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Updates from Research Administration
- Celebrating the Passion of our Donor Advocates
- "Navigating Northwestern Scholars Database" Debuts
Updates from Research Partners
- ARCC Launches Anti-Racist Learning Collaborative Tool
Research Institute Staff Additions and Career News
- Darielle Sherrod, MPH, Research Program Manager, Family & Child Health Innovations Program
- Juan Diego Vintimilla, Behavioral Research Coordinator II, Family & Child Health Innovations Program
Science Showcase
- Recognizing the Recipients of the Fall 2022 Internal Grant Awards
- Exclusive First Person with Sandi Lam, MD
- Innovate2Impact and Lurie Children’s Nurses Collaborate on Safety Project
News from the Manne Research Pillars
- Study: Gender-Affirming Hormones Improve Mental Health in Transgender and Nonbinary Youth
- NIH-Funded Research to Develop Pneumonia Severity Prediction Tool for Improving Emergency Care of Children
- Vaccination Provides Effective Protection Against Increased Risk of Pregnancy Complications due to COVID-19 Omicron Variant
Manne Research Institute in the Media
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UPDATES FROM RESEARCH ADMINISTRATION | |
Office of the President and Chief Research Officer | | |
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Celebrating the Passion of our Donor Advocates
View the latest President's Message
"Our donors are special angel investors who can see past the inherent risks in investing in research and discovery to imagine the high returns on investment that are children’s healthier futures." Read about the passion and drive of donor advocates Devanee and Alex Washington in the recent Manne Research Institute President's Message from Dr. Patrick Seed.
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Office of Research Development | | |
"Navigating Northwestern Scholars Database" Debuts | |
The Office of Research Development presents a new resource, Navigating Northwestern Scholars Database, to aid in the process of finding Scientific Peer Review grant reviewers and collaborators when utilizing Northwestern Scholars database. The Navigating Northwestern Scholars Database video tutorial and supplemental document can be accessed via the Research Resource Hub. Please email researchdevelopment@luriechildrens.org with any questions. |
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Updates From Research Partners | | |
ARCC Launches Anti-Racist Learning Collaborative Tool | |
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Via NUCATS: A new tool developed by the Alliance for Research in Chicagoland Communities (ARCC) aims to support researchers and community-academic research partnerships in learning and implementing strategies to integrate racial equity and anti-racism into their partnerships and research design, conduct, leadership, and impact.
The Anti-Racist Community-Academic Research Reflective Practice Tool was developed by community and academic partners of the ARCC Steering Committee, the ARCC Anti-Racism Taskforce, and participants in the ARCC Community-Academic Anti-Racism Learning Collaborative, in partnership with the Equity Institute of the Evanston/North Shore YWCA. Learn more.
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Research Institute Staff Additions and Career News | | |
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Darielle Sherrod, MPH
Research Program Manager, Family and Child Health Innovation Program, Mary Ann & J. Milburn Smith Child Health Outcomes, Research and Evaluation Center
Darielle Sherrod, MPH, has joined the Family and Child Health Innovation Program (FCHIP), Mary Ann & J. Milburn Smith Child Health Outcomes, Research and Evaluation Center as Research Program Manager. In this role, Sherrod will provide overall research program administration and management of activities within the program’s leadership team research portfolio. This includes serving as the liaison between the program’s faculty members and Manne Research Institute’s centralized research resources to create budgets, manage research funds, and monitor and evaluate budget variances. Sherrod will also work with Dr. Craig Garfield and his team on local and national initiatives, monitoring and reporting program outcomes, coordinating sub-contracts, and budgeting and facilitating the delivery of all aspects of FCHIP.
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Juan Diego Vintimilla
Behavioral Research Coordinator II, Family and Child Health Innovations Program, Mary Ann & J. Milburn Smith Child Health Outcomes, Research and Evaluation Center
Juan Diego Vintimilla has been named Behavioral Research Coordinator II, Family and Child Health Innovations Program, Mary Ann & J. Milburn Smith Child Health Outcomes, Research and Evaluation Center. He will be responsible for a wide range of activities, some of which include conducting study start-up activities; preparing regulatory and informed consent documents; and coordinating study conduct with other departments to implement behavioral research projects. He earned a BS in Psychology and BA in Spanish Linguistics from the University of Wyoming, where he interned as a McNair Scholar researching cross-cultural interactions. After graduation, Vintimilla served as a volunteer intern in Brazil helping children with terminal cancer to use therapeutical tools, then worked for the Palm Beach County public school system as an AmeriCorp member and moved to Chicago to work in COVID-19 and sexual health at Howard Brown Health Center. Currently, he is working toward earning an MA in Counseling Psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology.
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Stanley Manne Children's Research Institute is pleased to announce the winners of the Fall 2022 Internal Grant Award (IGA) program. The IGA program provides resources to a faculty member or other person who has Principal Investigator-eligible status to develop projects that will lead to a highly competitive extramural application for sustained research support within 18 months of receiving the award. All awards are for a one-year period. The Fall 2022 IGA program accepted proposals for seven award categories: | |
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Isabelle De Plaen, MD
Attending Physician, Neonatology, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, and Professor of Pediatrics (Neonatology), Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
IGA type: Proposal Revision Award
Title: Role of Inflammatory Macrophages on Intestinal Microvasculature Development and NEC
Amount funded: $100,000
Yuchen Du, PhD
Research Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Hematology, Oncology, and Stem Cell Transplantation), Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
IGA type: Kenneth C. Griffin Research Catalyst Award
Title: The Role of PLEKHG1 in Driving Pediatric Ependymoma Recurrence
Amount funded: $100,000
Kerri Machut, MD
Attending Physician, Neonatology, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Neonatology), Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
IGA type: Scientific Advocacy Award
Title: Development of National Standards for Neonatology Staffing
Amount funded: $1,000
Sriram Ramgopal, MD
Attending Physician, Emergency Medicine, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Emergency Medicine), Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
IGA type: Visionary Award
Title: Outcome Measures and Predictors for Pediatric Community Acquired Pneumonia using Electronic Health Record Data
Amount funded: $75,000
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Arun Sharma, PhD
Director, Pediatric Urological Regenerative Medicine, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago; Director of Surgical Research, Stanley Manne Children's Research Institute; and Research Associate Professor of Urology and Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and McCormick School of Engineering
IGA type: Proposal Revision Award
Title: Small Molecule Directed Urinary Bladder Tissue Regeneration
Amount funded: $99,855
Joyce Woo, MD, MS
Attending Physician, Cardiology, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Cardiology) and Medical Social Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
IGA type: Catalyst’s Spark Award
Title: Access to Delivery at a Congenital Heart Center for Infants with Critical Congenital Heart Defects
Amount funded: $99,712
Xiaocai Yan, MD, PhD
Research Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
IGA type: Visionary Award
Title: The Role of Neonatal Intestinal Endothelial Cell Metabolic Reprogramming during Necrotizing Enterocolitis Development
Amount funded: $74,639
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Exclusive First Person with Sandi Lam, MD | |
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The Division Head of Neurosurgery and the holder of the Yeager Professorship in Pediatric Neurosurgery, Dr. Sandi Lam is a pediatric neurosurgeon and researcher, and a leading specialist in the areas of epilepsy surgery and neurovascular surgery. In a recent interview published via luriechildrens.org, Dr. Lam discusses what motivates her, and why research is the key to bettering the lives of children with epilepsy.
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Innovate2Impact and Lurie Children’s Nurses Collaborate on Safety Project
Innovation looks to prevent gurney falls in emergency department
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Innovate2Impact (I2I), the innovation hub for Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, recently brought together stakeholders in an innovation project that hopes to develop solutions to prevent pediatric falls from gurneys in the emergency department.
After several years of working on fall prevention strategies, a team of Lurie Children’s nurses identified that there is a need for a gurney specifically designed to prevent falls in the pediatric population. Currently available gurneys are not designed for pediatric patients, so Kimberly Denicolo, MSN, RN, and Michael Olsen, RN, sought to find a solution. To help Denicolo and Olsen move forward with their own development of a specially designed gurney, the I2I team connected them with external consultants who facilitated a brainstorming workshop. The collaborative activity allowed Denicolo, Olsen, the I2I team, and other stakeholders to generate new ideas together for accessories to improve existing gurneys as well as concepts for completely new gurneys.
“I2I will continue to mentor the nursing team on the product development process and work with them to move the project through that process,” says Kelley Elahi, MSE, BSN, RN, CPN, Manager, Innovation Portfolio. Currently, I2I is gauging the interest of its industry contacts (both consultants and medical device companies) in opportunities to co-develop a gurney or gurney accessory, and next steps include facilitating non-disclosure agreements and assisting the nursing team (along with support from Northwestern University’ Innovation and New Ventures Office) in submitting invention disclosures based on ideas generated at the brainstorming workshop. With support from I2I, the nursing team recently connected with a major gurney manufacturer to discuss new gurney design requirements.
If you are interested in innovation, want to know more about the innovation process, or learn how your ideas can be scaled to have significant impact on health, contact Kosh Ghosh, Director of the Innovation Program, or explore more about I2I at luriechildrens.org/I2I.
