Silver Award, Supporting Outcomes Research, Hope on Wheels, Home Visiting Programs

As we move full-speed ahead into fall, the new season brings with it a handful of headlines from our researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. This week, we share the latest news about investigators who have been recognized for their research legacies and for their current cutting-edge work, from discoveries in the basic and clinical science of HIV/AIDS, to the development of learning health system-based training in outcomes research, to the design of innovative approaches to childhood cancer.

Steven Douglas, MD, Named Tweny-fifth Silver Award Recipient

We are pleased to share that Steven Douglas, MD, chief of the Immunology section in our Division of Allergy-Immunology, was named the 2018 recipient of the Herman and Gertrude Silver Lecture on Children, Youth, and HIV. Herman and Gertrude Silver bequeathed the lecture award series as a gift to honor individuals who have made significant contributions in the field of pediatric HIV/AIDS and in appreciation of the care that their children received at CHOP.

As the 25^th recipient of this yearly honor, Dr. Douglas will present his lecture “Virology and Immunology: Toward Durable Success” Oct. 10 at 8 a.m. at the Joseph Stokes Jr. Auditorium. Dr. Douglas’ remarkable career of more than five decades is highlighted by numerous leadership positions at CHOP and the University of Pennsylvania as well as critical contributions to basic and clinical immunology, particularly in the area of cellular immunity. Some of Dr. Douglas’ major research milestones include the discovery of pokeweed as a B and T cell mitogen, the use of pokeweed mitogen to diagnose primary immune deficiencies, the design of novel therapeutic approaches for the treatment of HIV using substance P antagonists that have anti-inflammatory activity, and more. We offer a warm congratulations to Dr. Douglas!

CHOP Investigator Awarded Five-Year Grant for Outcomes Research

A new five-year grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) will allow Christopher Forrest, MD, PhD, pediatrician and member of the Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics at CHOP, to continue to enrich and expand the efforts of PEDSnet, a multi-institute, national consortium of which he is principal investigator. By harnessing the learning health system framework, PEDSnet uses collaboration, big data, and patient-centered outcomes research to improve the health and quality of care for children.

The $40 million award, given to 11 recipients in total including CHOP, will support faculty development by training the next generation of outcomes researchers. The grant allows CHOP and seven other PEDSnet collaborating institutions to establish a junior faculty program focused on using learning systems in healthcare, with the first batch of scholars beginning in January 2019, according to Dr. Forrest,

“This award will truly allow us to begin training a generation of dedicated health learning systems experts and advance the field in a significant way, linking research and clinical operations,” Dr. Forrest said.

Learn more about the new grant in the press release and read up on learning health systems on Cornerstone.

Hyundai Hope On Wheels Awards Drive Pediatric Cancer Research Forward

This month, the Hyundai Hope on Wheels Foundation helped to fuel our breakthroughs in childhood cancer by awarding grants totaling $500,000 to Timothy Olson, MD, PhD, and Jessica Foster, MD, of the Cancer Center.

The nonprofit organization, which has supported CHOP with more than $4.3 million in grants to date, officially presented the awards to Drs. Olson and Foster during the nonprofit organization’s signature Handprint Ceremony Sept. 21. Children receiving cancer treatment at CHOP had the opportunity to dip their hands in paint and leave their prints on the official “Hope Vehicle” — a white 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe. The ceremony marked one key stop on the Hope on Wheels nationwide tour in which the organization awarded a total of $14.1 million to 38 researchers in honor of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

Learn more in the press release.

New PolicyLab Webinar Discusses Impact of PA Home Visiting Programs 

Through their rigorous research and forward thinking, investigators at PolicyLab, a Center of Emphasis at CHOP, not only help to develop public health-related policies, but evaluate the results so as to strengthen their impact as well. In a new webinar now available to watch online, PolicyLab shares their assessment of a federally funded, in-home service for under-resourced mothers and families of young children in Pennsylvania, the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (MIECHV).

Our researchers partnered with Pennsylvania’s Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCEL) to conduct a large-scale, mixed-methods study into the impact — as well as into the strengths and weaknesses of the service — that the program has had on the lives of children and families in PA.

ICYMI

Recently on Cornerstone, we recognized World Cancer Research Day by sharing how our global health researchers are studying how to improve survival rates in the Dominican Republic, took a look back at the high-impact Partners for Child Passenger Safety Program (PCPS) for September’s Child Passenger Safety Week, learned about the new Center for Parent and Teen Communication website in a guest blog by co-founder Ken Ginsburg, MD, MSEd, took a snapshot of new nursing research into the best practices for pediatric nasogastric tube placement, and congratulated Michael Levine, MD, on his receipt of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research Frederic C. Bartter Award.

Catch up on our headlines from our Sept. 21 edition of In the News:

• Brain Cancer Gene Therapy Selected for Science Center QED program
• Second Eagles Autism Challenge Announced for May 2019
• New Study: Changes in mTDNA Control How nDNA Mutations Are Expressed in Heart Disease
• Gabriella Miller Kids First Data Resource Center Launches New Research Portal
• CHOP Hosts Pediatric Device Symposium Closing Events, Leads New 5-Year Grant to Support Innovation

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