On Aug. 18, 2020, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore a $4.3 million grant to support a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 2 clinical trial that launched in April to evaluate the efficacy of convalescent plasma to treat COVID-19.

Convalescent therapy received FDA approval for investigational use in an open label protocol (when clinical trial information is not withheld from participants) for hospitalized patients in late March — but physician-scientists at Einstein and Montefiore have been pursuing the “gold standard” of a randomized clinical trial to determine if it can alleviate COVID-19 symptoms and reduce mortality rates.

Knowing there was no time to waste, Einstein, Montefiore, and NYU Langone swiftly launched the trial prior to securing federal funding. Study coordinators, pathologists, blood bank personnel, statisticians, regulatory specialists, clinicians, and research nurses quickly united to roll out the trial, which uses convalescent plasma and a placebo. To date, more than 180 people have been enrolled in the study, which is now expanding to other sites.

What makes this NIH grant unique compared to many others is that funding did not go directly to the principal investigators of the convalescent plasma trial, but rather to the Clinical and Translational Science Awards program, which in turn, funds the Block Institute for Clinical and Translational Research at Einstein and Montefiore (ICTR).

The ICTR, established in 2007, formalized the research partnership between Einstein and Montefiore and is designed to break down barriers that inhibit cross-disciplinary research between basic scientists, clinical researchers, and population health investigators. In addition, the ICTR provides a number of resources and training opportunities to junior faculty, like the Clinic