Duke’s expansion abroad will not be stopping with Singapore and Kunshan, China—the University is setting up shop in India as well.
Duke’s School of Medicine is moving forward on a partnership with India’s Medanta Medicity after agreeing to collaborate more than a year ago. The venture, which will be called the Medanta Duke Research Institute, is slated to open in mid-April and will boast a facility of 60 beds and 27,000 square feet of space.
Dr. Krishna Udayakumar, the director of Duke Medicine Global, said the partnership will be the first of its kind.
“None of the universities or institutions that we’re aware of—Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Cleveland Clinic—have established a joint venture like this,” Udayakumar said. “We’re always looking for opportunities to further our mission. This was a great fit because we [have] a shared vision.”
Construction of the MDRI has already begun, said Udayakumar, who toured Medanta last week in New Delhi, India.
“We’ve started to hire personnel. Everything will be functional in April,” Udayakumar said. “We’re very excited about this as one of our anchor partnerships.”
As a joint venture initiative, Duke personnel will staff half of the MDRI and the other half will be from Medanta, but Udayakumar noted that Medanta will be paying for the MDRI unit and Duke will only provide operational and research expertise.
Duke personnel will facilitate scientific oversight to maintain high standards for the research done at the facility and every study conducted at the MDRI will go through local institutional review boards in India, Udayakumar said.
The partnership has already attracted praise from Gov. Bev Perdue, who called the initiative a “giant step forward for the health of our people” in a Duke Medicine press release.
The MDRI will emphasize early-stage proof of concept clinical trials centering on researching potential drugs and better preparing for clinical trials.
Specifically, the MDRI will be unique because of its focus on studying a diverse set of populations, said Dr. John Sundy, director of the Duke Clinical Research Unit.
“Usually a fairly homogenous population is studied during [drug testing and clinical trials],” Sundy said. “We don’t have a lot of evidence about diverse populations. Medanta represents an entirely different population group from the group we study in Durham.”
The MDRI joins what Sundy called Duke’s “network.” Researchers will be able to better understand human biology in the genetically diverse populations of India, Durham, and the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore.
Dr. Naresh Trehan, Medanta Medicity’s founder, said he is delighted over the synergy demonstrated in the partnership between Medanta and Duke.
“Duke is considered to be the most respectable and energetic research group in the world,” Trehan said. “Its reputation is above everyone else’s. With this partnership, hopefully Medanta could be the Duke, Harvard or the Cleveland Clinic of [southeast India].”
Trehan—described as one of the most renowned cardiothoracic surgeons in the world by Udayakumar—said work done by the MDRI will have far-reaching effects because of its emphasis on biological diversity.
“The implications of this are just astounding for the future of medicine, especially in this part of the world,” Trehan said. “This will kick back to the United States and reduce medicinal and healthcare costs. Duke is taking a great step toward helping the future of healthcare.”
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