Founding Partner of BRANY

 Founded in 1998, this research alliance is a consortium of 5 academic medical centers in the New York metropolitan area: Montefiore Medical Center, New York University School of Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, St. Vincent Medical Center, and North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System.

Sponsors contact BRANY and BRANY contacts potential sponsors to match the most appropriate investigators and research sites for planned studies. BRANY maintains a database of MMC investigators by areas of clinical interests and expertise. With the assistance of the MMC OCT, BRANY matches investigators with proposed clinical trials, coordinates site visits, negotiates contracts and coordinates IRB reviews. BRANY has an independent IRB with representatives from the five founding medical centers, which facilitates expeditious IRB review.  A master legal agreement between BRANY and MMC speeds up the contract review process and project initiation.

MMC has five members on the BRANY IRBs:

• Mark Sinnett, Pharm D., Deputy Director, Pharmacy and Deputy Chair, MMC IRB (Chairman of the BRANY IRB)

• Ira Leviton, MD, Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases

• Golda Hudes, MD, Allergy & Immunology

• Simon Rego, PsyD, Clinical Psychiatry

For further information about BRANY, call the MMC OCT at (718) 920-4151 ext. 227 or visit the BRANY web site.