Celebrating Scholarship, Latest Advances in Pediatrics Research
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Above, a collage of portraits of University of Wisconsin Department of Pediatrics research staff who were celebrated during Pediatrics Research Week 2020.
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Four lectures, ten faculty research vignettes, six oral presentations, 52 poster presentations, and a cumulative total of 725 attendees made up the Department of Pediatrics’ Annual Research Week, which took place virtually from May 26-29, 2020. The live-streamed format – which was in response to COVID-19 and physical distancing guidelines – expanded the annual celebration of scholarship beyond the walls of the Health Sciences Learning Center and allowed members of the School of Medicine and Public Health community and anyone interested in the latest advances in pediatric research to attend the lectures and earn up to 9.5 CME credits. Nearly 100 individuals attended the presentations each day, with 125 individuals attending Thursday’s distinguished Gerard B. Odell Lecture and Pediatric Grand Rounds and close to 140 people attending the virtual poster presentations on Friday.
Tuesday’s Opening Lecture was presented by Drs. James Gern (Vice Chair of Research, Professor & Division Chief, Division of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology), Megan Moreno (Vice Chair of Digital Health, Professor & Division Chief, Division of General Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine), Michael Semanik (Assistant Professor, Division of Nephrology) and Kristin Shadman (Associate Professor, Division of Hospital Medicine). The lecture was titled “What Everyone Needs to Know About Quality Improvement, Informatics and Turning an Idea into a Project.” Anne Marie Singh, MD (Associate Professor, Division of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology) presented the Morning Conference Lecture on Wednesday and discussed research as a career choice.
Thursday’s distinguished Gerard B. Odell Lecture and Pediatric Grand Rounds was given by Katryn Furuya, MD (Professor, Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition), who discussed her research into pediatric liver disease and how whole exome sequencing, genetic testing and treatments have dramatically changed researchers’ understanding of the liver diseases that affect children. Ellen Wald, MD (Chair & Professor, Department of Pediatrics) presented Pelin Cengiz, MD (Associate Professor, Division of Critical Care) with the Gerard B. Odell Research Award, which is given annually to a professor in recognition of their outstanding research accomplishments and demonstrated potential for future contributions.
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New Faculty Focus: A Q&A With Cathy Lee-Miller, MD
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Above, left, a current photo of Dr. Cathy Lee-Miller (Assistant Professor, Division of Hematology, Oncology & Bone Marrow Transplant) with her daughter Nora, son Henry, and husband Nate. Right, Dr. Miller during her pediatric residency at UW Department of Pediatrics in 2011. Photo credits: Dr. Cathy Lee-Miller.
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“There is value in true human interaction and every child, no matter their age, deserves a doctor who genuinely cares for them,” stated Cathy Lee-Miller, MD (Assistant Professor, Division of Hematology, Oncology & Bone Marrow Transplant), during a recent interview about her decision to become a pediatrician and join the University of Wisconsin Department of Pediatrics as a faculty member this past April. Learn more about Dr. Lee-Miller, her background and her enthusiasm for pediatric care in the Q&A below.
Tell us about your educational and professional background: I was born and raised in a suburb of Atlanta, GA, attended University of Georgia (Go Dawgs!) for undergrad, and majored in French and political science. I decided during spring break of my senior year of college that I wanted to be a doctor so I rearranged my courses for the last 5 weeks of my senior year, delayed graduation, then proceeded to take all the pre-med requirements and MCAT in my 5th year of college. I then took two years off from formal schooling and lived in Boulder CO, working as a non-graduate student teaching assistant in the biology department at the University of Colorado. I went to medical school at University of Rochester in Rochester NY, where I was class president for four years. I came to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for pediatric residency and stayed for a chief resident year. I went to University of Colorado for its pediatric hematology/oncology fellowship. My first job out of training was a staff physician at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, where I was a member of the leukemia/lymphoma team and associate program director for the fellowship for 3.5 years. I am thrilled now to be coming full circle back to Madison, albeit in the midst of a pandemic, to continue and hopefully finish my career.
How did you get into your field of research or clinical specialty? Unintentionally. As a medical student, I thought I would go in to family medicine but my 3rd year pediatrics rotation stole my heart. I was assigned to the peds hem/onc unit for my 3rd year rotation and fell in love with the medicine, the patients, and the teamwork. I seriously considered both peds ID and peds nephrology as a resident before settling back on hem/onc.
Similarly, when I started fellowship, I thought I wanted to specialize in solid tumors but through a series of events, I worked in a leukemia lab for two years and I simultaneously found myself drawn to patients with leukemias, where I could create longitudinal relationships with my patients and their families.
