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CPCE has moved! Our new location is:
Roberts Center for Pediatric Research
2716 South Street
Philadelphia, PA 19146-2305. 
Spotlight on: Pediatric Asthma Treatment Adherence

May is National Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month and a peak season for asthma and allergy sufferers. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) offers social media and other awareness tools via its website . 

Digital health strategies, such as eHealth and social media, offer multiple platforms to actively engage patients and families in discussion with one another and their clinical team.  Dr. Chén Kenyon's asthma treatment adherence research studies the patterns of use of controller medications for children with high risk, urban asthma in order to implement timely interventions that target the causes of lapsed patterns of controller medication use.  
A follow-up study is underway evaluating adherence to controller medications in the months following asthma hospitalization and the efficacy of text-messaging based reminder system in enhancing adherence. 



Upcoming Events


CPCE / PolicyLab Health Services Research Seminar: "Implementation Research in Healthcare"
Date: TODAY May 12, 2017
Time: 12:00 noon to 1:00 pm
Location: Abramson Research Center, 123-ABC
Visiting speaker Joshua P. Metlay, MD, PhD, is the Chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. Click here for more information or e-mail us to RSVP.

7th Annual Quality and Safety Day
Date: May 16, 2017
Time: 9:00 am to 4:00 pm
Location: Stokes Auditorium, CHOP Main Hospital
Open to all CHOP staff, the agenda will include keynote speaker Rahul K. Shah, MD, MBA, Vice-President, Chief Quality and Safety Officer, Children’s National Health System; as well as breakout sessions and poster presentations. Click here for more information and to register.

CPCE / PolicyLab Health Services Research Seminar:
"Value in Care of Children with Advanced Heart Failure"
Date: June 2, 2017
Time: 12:00 noon to 1:00 pm
Location: Roberts Center for Pediatric Research, 2nd floor, 2-180
Faculty speaker Joseph W. Rossano, MD, MS, is Executive Director of The Cardiac Center at CHOP and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. E-mail us for more information or to RSVP.
CPCE in
the News!
Recent Publications




Dr. Joseph Rossano and colleagues used the NEDS database (2010) to evaluate emergency department (ED) utilization in pediatric heart transplant recipients compared to other patient populations with focus on characteristics of ED visits, risk factors for admission, and charges. 
Large electronic health record (EHR) datasets are increasingly used to facilitate research on growth, but measurement and recording errors can lead to biased results. This project involved developing and testing an automated method for identifying implausible values in pediatric EHR growth data.

The prognostic impact of central nervous system (CNS) involvement in children with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has varied in past trials, and controversy exists over the degree of involvement requiring intensified CNS therapy. This research conducted by Dr. Richard Aplenc and the Children's Oncology Group found that CNS leukemia confers greater relapse risk despite more aggressive locally directed therapy. Novel approaches need to be investigated in this group of patients.

Congestive hepatopathy is a recognized complication of Fontan physiology but data regarding the incidence of hepatopathy and risk factors are lacking. In this cohort of predominantly asymptomatic children and adolescents electively evaluated after a Fontan operation, all exhibited evidence for hepatic fibrosis as measured by collagen deposition in the liver. Time from Fontan was the only factor significantly associated with collagen deposition. These findings demonstrate that liver fibrosis is an inherent feature of Fontan physiology and that the degree of fibrosis increases over time.

Enthesitis-related arthritis (ERA) is a specific subtype of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) defined according to the International League of Associations for Rheumatology (ILAR) criteria. Dr. Pamela Weiss and colleagues aimed to characterize the clinical features and treatment regimens in an inception cohort of children with ERA.

There is inadequate power to perform a valid clinical trial in pediatric heart transplantation (HT) using a conventional end-point, because the disease is rare and hard end-points, such as death or graft loss, are infrequent. This research by the Pediatric Heart Transplant Study (PHTS) Group Registry sought to develop and validate a surrogate end-point involving the cumulative burden of post-transplant complications to predict death/graft loss to power a randomized clinical trial of maintenance immunosuppression in pediatric HT.

