Volume 2 Issue 4 April 2024

Groundbreaking Cancer Treatment Collaboration Between

Nicklaus Children's Hospital, FIU Saves Lives

8-year-old Logan Gets a Second Chance

When eight-year-old Logan learned his cancer had returned it was not the news he or his family had hoped to hear. Just two years earlier during the COVID-19 Pandemic, Logan was told he was cancer-free, but that celebration turned to heartache when he learned he had to face that battle for a second time.

Dr. Maggie Fader, pediatric hematologist/oncologist, KIDZ Medical at the Helen & Jacob Shaham Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, in collaboration with a team of researchers led by Diana Azzam, assistant professor of environmental health sciences at the FIU Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work at Florida International University (FIU), has developed a functional precision medicine approach that targets cancer by combining genetic testing with a new way to test individual drugs on tumor samples.

This approach was used successfully to guide treatment of relapsed hard-to-treat pediatric cancer patients for the first time. This new approach resulted in 83% of the children showing improvement, including Logan, 8, whose relapsed acute myeloid leukemia was successfully treated through this new guided approach by Dr. Fader.

Click here to read more.

Logan and his parents

"Logan is a brave boy," said Dr. Marcos Mestre, chief medical officer at Nicklaus Children's Hospital. "Thanks to his bravery, his clinical care team at Nicklaus Children's including his attending physician Dr. Maggie Fader, FIU's Diana Azzam and her research team, we are advancing pediatric cancer treatment for all kids in Florida and across the region."

Maggie Eidson Fader, MD

Pediatric Hematologist/Oncologist

Sarcoma & Solid Tumors Program

Elevating Pediatric Cancer Care with

Life-Changing Research

Approximately 15,000 children age 19 and younger develop cancer every year. Although the five-year survival rate has increased for those patients in recent decades, the effects of treatment can last a lifetime for some patients.

“The one thing that has created progress not just in cancer survival but in quality of life over time has been a hard push toward including patients in clinical trials as often as possible,” says Maggie Fader, MD, Director of the Sarcoma and Solid Tumor Program at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital. “That’s why our department is committed to enrolling as many of our patients as possible in clinical trials, even if a child has a good prognosis. It may be that we know they have a 95 percent chance of success, but they have a 40 percent chance of having late effects, and this new trial might taper down those late effects.”

Learn more by clicking here.

Nicklaus Children’s Announces $15 Million Gift from South Florida Philanthropists Helen and Jacob Shaham



Renames its Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute

Nicklaus Children's Hospital today announced a $15 million gift from South Florida philanthropists Helen and Jacob Shaham to further elevate world-class pediatric cancer care and research through the hospital’s cancer and blood disorders institute. In recognition of the gift, the program now proudly bears the name, the Helen & Jacob Shaham Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute.

Click here to read the press release.

The Developmental Disorders and Autism Program at Nicklaus Children's Hospital is internationally recognized and offers a comprehensive care program for autism and other developmental/cognitive disorders in children referred from all over the world. In the United States, approximately 1 in 6 children aged 3 to 17 years in diagnosed with a developmental disorder including but not limited to autism, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and intellectual disability.

Specialty Spotlight Series

The First Wednesday of Every Month Via Teams

We invite all clinicians to join us to learn from each other and

cultivate relationships through our collaborative educational endeavor,

Specialty Spotlight Series, designed to educate, empower and

improve the quality of care for children in our community and beyond.

Upcoming

Adolescent Anxiety:

Screening and Recommendations

Wednesday, May 1

12 noon to 1 pm

Speaker:

Lissette M. Perez-Lima, PhD

Clinical Psychology

For general information:

NCPSClinicians@Nicklaushealth.org

 Register on iLearnPeds.com. Click here.

(http://www.ilearnpeds.com/pcp/20240501)

Registration is Free 

CME Processing Fee: $15

Accreditation Statement:

Nicklaus Children’s Hospital is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Faculty/Planner Disclosure Policy:

In accordance with the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education’s Standards for Commercial Support, all planners, teachers, and authors involved in

the development of CME content are required to disclose to the accredited provider

their financial relationships. Relevant financial relationships will be disclosed to the activity audience. All relevant conflicts of interest disclosed have been mitigated

before the start of the session.

Commercial Support Disclosure:

No commercial support was received for this activity.

Credit Designation Statement(s):

Nicklaus Children’s Hospital has approved and designated this live activity for a

maximum of 1.00 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM. Physicians should claim only the

credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. 

To register and for additional information visit iLearnPeds.com:

In case you missed it!

Previous Specialty Spotlight Sessions:

Q&A Session

Pediatric Urology

George A. Ransford, MD

Pediatric Specialty Urology

Clinical Career Opportunities at

Nicklaus Children's Hospital

Nicklaus Children's Health System is the region's only healthcare system entirely for children. If you’re looking for a unique professional medical environment with rewarding experiences where you can make a difference in every life you touch, don't hesitate to apply today and join our team.

Some of the positions currently available include adolescent medicine specialists, ER doctors, hospitalists, psychologists, radiologists and a craniofacial orthodontist to name a few.

To view current opportunities, click here.

 To learn more about physician opportunities, please contact:

Joyce Berger

 Physician Recruiter

 joyce.berger@nicklaushealth.org

 Office:786-624-3510

 Cell: 786-501-6189

 nicklauschildrens.org/NCPS

Nicklaus Children’s Hospital’s selected as

Reader's Choice Award 2023 for Best Pediatric Hospital

About Nicklaus Children's Hospital

Founded in 1950 by Variety Clubs International, Nicklaus Children’s Hospital is South Florida’s only licensed specialty hospital exclusively for children, with approximately 800 attending physicians, including more than 500 pediatric subspecialists. The 307-bed hospital, known as Miami Children’s Hospital from 1983 through 2014, is renowned for excellence in all aspects of pediatric medicine with many specialty programs routinely ranked among the best in the nation by U.S. News & World Report since 2008. The hospital is also home to the largest pediatric teaching program in the southeastern United States and since 2003 has been designated an American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Magnet facility, the nursing profession’s most prestigious institutional honor.

The Nicklaus Children's Hospital network includes more than a dozen outpatient centers extending from Martin County to southern Miami-Dade County, offering a range of pediatric healthcare services, including urgent care, rehabilitation services and subspecialty physician appointments for children of all ages, including up to age 21.

Our Mission

To inspire hope and promote lifelong health by providing the best care to every child.

Our Vision

To CREATE a healthy future for every child.