The BloodCenter of Wisconsin in Milwaukee has created a new Medical Sciences Institute (MSI). It is expected to increase the BloodCenter’s revenue by more than $1 million annually.

The institute plans to hire seven clinical researchers to complete its staffing.

The BloodCenter also encompasses the Blood Research Institute, which was created in 1991 to conduct benign hematology research. Jacquelyn Fredrick, the BloodCenter’s president and chief executive officer, said MSI will advance “discoveries made in the laboratory to the patients’ bedside.”

“Health care reform, at its heart, is about finding better ways and higher quality ways to more effectively treat patients,” added Fredrick. “You can only do that if you have a good framework for doing clinical and translational research. That’s why we think it’s so important to expand in that area.”

In October 2009, Thomas Abshire, MD, former director of the comprehensive hemostasis program at Emory University School of Medicine and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, was hired to head MSI. Abshire is a member of the National Hemophilia Foundation’s Medical and Scientific Advisory Council (MASAC).

Source: The Business Journal of Milwaukee (online), December 25, 2009