CYPB2B6 polymorphisms that affect efavirenz (EFV) concentrations are common, but the effect of this polymorphism on HIV virologic failure in clinical practice settings has not fully been elucidated. The objective of this research was to investigate the relationship between the CYPB2B6 516G>T genotype and late virologic failure in patients treated with EFV in Gaborone, Botswana.
Funding Opportunities


Reach Grants are designed to move hypothesis-driven research into the clinic. The $250,000, two year grant is intended to fund developmental therapeutic studies in the late stage of preclinical testing. A successful application will identify an unmet clinical need relevant to the care of pediatric patients with cancer and describe how the work performed will allow for the translation to the clinic within two years of completion. A plan and timeline for clinical testing and trial implementation is expected. This grant does not fund clinical trial expenses.  The ‘A’ Award is a four-year grant designed for the early independent career scientist who wants to establish a career in pediatric oncology research. The ideal applicant has an original project that is not currently being funded. Demonstration of a future commitment to pediatric cancer investigation as well as institutional support for the career development of the investigator are critical components of a successful application.
The mission of the Gerber Foundation is to enhance the nutrition, care, and development of infants and young children. To that end, the foundation is accepting concept papers for health and/or nutrition-related research projects with potential to have a significant impact on issues affecting infants and young children from birth to three years of age. The total requested grant size should be no more than $350,000. Concept papers must be received no later than June 1, 2017. Upon review, selected applicants will be invited to submit a full proposals by August 15, 2017.

Grants of up to $100,000 per year for a maximum of two years will be awarded for new research in the areas of molecular genetics/biochemistry, devices/procedural research (catheterization and surgical), and long-term care of children with congenital heart defects as they become adults.

Within its broad focus on mental health, the Foundation is interested in encouraging and attracting innovative and practical programs in areas which: 
1. increase the accessibility of the poor and needy to mental-health services;
2. offer preventive and early-intervention strategies;
3. advocate for systemic change with local or national impact.
The Foundation generally awards up to two-year grants in the range of $25,000 to $50,000 in metropolitan New York and Philadelphia. The Foundation has in the past and may continue to increase the amount of a grant based on timely or successful efforts.

The Children's Cardiomyopathy Foundation (CCF) is committed to improving outcomes and quality of life for children with all forms of cardiomyopathy. CCF's research grant program aims to advance medical knowledge on the causes and mechanism of pediatric cardiomyopathy and to develop diagnostic guidelines and targeted therapies. Funding is available in the range of US$25,000 to US$50,000 for one year of total direct costs. Following the completion of the proposed study, a second year of funding may be requested by application.

CLRA was founded in 1965 to support research efforts aimed at finding the causes of and a cure for leukemia. To that end, CLRA is seeking applications from investigators for promising research on childhood leukemia. Grants of up to $30,000 will be awarded for the most promising projects with the shared goal of isolating the causes of and finding a cure for childhood leukemia. Any doctor at the Ph.D. or M.D. level involved in research on the causes of and a cure for leukemia may apply.
This award is intended to support junior investigators during the period that they are developing a project that will be competitive for NIH funding. The purpose is to provide support for basic science, translational, and clinical investigators engaged in research relevant to the rheumatic diseases for the period between the completion of post-doctorate fellowship training and establishment as an independent investigator. The award will fund up to $375,000 for up to 3 years.
The North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (NASPGHAN) Foundation awards grants in several categories. Awardees are typically required to be NASPGHAN members.
New York Life Foundation’s Grief Reach Community Expansion RFP awards nonprofits that will expand and increase access for grief support services to underserved populations in local communities.Proposals should clearly define the target population, local partners and strategy for expansion. Grants range from $15,000 to $100,000.
Last year, the NIH received approximately $30 billion in federal support. In spite of this amount, about 42,500 grants were not funded. To address these unfunded proposals, the NIH has a new Pilot Program that is designed to match researchers with nonprofit disease Foundations or with investments from private companies. Through a new collaboration between the NIH and the private contractor Leidos, researchers can now upload their unfunded NIH Proposals into an online portal at the Online Partnership to Accelerate Research (OnPAR). Foundations and other potential funders can review the NIH scores, and decide whether they might be interested in funding the Projects. Currently, this Pilot Program allows researchers with priority scores better than the 30th percentile to submit their abstracts. Interested Foundations might ask that a researcher send their full NIH Application along with its scores. The consensus opinion is that there are a lot of worthy grants being submitted to the NIH, but there is only so much funding available. OnPAR is one way of trying to match researchers with private Foundations. 
About CPCE
We are a pediatric research center dedicated to discovering and sharing knowledge about best practices in pediatric care by facilitating, organizing and centralizing the performance of clinical effectiveness research -- research aimed at understanding the best ways to prevent, diagnose and treat diseases in children. CPCE’s multidisciplinary team conducts research on a diverse range of clinical effectiveness topics grouped within four areas of research: