The Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER), is an Initiative of the National Institutes of Health that aims to understand, prevent, and treat post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC), including Long COVID. Bateman Horne Center was invited to partner with the RECOVER Mountain States PASC Consortium (MSPC), a coalition of researchers and health care systems in Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. Rachel Hess, M.D., co-director of the University of Utah Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), spearheaded the successful RECOVER Initiative application and leads MSPC. The consortium will enroll and compare people who were sick with COVID-19 and recovered to those experiencing ongoing symptoms, referred to as Long COVID.
BHC’s role is to recruit Long COVID patients that have been sick for more than 6 months following infection with SARS-CoV-2 for the research being conducted by the MSPC researchers. MSPC brings together experts in clinical research, internal medicine, immunology, neuropsychiatry, genetics, vascular dysfunction, cardiology, diabetes, epidemiology, and informatics to define and understand PASC pathophysiology. The research questions that MSPC will address include:
- Immunologic Mechanisms in PASC
- Neurocognitive Outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 Infection and PASC
- Cardiac, Metabolic, Endothelial, and Vascular Dysfunction in PASC
- Pulmonary Complications of SARS-CoV-2 Infection and PASC
In addition to research, MSPC will include patient engagement and education. MSPC will work with other RECOVER initiative consortium members and patient partners for recruitment, education, and dissemination.
Dr. Francis Collins has noted that RECOVER Initiative is central to determining the cause and finding much needed answers for PASC. RECOVER will determine why some people get better from COVID-19 while others do not and will further our understanding of the injury to the brain and other body systems and will lead to diagnosis, treatment and ultimately ways to prevent PASC.
BHC believes that early diagnosis, management, and treatment can prevent post-viral illness such as PASC from progressing to chronic disability. We are very excited to be partnering with MSPC and involved in research to diagnose, treat, and ultimately prevent PASC. We thank you for your continued support as we press forward in our vision to create a world where patients with post-viral illnesses, like PASC, ME/CFS, and FM and are readily diagnosed, effectively treated, and widely met with empathy and understanding.
BHC’s role in the RECOVER Initiative is supported by federal funding provided by the NIH through MSPC.
Lucinda Bateman, MD, is a renowned clinician, researcher, and educator. Her Johns Hopkins University Medical School training instilled an approach to care that she has employed throughout her career - the patient comes first and the unknown or unexplained does not equate to a lack of proper and compassionate care. Since starting her own practice in 2000, she has served on six boards or committees, been the principal investigator for 45 studies, authored/coauthored 40 journal articles, served as adjunct instructor and adjunct assistant professor in the University of Utah Departments of Preventative Medicine, Internal Medicine, and Anesthesiology, and lectured around the world.