The Duke University Arthritis Center.

The Duke University Arthritis Center has brought together both clinicians and basic scientists into a common structure to achieve a singular goal--that of improving the health and welfare of patients with immune-mediated diseases in North Carolina and surrounding states. The structure of DUAC allows new insights gained by basic immunologic research to be rapidly applied to clinical rheumatologic diseases by channelling basic information to the clinical investigative unit in DUAC. Here new treatment strategies are developed and tested and made available to patients when they are judged to be both safe and efficacious. In the DUAC comprehensive clinics, the best treatments available to patients with rheumatologic diseases are provided in a setting designed to be user-friendly to patients and comprehensive in services offered.     

Research for North Carolina: The University Cancer Research Fund

In 2008 an estimated 40,000 North Carolinians will be diagnosed with cancer. This disease is the number one cause of death in our state and will claim more than 17,000 lives this year. North Carolina is swimming against a demographic tide of growth and aging that will bring 80,000 new cancer cases by 2050, despite continued improvements in cancer prevention, early detection, and treatment. By establishing the University Cancer Research Fund, North Carolina has taken a bold, nation-leading step forward toward improving the future health and well-being of its citizens. Research that creates new knowledge, turns that knowledge into advances in treatment, screening, and prevention, and then ensures delivery of those advances across the state-that research is the key that unlocks the doors to a new and better future. The Fund will make that research possible. As has often been the case, North Carolina was ahead of the national curve by creating the UCRF in July 2007. In November 2007, Texas passed a $3 billion bond referendum to provide $300 million annually to support cancer research over the next decade. In 2005, California passed a $3 billion bond referendum to support stem cell research. Perhaps noting the downturn in federal funding for biomedical research, other states are watching these states' investments to see if they improve their citizens' health and make researchers nationally competitive. We will rigorously evaluate the UCRF to show the nation that North Carolina has taken a bold and wise step. The North Carolina General Assembly and the people of North Carolina have presented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, the North Carolina Cancer Hospital, and UNC Health Care with an astounding opportunity and responsibility. We embrace that opportunity and that responsibility and pledge ourselves to our shared vision of a better future for the citizens of North Carolina.     

The North Carolina Clean Smokestacks Act

The story of North Carolina's Clean Smokestacks Act is a story about the link between the environment and health. It is a story about the good things that can happen when a state looks at health care policy through the lens of environmental health. For North Carolina, those good things are cleaner air and better health, for people and the environment, from Clingman's Dome to Jockey's Ridge.     

The state of diabetes in North Carolina

The diabetes epidemic is rapidly growing in North Carolina. In 1999, an estimated 366,000 residents were living with diagnosed diabetes. Ten years later, the prevalence of diagnosed cases had increased to approximately 659,000. Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the state and decreases life expectancy by up to 15 years. If the epidemic remains unchecked in the state, annual health care costs are predicted to exceed $17 billion by 2025. Prevention of diabetes and diabetes-related complications through treatment and disease self-management is paramount in changing this deadly and costly course and demands continued innovation in health programs and services and new partnerships among health professionals. This article reviews the diabetes burden in North Carolina and sets the stage for commentaries and sidebars in the accompanying policy forum.