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Science Showcase
- Lurie Children’s Advances Sterile Fluid Delivery Innovation with Multi-Disciplinary Collaboration
- Ceremony Honors Debra E. Weese-Mayer with Paula H. Stern Award for Outstanding Women in Science and Medicine
News from the Manne Research Institute Pillars
- Research Uncovers Inequities in Diagnosis of Infants with Cystic Fibrosis
- Recent Report from Lurie Children’s Finds Approximately Half of Illinois Youth Continued to Experience Worsening Mental Health
- When Dads Take Leave, Moms Breastfeed Longer
Manne Research Institute in the Media
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Medical innovation is a cornerstone of the research mission at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. Recently, Manne Research Institute’s Innovate2Impact team (I2I) has collaborated with surgeon innovator Seth Goldstein, MD, MPhil, Justin Ryder, PhD, and a diverse cohort of industry experts and Lurie Children’s healthcare providers on an initiative to improve the safety of sterile fluid delivery onto the sterile field, reducing the chances for contamination and needlestick injuries while optimizing workflow efficiency. The exploration into these sterile fluid delivery solutions began in spring 2023 with the I2I Hackathon: Medical Devices event, during which Lurie Children’s clinicians identified and explored challenges in the clinical environment. The second phase consisted of collaborative concept refinement by engineering design consultants, multidisciplinary teams from Lurie Children’s, and I2I team members.
The remarkable team driving the current project phase includes Lurie Children’s surgeons, nurses, anesthesiologists, operating room leaders, pharmacists, and pharmacy technicians, as well as an external product development engineering firm, Ontogen Medtech. On November 20, 2024, these stakeholders convened for the next step in moving the innovation forward—the evaluation of a device prototype.
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Ceremony Honors Debra E. Weese-Mayer with Paula H. Stern Award for Outstanding Women in Science and Medicine | |
Debra E. Weese-Mayer, MD, was recently awarded the 2025 Paula H. Stern Award for Outstanding Women in Science and Medicine. During the award ceremony, Weese-Mayer’s colleagues praised her research and commitment to improving the lives of children with rare autonomic disorders. | |
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NEWS FROM THE RESEARCH PILLARS | |
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Research by Susanna McColley, MD, from Lurie Children’s, and colleagues found that too many infants receive a delayed diagnosis of cystic fibrosis (CF), which leads to worse outcomes. This is particularly the case for infants who are Black, Hispanic, Asian, or multiracial. In 2023, these groups made up 22 percent of newly diagnosed people with CF, according to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Registry.
CF is a genetic disorder that causes problems with digestion and breathing. It is included in newborn screening. If newborn screening results are out of normal range, parents need to follow up with their baby’s pediatrician right away. Further evaluation is necessary to diagnose CF, and this should occur within the first month of life so that treatment can begin as soon as possible.
“Our research found that CF diagnosis in babies within 10 days of age produces better height and weight outcomes compared to diagnosis at 6 weeks of age, so time is of the essence,” said Dr. McColley, an internationally recognized expert in cystic fibrosis newborn screening, pediatric pulmonologist at Lurie Children’s and Professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “With CF, our big focus in infancy is on nutrition. We know that good nutrition improves lung function, and better height and weight measures are associated with longer lifespan in people with CF.”
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Download Episode 8 from the first season of the In Pursuit Podcast and hear Dr. McColley detail the evolution of cystic fibrosis diagnosis and treatment, and discuss how she is addressing the ongoing disparities in cystic fibrosis research, education, and care. | | |
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The latest Voices of Child Health report from Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago highlights data on the state of Illinois’ youth mental health. The survey was conducted four times from June 2022-March 2024. The proportion of Illinois children who had one or more worsening mental symptoms at each survey time point was as follows: fifty percent in June 2022, fifty-two percent in May 2023, fifty-four percent in October 2023 and forty-nine percent in March 2024. This suggests that the proportion of youth experiencing worsening mental health was relatively stable across the previous two years. Other studies that used national samples conducted before, during and after the pandemic have not found evidence of youth mental health returning to pre-pandemic levels.
“Across the four study time points, we saw that about half of children and adolescents were experiencing worsening mental health symptoms. These findings reiterate the continued need to support child and adolescent mental health in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic,” says Marie Heffernan, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine and Director of Voices of Child Health in Chicago at Lurie Children’s.
Being easily frustrated was the most consistently reported worsening symptom across all four time points, affecting approximately one in five children. Other frequently reported symptoms included moodiness, anxiety, and trouble concentrating. The survey found no major differences in mental health trends based on a child’s gender or age, however, rural children in Illinois were more likely to report worsening symptoms compared to urban peers at one of the survey time points (May 2023).
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Fathers who take at least two weeks of leave after their child’s birth are significantly more likely to report longer breastfeeding duration, according to a recent survey led by scientists at Northwestern University and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.
“Our study shows fathers play a key role in breastfeeding success — and time off lets them provide crucial support when it matters most,” said lead study author Dr. John James Parker, an assistant professor of pediatrics and medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, pediatrician at Lurie Children’s and internist at Northwestern Medicine.
The findings, published this week in BMC Public Health, provide the first analysis, using father-reported data, of the influence of paternity leave on breastfeeding in the U.S. Breastfeeding provides important health benefits for both mothers and infants, yet rates in the U.S. remain suboptimal. Only 46.5% of infants are exclusively breastfed through three months.
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MANNE RESEARCH INSTITUTE IN THE MEDIA | | | | |
