of Nephrology<\/strong>
\n7703 Floyd Curl Drive
\nDTL Room 5.080R
\nSan Antonio, TX 78229
\nMaps & Directions<\/a><\/p>\n

Administrative Office Phone: (210) 567-4700
\nFax: (210)-567-4712<\/div>\n

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Faculty and Staff<\/h3>\n <\/a>[vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n
Follow us on social media!<\/h5>\n

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[vc_row][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_column_text] Our Mission The primary mission of the Center for Precision Medicine (CPM) is to enhance the precision of individualized patient treatments by providing unique resources for biomarkers and imaging. 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