May 13, 2026

In this episode of Manne Research Institute's In Pursuit podcast, Dr. Patrick Seed talks with Dr. Jennifer Hoffmann about the prevalence of suicidal thoughts and behaviors, which surged among children and adolescents in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Hoffmann highlights how the protective strategies that start in the emergency room can help mitigate suicide risks. She shares how her research journey evolved from an interest in advocating for improved child health to a dedication to investigating the underlying causes and effective solutions to the pediatric mental health crises.

RESEARCH DISCOVERY WEEK

Research Discovery Week Collaborative Impact Award Winners Announced

Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute has announced that the Clinical Research Support Unit (CRSU)—Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Nutrition, Transplant Surgery, and Nephrology team (shown right, upper) and the Pritzker Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health New Arrivals Wellness Clinic team (shown right, lower) are the winners of the Research Discovery Week 2026 Collaborative Impact Award.

Presented at the closing of the inaugural Research Discovery Week, the award recognizes Lurie Children’s research teams whose collective efforts demonstrate the power of collaboration to advance discovery and successfully address complex questions and generate meaningful impact.

Introducing Scientist: Ask Me Anything

Scientist: Ask Me Anything was introduced during the inaugural Research Discovery Week as a new video series from Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago and Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute. The series creates a space where families, patients, and students can ask questions and hear directly from the doctors and scientists studying pediatric health and disease. 

The topic for the first Scientist: Ask Me Anything video is epigenetics. Moderated by Todd Florin, MD, MSCE, Lurie Children’s investigators Audrey Raut, MD, and Leena Mithal, MD, (pictured, L-to-R) answer questions and share their expertise on how factors such as our nutrition, stress, environment, and more can influence how our genes work. 

SCIENCE SHOWCASE

Team members from Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute recently shared their expertise at the Society of Critical Care Medicine Discovery Critical Care Innovation Incubator, an event that brought together clinicians, researchers, industry partners, and investors for a day of educational programming, a pitch competition, poster sessions, and networking opportunities focused on emerging trends in critical care innovation. The all-day event was part of the society’s 2026 Critical Care Congress.

As co-chair of the Innovation Incubator event, Kelley Elahi, MSE, RN, Associate Director of the Innovation Portfolio for Manne Research Institute’s Innovate2Impact program, helped design the event’s programming, selecting relevant topics and speakers for each session. Her contributions also included moderating the Pitch-a-Palooza: Showcasing Innovations in Critical Care session, which brought together attendees to share and pitch ideas and concepts that have potential to advance critical care medicine, and serving as a judge for the poster sessions. 

Vidhi Dalal Named K12 Scholar by NUCATS Institute 

The Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences (NUCATS) Institute recently named Vidhi Dalal, MD, a K12 scholar. Dr. Dalal, a pediatric nephrologist at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and an assistant professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, investigates nephrotic syndrome and podocyte disorders that affect a large subset of children with kidney disease. Through this research she seeks to better understand podocyte biology and inform the development of new therapeutics for more effective treatment of podocyte disorders. 

Jaclyn Papadakis Wins Donald K. Routh Early Career Award

Jaclyn L. Papadakis, PhD, a pediatric psychologist in the Pritzker Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, won the Society of Pediatric Psychology Donald K. Routh Early Career Award. The award recognizes the contributions of a member of the Society of Pediatric Psychology to the field of pediatric psychology in research, clinical training, or service. 

Alex's Lemonade Stand Program Supports Summer Intern for MacQuarrie Laboratory 

Kyle MacQuarrie, MD, PhD, Attending Physician, Hematology, Oncology, Neuro-Oncology, and Stem Cell Transplantation, at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, received a $5,000 award from the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation Pediatric Oncology Student Training Program to support a summer intern in the MacQuarrie Laboratory. This is the second year in a row that Dr. MacQuarrie has been successful at securing this award for a trainee in his lab. Sydney Vorrier, a medical student at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine who is interested in pediatric oncology, will participate in a larger funded effort in Dr. MacQuarrie’s lab investigating chemotherapy resistance in rhabdomyosarcoma cells.

NEWS FROM THE RESEARCH PILLARS

Discoid lateral meniscus is a congenital difference in the shape and structure of the meniscus that can cause pain, popping, and reduced motion of the knee. This variant may be found in up to 10 percent of some patient populations and is prone to tearing and injury. A retrospective study published in The Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine and co-authored by Craig Finlayson, MD, reviewed data from 867 knees in 784 youth and adolescent patients surgically treated for discoid lateral meniscus to determine demographic, injury, and perioperative risk factors that increase the likelihood of complications and reoperation after treatment. 

Researchers from Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago were among the multicenter team of experts who determined more accurate national estimates of non-neonatal pediatric sepsis using readily available clinical data from electronic health records. As they recently reported in JAMA, sepsis occurred in 1.3% of pediatric hospitalizations, with 10% mortality rate, corresponding to more than 18,000 U.S. cases and more than 1,800 deaths annually. Neither pediatric sepsis incidence nor mortality changed significantly from 2016 to 2022.

“The process and definition of pediatric sepsis we developed and applied allows for accurate and uniform epidemiological surveillance that is essential for improving future care,” said co-author Elizabeth Alpern, MD, MSCE, Division Head of Emergency Medicine at Lurie Children’s and Professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “We especially need to move the needle on mortality from pediatric sepsis in the U.S., since we found that hasn’t changed over the six-year period we studied. We need to learn from the centers that achieve better outcomes and implement those practices nationally.”

Findings from two studies authored by Neeraj Patel, MD, MPH, MBS, an orthopaedic surgeon at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and an associate professor of orthopaedic surgery and medical social sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, provide insights into the association between insurance type, race, and ethnicity and access to and timing of care pediatric patients receive for sports-related injuries.

Public Insurance is Associated with Delays to Surgery in Pediatric Patients with a First-Time Patellar Dislocation Involving a Loose Body

This retrospective comparative study conducted by researchers at Lurie Children’s and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and published in the Journal of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America examined the association of social and demographic factors with time to surgery for 163 pediatric patients under 19 years of age with first-time patellar dislocations involving a loose body.  

After ACL Injury in Children and Adolescents, Where in the Preoperative Timeline do Disparities in Timing and Clinical Course Originate? 

This retrospective comparative study published in the journal Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research analyzed data from 534 youth and adolescent patients treated surgically for ACL injuries to identify differences in the course and timing of the preoperative timeline with respect to insurance and race or ethnicity.

The cutting-edge CAR T-Cell Therapy Program at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago is integral to the hospital’s newly established Cal’s Angels Advanced Leukemia Clinical and Research Program, which provides comprehensive care to pediatric, adolescent and young adult patients with high-risk subsets of leukemia, supported by basic and clinical research to advance care.

Access to Early Phase CAR T-Cell Clinical Trials

Currently, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell immunotherapy is FDA approved to treat children and adolescents with B-acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) that is resistant to chemotherapy or that has relapsed multiple times. In efforts to expand this indication, Lurie Children’s soon will join a Phase 1b/2 multinational clinical trial that offers a CAR T-cell option for pediatric patients with a high-risk first relapse of B-ALL. This trial, sponsored by Autolus, also will recruit patients with multiply relapsed or refractory B-ALL, and patients with relapsed/refractory B-non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

“We’re excited to launch this trial in Chicago, which enables us to provide earlier treatment to youth with relapsed B-ALL,” said Kevin McNerney, MD, who heads the CAR T-Cell Therapy Program and is the principal investigator at Lurie Children’s. “Our program was an early adopter of CAR T-cell therapy, and we have developed considerable expertise with this innovative approach. We now perform the most CAR T-cell infusions for children and young adults in Illinois.

Click below to learn more about Lurie Children's status as a national leadership in CAR T-Cell research.

MANNE RESEARCH INSTITUTE IN THE MEDIA

• Flu Vaccine Cuts Kids’ Hospitalization Risk by up to 60% - MedScape
• Kids With Asthma May Need a More Personalized Approach - RC Central (AARC)
• CoFAR Launches “foodspace”: A Collaborative Digital Space for Food Allergy Researchers - EurekAlert