Emory University, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and the CF Foundation have made large investments in CF care and research at the Emory+Children’s CF Center, including support for clinical operations, for clinical research, and for education, the establishment of an independent Adult CF Program, and the establishment of the Emory+Children’s Center for CF and Airways Disease Research to bring new approaches to basic and translational research in CF. Our CF researchers and clinicians are working together to leverage these commitments, our unique inter-institutional research strengths, and our relationships with scientists and engineers at Georgia Tech to establish a Center of Excellence in Cystic Fibrosis research, education, and care: “CF@LANTA”. Our program will transform the approach to this deadly disease.
Cystic Fibrosis is a complicated, multi-organ disease with a plethora of functional defects, although most of the morbidity and mortality associated with CF results from the progressive loss of lung function. CF lung disease is due to chronic inflammation, persistent infection, impaired mucociliary clearance, and susceptibility to damage from oxidative stress.
Although substantial improvements in quality and longevity of life for CF patients have been achieved over the seven decades since the disease was first described, the median predicted age at death remains less than half of that for the non-CF population; children and young adults are still dying from this disease. What will it take to solve this problem? We need to find new ways to think about CF, new ways to focus on wellness, to turn this “disease” into a “condition."
This is the mission of the Center for Cystic Fibrosis and Airways Disease Research (CF-AIR) at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, established in collaboration with the Emory University School of Medicine: to build a comprehensive program that will lead to new breakthroughs in CF research that will advance the quality and longevity of life for our patients. CF-AIR is a component of The Emory+Children’s CF Center of Excellence, also known as CF@LANTA, which seeks to become the best comprehensive CF program in the country, excellent in research, clinical care, and education.
CF patients are living longer, fuller lives, thanks to the continued development of therapies that target the symptoms associated with progressive lung disease, although this a profound burden that encompasses hours of daily treatment. Quality of life decreases dramatically as lung function declines due to irreversible damage. As patients age, other organ systems also show defects in function.
Due to the establishment of CF newborn screening nationwide in January 2009, new patients are being identified at a few days of age – an age when the lungs are healthy, without damage and thus likely to greatly benefit from a new model of Prospective Healthcare for CF.
We need to bring new advances in clinical care to the forefront soon in order to have the greatest impact on the lives of these new patients.
Ellen Bailey
Emma D'Agostino
Karen Flynn-Williams
Ric Geyer
Greg Holliday
Susan House
Nael McCarty
Dave McKenny
Carter and Bet Pope
Will Shearer
Adam Sitz
Arlene Stecenko
Marvin Whiteley
Interested in joining? Click below.
Copyright © 2020 CF@LANTA - All Rights Reserved.
Powered by GoDaddy Website Builder