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Spotlight on: Juvenile Arthritis

July is National Juvenile Arthritis Awareness Month. Juvenile arthritis (JA) affects nearly 300,000 children in the United States, and each type of JA is distinct and has its own special concerns and symptoms.

 

Pamela F. Weiss, MD, MSCE, is an Attending Physician in the Division of Rheumatology and an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research specifically focuses on juvenile spondyloarthritis (JSpA), which is an umbrella term that includes several categories of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), such as psoriatic arthritis and enthesitis-related arthritis. Children with JSpA experience inflammation and stiffness of joints that can result in growth disturbances and loss of range of motion if not controlled properly. Dr. Weiss’s research concentrates on characterizing and treating the disease features of children with JSpA, with a focus on enthesitis (inflammation of the tendon insertions) and arthritis of the lower back. Dr. Weiss’s research on the clinical and imaging features associated with early JSpA has led to several significant publications and a national reputation in JIA research.

 

Dr. Weiss is a past recipient of the Arthritis Foundation Professional Educator award and the Spondylitis Association of America-Jane Bruckel Young Investigator Award and she serves as Chair of the Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance’s JIA Research committee. Beginning this year, Dr. Weiss will also lead a new Clinical Trials Research Affinity Group at CHOP.

 

Read more about pediatric rheumatic disease research at CPCE.

Upcoming Events


CHOP’s Talking Diversity Series: Taking the Adversity Out of Diversity

Date: July 20, 2017,

Time: 11:30 am – 1:00 pm

Location: CHOP Main Hospital, Stokes Auditorium

Our patterns of communication are vital to our success when exploring such explosive issues as race, gender, sexual orientation, class, disabilities, age and religion. Our biggest challenge in achieving this goal is our fear of being judged and misunderstood. This fear prevents good people from taking meaningful action. At times we are so afraid of saying the ‘wrong’ thing that we make the biggest mistake of all which is to say nothing. This honest and engaging program will help us get beyond our fear of saying the ‘wrong’ thing and teaches more effective and compassionate ways to connect. More information available here


Save the Date: CHOP Pediatric Global Health Conference

Date: October 6, 2017 - October 7, 2017

Location: CHOP Colket Translational Research Building

This conference will explore the state of immigrant and refugee health from a global, national and local perspective. Attendees will gain clinical, advocacy, public health and research tools to better serve these populations. Cases, discussions and stories will help us better understand the context of those who leave their homes seeking a better life. Find additional information online here

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Recent Publications

Clinicians' Perceptions of Screening for Food Insecurity in Suburban Pediatric Practice.

National organizations recommend pediatricians screen for food insecurity. Although there has been growing research in urban practices, little research has addressed food insecurity screening in suburban practices. Dr. Palakshappa and colleagues evaluated the feasibility, acceptability, and impact of screening in suburban practices.

 

Suburban Families' Experience With Food Insecurity Screening in Primary Care Practices.

Food insecurity remains a major public health problem. With the rise in suburban poverty, a greater understanding of parents' experiences of food insecurity in suburban settings is needed to effectively screen and address food insecurity in suburban practices.

 

Contributions of Children With Multiple Chronic Conditions to Pediatric Hospitalizations in the United States: A Retrospective Cohort Analysis.

Children with multiple chronic conditions are increasingly using hospital care. Dr. Feudtner and colleagues assessed how much of US pediatric inpatient care is used by children with multiple chronic conditions and which chronic conditions are the key drivers of hospital use.


Utility of sedation for young children undergoing dimercaptosuccinic acid renal scans.

No studies have examined whether use of sedation during a Tc-99 m dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) renal scan reduces patient discomfort. This study compares discomfort level during a DMSA scan to the discomfort level during other frequently performed uroradiologic tests, to determine whether use of sedation during a DMSA scan modifies the level of discomfort.

 

Clinical practice patterns are relatively uniform between pediatric heart transplant centers: A survey-based assessment.

Clinical practice variations are a barrier to the study of pediatric heart transplants and coordination of multicenter RCTs in this patient population. Dr. Rossano and colleagues surveyed centers to describe practice patterns, understand areas of variation, and willingness to modify protocol.


See more...
Funding Opportunities

North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (due July 7)
The North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (NASPGHAN) Foundation awards grants in several categories. Awardees are typically required to be NASPGHAN members.

NIHCM Healthcare Management Research Projects (LOI due July 10)
The National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation is inviting Letters of Inquiry for innovative research that will advance the existing knowledge base in the areas of healthcare financing, delivery, management, and/or policy. For its 2017-18 funding cycle, the foundation will award five to six grants totaling $300,000 for studies that have strong potential to yield insights that can be used to have a positive impact on the United States healthcare system by reducing spending, improving quality of care, and/or expanding access to insurance coverage and healthcare services.


Community Access to Child Health (CATCH) (due July 31)
Planning and Innovation Grants: Up to $10,000 will be awarded on a competitive basis to individual pediatricians and fellowship trainees to plan innovative community-based child health initiatives that will ensure all children have medical homes, are properly immunized, and have access to health care services not otherwise available in their community. Resident grants: Up to $2,000 will be awarded on a competitive basis for pediatric residents to plan and/or implement community-based child health initiatives. Projects must include planning activities or demonstrate completed planning activities, and may include implementation activities.
  
New York Life Foundation Grief Reach -- Community Expansion (due August 7)
New York Life Foundation’s Grief Reach Community Expansion RFP awards nonprofits that will expand and increase access for grief support services to underserved populations in local communities.Proposals should clearly define the target population, local partners and strategy for expansion. Grants range from $15,000 to $100,000.

OnPAR Program for Unfunded NIH Proposals
Last year, the NIH received approximately $30 billion in federal support. In spite of this amount, about 42,500 grants were not funded. To address these unfunded proposals, the NIH has a new Pilot Program that is designed to match researchers with nonprofit disease Foundations or with investments from private companies. Through a new collaboration between the NIH and the private contractor Leidos, researchers can now upload their unfunded NIH Proposals into an online portal at the Online Partnership to Accelerate Research (OnPAR). Foundations and other potential funders can review the NIH scores, and decide whether they might be interested in funding the Projects. Currently, this Pilot Program allows researchers with priority scores better than the 30th percentile to submit their abstracts. Interested Foundations might ask that a researcher send their full NIH Application along with its scores. The consensus opinion is that there are a lot of worthy grants being submitted to the NIH, but there is only so much funding available. OnPAR is one way of trying to match researchers with private Foundations. 

About CPCE
We are a pediatric research center dedicated to discovering and sharing knowledge about best practices in pediatric care by facilitating, organizing and centralizing the performance of clinical effectiveness research -- research aimed at understanding the best ways to prevent, diagnose and treat diseases in children. CPCE’s multidisciplinary team conducts research on a diverse range of clinical effectiveness topics grouped within four areas of research: