The National Agency for Research (ANR) has chosen the Nice University Hospital (CHU) and its partners (University Côte d’Azur, Inria, and Inserm) with the ambition to establish a University Hospital Institute in Nice. This institution would focus on respiratory health and aging.
This would be a real center of excellence, based on the links connecting respiratory health, the environment, and aging. This facility may become a reality once the proposal is accepted in the final phase, which will take place at the beginning of February before an international jury at the ANR. The goal of this project is to establish a system that more effectively combats respiratory diseases present in the region. It is in line with a general context of escalating environmental degradation.
This model is oriented towards developing a system of prevention, monitoring, and early management. It aims to slow the impact of these diseases on the healthcare system. Christian Estrosi, the Mayor of Nice, commented on this topic:
“Climate change is one of the major challenges for public health. Our ecosystem in Nice is a unique laboratory that allows us to project the impact of diseases on populations in France and Europe over the next ten years, given the demographic profile.”
An ambitious project indeed, named RepirERA. This initiative has the support of several important stakeholders in the medical field. Professor Paul Hofman, head of the clinical & experimental pathology laboratory at CHU de Nice; Professor Charles-Hugo Marquette, pulmonologist and oncologist at CHU de Nice, as well as more than a hundred researchers from University Côte d’Azur, Inria, and Inserm, and doctors from CHU. Christian Estrosi is particularly enthusiastic about the numerous supporters involved in this project:
“We, as public decision-makers, are fortunate to have in Nice eminent internationally recognized professors and their teams who provide indicators that serve as real decision-making tools to better design prevention programs.”
This institution plans to focus on several diseases, particularly chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), fibroses, cystic fibrosis, and lung cancers.
