The Adult Cystic Fibrosis Center: Celebrating 55 Years
The Adult Cystic Fibrosis Center at the University of Utah celebrates its 55th year in 2019! Since 1964, dedicated care teams have witnessed many major milestones in cystic fibrosis (CF).
John Herbst, the first center director, and his clinical care team identified chromosome 7 as the location of the CF gene, which helped others' research efforts by allowing the ability to sequence the gene. Mario Capecchi, PhD, shared the 2007 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his pioneering work in homologous recombination technology and mouse embroynic stem cells. This led to the development of CF mice soon after the gene was sequenced.
Under the direction of Bruce Marshall, the second center director, the Adult CF Center was the first to implement Quality Improvement in the 1990’s as a central theme of multidisciplinary care. Dr. Marshall took the ideas to the CF Foundation in 2001 and helped make Quality Improvement standard practice throughout all CF Care Centers, first in the United States and then world-wide.
The work of the Adult Cystic Fibrosis Center continues in 2019. Past teams participated in the development and implementation of every drug specifically for CF, and the current team continues to participate or lead in basic and clinical investigations and ongoing drug discovery and development. David Young, an honoree at 2019's commencement for his mentorship of graduate students in Pharmacy, is currently leading the effort to propagate the Utah Pharmacy Care model to US and international CF care centers to improve accuracy of prescriptions, access to medications and better outcomes with pharmacological treatments.
The CF Care Team includes over 30 dedicated individuals including physicians, advanced practice clinicians, pharmacists, nurses, respiratory therapists, dieticians, social workers and other staff. Care is provided that meets or exceeds the accreditation requirements of the US CF Foundation, and it is tailored to meet the needs of each individual patient.
The efforts of the CF community world-wide has dramatically improved outcomes for people with CF, and we’re happy to be a part of the success. To find out more about our local efforts, visit the Adult CF Center website.