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NEWS FROM THE RESEARCH PILLARS | |
Study: Gender-Affirming Hormones Improve Mental Health in Transgender and Nonbinary Youth | |
Transgender and nonbinary youth experienced significant improvement in appearance congruence (or the degree to which physical characteristics align with gender) and sustained improvements in depression and anxiety over two years after starting treatment with gender-affirming hormones, according to a multicenter U.S. study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
“Our results provide robust scientific evidence that improved appearance congruence secondary to hormone treatment is strongly linked to better mental health outcomes in transgender and nonbinary youth,” said lead author Diane Chen, PhD, pediatric psychologist with the Gender and Sex Development Program at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and Associate Professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “This is critical, given that transgender youth experience more depression and anxiety, and are at a higher risk for suicidality than cisgender youth.”
Many transgender or non-binary teens experience gender dysphoria, or the persistent distress caused by the discrepancy between their gender identity and physical appearance. Gender-affirming hormones (testosterone or estradiol) are used as treatment to foster gender-congruent secondary sex characteristics, such as breast development or facial hair.
"The critical results we report demonstrate the positive psychological impact of gender-affirming hormones for treatment of youth with gender dysphoria,” said senior author Johanna Olson-Kennedy, MD, Medical Director of the Center for Transyouth Health and Development at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. “Amidst a landscape of misinformation, we hope these findings support the use of timely and appropriate medical interventions for this vulnerable group of adolescents."
All the centers participating in the study employ a multidisciplinary team, comprising medical and mental health providers, that collaboratively determines whether gender dysphoria is present and gender-affirming medical care is appropriate. For minors, parental consent is required to initiate medical treatment. Read more...
| NIH-Funded Research to Develop Pneumonia Severity Prediction Tool for Improving Emergency Care of Children | |
Todd Florin, MD, MSCE, recently was awarded a $5.8 million grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) for a multicenter study to derive and broadly validate the first emergency department (ED)-based pediatric community-acquired pneumonia severity (PedCAPS) score. This objective score will help avoid many unnecessary hospitalizations in children at low risk of severe outcomes, while targeting more focused therapies towards the lower proportion of children at highest risk for severe disease.
Although community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is one of the most common serious infections in children and a leading reason that children seek emergency care, no validated tools exist to predict disease severity in children. CAP risk scores are commonly used in adults, improving hospitalization decisions and reducing unnecessary use of antibiotics.
“Without objective, evidence-based tools, pneumonia management decisions are inefficient and potentially inaccurate, resulting in unnecessary testing, treatment, and hospitalization in low-risk children or delays in critically important therapies in those at high risk of severe illness,” said Dr. Florin, Director of Research for the Division of Emergency Medicine at Lurie Children’s and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “I feel great optimism that the PedCAPS score will improve health outcomes, quality of life, antimicrobial resistance, and resource utilization, in addition to ensuring equitable care, for children with this common pediatric infection.” Read more...
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Vaccination Provides Effective Protection Against Increased Risk of Pregnancy Complications due to COVID-19 Omicron Variant | |
The global network led by the Oxford Maternal and Perinatal Health Institute (OMPHI) at the University of Oxford has published in the journal Lancet the results of the ‘2022 INTERCOVID Study’ conducted in 41 hospitals across 18 countries, including Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. To evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 Omicron variant on maternal and neonatal outcomes the researchers studied 1,545 pregnant women diagnosed with the variant and 3,073 non-diagnosed, concomitant pregnant women as controls. The study was conducted between November 27, 2021, and June 30, 2022, during which time Omicron was the variant of concern. Vaccine effectiveness against the variant was also assessed.
COVID-19 Omicron variant during pregnancy was associated with increased risks of maternal morbidity, severe pregnancy complications, and hospital admission, especially among symptomatic and unvaccinated women. In particular, the risk of preeclampsia was increased among women with severe symptoms. Obese/overweight women with severe symptoms were at the highest risk for maternal morbidity and severe complications.
Vaccinated women were well protected against severe COVID-19 symptoms and complications and had a very low risk of admission to an intensive care unit. Prevention of severe COVID-19 symptoms and complications requires women to be completely vaccinated, preferably with a booster dose as well.
In the study, mRNA vaccines were most effective in preventing severe COVID-19 symptoms and complications, although viral vector vaccines with a booster also provided adequate protection – for at least 10 months after the last dose for both mRNA vaccines and viral vector vaccines with a booster. Read more...
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MANNE RESEARCH INSTITUTE IN THE MEDIA | | | | |
