The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act helped stimulate the U.S. economy by providing significant funding to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Eight Children’s Hospital Los Angeles investigators were awarded a total of $2.8 million:
Randall Wetzel, MD, was awarded a $989,855 Challenge Grant in Health and Science Research by the NIH-National Library of Medicine for his project on decision-support software for the management of critically ill children. Prasadarao V. Nemani, PhD, was awarded $1.65 million from the NIH-National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke to study the role of the macrophage in the molecular mechanism that allows the buildup of E. coli and its eventual invasion of the brain, resulting in meningitis.
Tishya Wren, PhD, received $2.5 million from the NIH-National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to study bone development in children with myelomeningocele, the most severe type of spina bifida.
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles has been named to the prestigious U.S. News & World Report Honor Roll for being among the best in the nation for clinical excellence, and is the only hospital in California to receive this distinction. Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is the only children’s hospital in the western United States, and one of only seven in the nation, to receive the Top Hospital designation from The Leapfrog Group. A lifetime achievement award was presented to Robertson Parkman, MD, from the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium, for his 40 years of contributions to clinical practice, research and teaching in pediatric bone marrow transplantation and immunology. The following researchers were elected into the Society of Pediatric Research:
Fatih Uckun, MD, PhD, was awarded $2.5 million by the NIH-National Cancer Institute to support development of a new class of anti-cancer drugs against acute lymphoblastic leukemia. A grant of $1.68 million from the NIH-National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases was awarded to Sebastien G. Bouret, PhD, to support investigation into the role of leptin in the development of neurological structures that regulate metabolism and body weight throughout life. Yves A. DeClerck, MD, was inducted as inaugural holder of the Richard Call Family Endowed Chair in Pediatric Research Innovation during the 2010 Saban Research Institute Symposium. Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, an academic partner of the Los Angeles Basin Clinical and Translational Science Institute, received funding for two pilot grants and three research training awards. Pilot grants were awarded to Yaniv Bar-Cohen, MD, for development of a fetal pacemaker, and Michael Valente, MD, to study cerebral perfusion during pediatric and neonatal transport. Career development awards went to Robert J. Brown, MD, in Pediatric Neuro-Oncology; Melissa Warden, MS, in Oncology; and Ian Holloway, MSW, MPH, in Community, Health Outcomes and Intervention Research. Trauma surgeon Jeffrey S. Upperman, MD, co-authored a call to action for filling a significant gap in pediatric public health care and seeking federal oversight to establish the framework for a pediatric applied trauma research network.
The U.S. Department of the Army awarded Timothy J. Triche, MD, PhD, $1.05 million to implement next-generation gene sequencing to assist in the diagnosis and treatment of high-risk childhood cancer. He also received $2.9 million from the NIH-National Cancer Institute to study the translation of predictive cancer biomarkers into clinical practice.
Robert C. Seeger, MD, received renewal of a program project grant for $8.2 million on the biology and therapy of neuroblastoma. He was also awarded $1.4 million by the NIH-National Cancer Institute to investigate the clinical use of a highly sensitive molecular assay for neuroblastoma cells in bone marrow and blood.
Markus Müschen, MD, was awarded two research grants from the NIH-National Cancer Institute. He received $1.8 million to study pre-B cell receptor signaling in acute lymphoblastic leukemia and $1.8 million for his work on AID-induced genetic instability in leukemia.
The NIH-National Cancer Institute granted Steven Mittelman, MD, PhD, $2 million to investigate the role of adipocytes in leukemia relapse. Thomas Coates, MD, received $1.09 million from the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine for his research into sickle cell disease.
Ching-Ling (Ellen) Lien, PhD, received an NIH grant of $1.9 million to investigate the molecular mechanism of zebrafish heart regeneration.
The NIH-National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute awarded Barbara Driscoll, PhD, $1.6 million for her research into the development and repair of alveolar epithelial cells. Kasper Wang, MD, received $1.4 million from the NIH to establish the Childhood Liver Disease Research and Education Network. The California Institute of Regenerative Medicine awarded a training grant to David Warburton, DSc, MD, in the amount of $2.5 million. Barbara Wheeler, PhD, of the USC University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities at Children’s Hospital, received a $917,000 grant from the Department of Health and Human Services to fund a minority training program with California State University, Los Angeles. Children’s Hospital Los Angeles was awarded $7 million as partner in the Los Angeles Basin Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) for accelerating medical discoveries from the lab to the clinic. Michele Kipke, PhD, director of the Community, Health Outcomes and Intervention Research Program, was named CTSI associate director of Community Engagement. |