The centre for rare diseases is a brand new facility situated in the Heritage Building on the Queen Elizabeth Medical Campus in Edgbaston, Birmingham. Its vision is to develop a (Supra) Regional integrated multi-speciality, multi-disciplinary centre of excellence for care of patients with Rare Diseases based within the ITM (Institute of Translational Medicine). The focus is for highly organised one-stop clinics where patients (with their carers) would undergo pre-planned diagnostic tests and see all relevant specialists and the multi-disciplinary team at one visit at UHBFT as the hub of their care.

Institute of Translational Medicine (ITM)

In 2012 government funding was announced for the development of a £24m Institute of Translational Medicine (ITM) in Birmingham in collaboration with the University of Birmingham. The ITM will provide a single point of entry for individuals, organisations and business seeking to maximise biomedical research translation for the benefit of industry, the economy and patients. It will facilitate the rapid assessment of cost-effective new drugs and medical devices within clinical settings. The ITM facility will open in phases from the end of June 2015. The ITM Clinical Research Facility will be operational from 1 September 2015.