The Center for Translational Medicine (CTM) at MedUni Vienna is home to a Phase 1/2 center that is unique in Europe, combining cutting-edge clinical research with patient care at University Hospital Vienna. Markus Zeitlinger and Anselm Jorda show why this bridge is more than just architecture and why it will make a real difference to patients.
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“Clinical pharmacology is an internal medicine specialty,” explains Markus Zeitlinger, head of the Department of Clinical Pharmacology. “We optimise therapies for patients—for example, in cases of drug interactions or dose adjustments—and at the same time are responsible for ensuring that new drugs are used in humans for the first time.”
Clinical pharmacology thus straddles two worlds: preclinical basic research and clinical application. This is precisely where Anselm Jorda, a postdoctoral researcher at the clinic, sees its central role: “The big challenge is to bridge the gap between basic science and clinical research. Clinical pharmacology sees itself as precisely this bridge discipline.”
This connection is now becoming a physical reality. The new clinical study center at the CTM is directly connected to the University Hospital Vienna. “The big quantum leap is that we are building a center here that can be run like a clinical ward,” says Zeitlinger. In the future, patients will be able to receive care as part of clinical studies in close proximity to the routine care provided by the University Hospital Vienna.
For Jorda, the significance of the new center will become apparent as soon as the first patients benefit from it: “When the first patient receives therapy as part of a study that he or she would not have received without this center, it will become clear what a huge opportunity this is – not only for MedUni Vienna as a study location, but also for healthcare as a whole.”
“Clinical pharmacology sees itself as a bridge between basic science and clinical research.”
For Zeitlinger, the CTM is also a personal project. “We have suffered from a lack of space for a long time,” he says. “Something unique in Europe has been created here: a Phase 1-2 center of this size that never loses its connection to patient care.”
He was involved in the planning down to the last detail: “I actually decided on every single power outlet together with the architects.”
„Something unique in Europe has been created here – a Phase 1-2 center that never loses sight of the context of patient care.“
The comparison is important to him: “I once built a house with my family. And now I have built this center with my second family, the clinical pharmacology.”
The result is more than just new infrastructure. It is a place where research and care are brought closer together and where patients can gain earlier access to innovative therapies.
