New at Penn State
Penn State Intercom......August 30 , 2001

Joint project aimed at
expanding medical research

Leaders of The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and College of Medicine and the Lebanon Veterans Administration Medical Center announced a partnership to establish a state-of-the-art research facility on the Lebanon Center grounds.

The new laboratory will allow the Lebanon center to expand its research program conducting key VA-funded studies that are important to veterans, particularly in areas of cardiology and renal failure. The new lab may enable the Lebanon center and researchers with dual appointments to the Lebanon center and the College of Medicine to draw down more federal research dollars.

Darrell Kirch, chief executive officer and dean of the College of Medicine; and Steve Baron, executive director and chief operating officer of the Hershey Center, presented a check for $151,683 to Charleen R. Szabo, CEO at the Lebanon center, and Michela Zbogar, chief of staff. The money represents 75 percent of the total cost of renovations to create the new research lab.

The Lebanon center and the Hershey center have had an affiliation agreement for more than 15 years. This fiscal year, Congress appropriated $351 million dollars for VA research. The Lebanon center has been approved for 11 studies, which are expected to cost more than $234,000.

Renovations have begun and are scheduled for completion in December.

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