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Honors
Dr. Philip Farrell Recognized for Lifetime Contributions to CF Research and Pediatric Respiratory Medicine
Congratulations to Philip Farrell, PhD (Emeritus Dean and Chair of Pediatrics, Division of Pulmonology & Sleep Medicine) for two recent honors from The Legacy of Angels Foundation (TLOAF) and American Thoracic Society. TLOAF selected Dr. Farrell for the 2020 Sue Rosenau Legacy Award in recognition of his forty-plus years of commitment and leadership in understanding, diagnosing, and caring for children diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis (CF). TLOAF stated that “his leadership and research in newborn screening, clinical care, and assessing the added value of whole genome sequencing is a model for others to follow working in the rare disease space.”
Dr. Farrell also received the distinguished 2020 Pediatrics Founder’s Award from the American Thoracic Society Assembly. This award is presented to a member of the Pediatric Assembly annually in recognition of his or her lifetime of achievement in Pediatric Respiratory Medicine. Although the 2020 Founder’s Dinner was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Farrell will have the opportunity to speak and deliver his acceptance speech at the 2021 Founder’s Dinner. Congratulations once again, Dr. Farrell!
Special Honor for Nick Mohrdieck’s St. Baldrick’s Summer Fellowship
Nicholas Mohrdieck, rising senior at the UW, recently received a summer fellow award from the St. Baldrick’s Foundation for work in the laboratory of Christian Capitini, MD. As the result of a recent employee giving campaign at the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, and a subsequent Foundation-wide vote of several summer fellows, the staff at St. Baldrick’s Foundation has chosen to fund the award. Furthermore, staff bestowed a special honor on his summer fellow award, naming him the “St. Baldrick’s Staff Giving Campaign Summer Fellow” to commemorate this honor. Avis Matsuda, St. Baldrick’s Foundation Director of Philanthropy, wrote about Nick, “You were a hands down favorite—thank you so much for your commitment to raising funds and awareness of the need for research funding for kids with cancer especially during this unprecedented time. Your event is a huge success and we are so grateful for your support!"
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New Grants & Awards
Bruce Klein, MD, Awarded Renewal of Microbes in Health and Disease T32 Training Program
Congratulations to Bruce Klein, MD, PI of the “Microbes in Health and Disease” T32 Training Program, which was recently renewed by the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH/NIAID), for five additional years of funding in the amount of $2.4 million in total costs. The 5-year renewal, funding years 16 through 20 of this training program, annually funds five pre-doctoral students, as well as 3 post-doctoral trainees. The program focuses on training basic and clinical scientists in understanding the beneficial and harmful roles of microbes related to human health.
Capitini Student Receives Honors Summer Apprentice Award from UW
Congratulations to UW undergraduate student David Turicek, who was awarded a Welton Summer Sophomore Honors Apprenticeship for the project, “Treating post-transplant B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia with blinatumomab as a radiation sparing immunotherapy.” This project will take place in the Capitini Lab under the direction and mentorship of Christian Capitini, MD. The purpose of the Welton sophomore honors apprenticeship, funded by UW, is to allow talented students to learn what research is and how it is conducted within a discipline by participating in current, cutting-edge research.
Graduate Student Fernanda Szewc Awarded ICTR TL1 Traineeship
Congratulations to Fernanda Szewc, graduate research assistant in the Capitini Laboratory, who was recently appointed to the TL1 Clinical Investigation program supported by the UW Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR). This two-year award provides an annual stipend, tuition, insurance, fees, and a travel allowance in support of her investigation and research of immunotherapeutics to treat recurrent soft tissue sarcoma. Fernanda's research project entitled, "Immune-based therapy of relapsed Rhabdomyosarcoma using aTEA enrichment diet and CAR-T cell construct," will be performed under the direction and mentorship of Christian Capitini, MD.
Meha Kabra, PhD, Receives Research Training Award
Congratulations to Meha Kabra, PhD (Post-doctoral Research Associate in the lab of Bikash Pattnaik, PhD), who received a training award from the Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine Center (SCRMC) for her research proposal, “CRISPR Base Editing and Stem Cell Therapy for Inherited Retinal Dystrophy.” This one-year award will cover her stipend, fringe benefits, and associated fees. The competitive SCRMC Research Training Awards were established in 2008 to recognize and provide support for promising graduate students and postdoctoral fellows conducting stem cell and regenerative medicine research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The SCRMC Research Training Awards Program provides unique, interdisciplinary training for future leaders in stem cell and regenerative medicine research.
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Awarded to Aicha Quamine
Congratulations to Aicha Quamine, Hematology/Oncology & Bone Marrow Transplant Graduate Student in the Capitini Laboratory, who was recently awarded a 2020 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF) for her project “Bioengineering and Characterization of a Novel Third Generation Anti-GD2 CAR-NK Cell.” The NSF GRF provides three years of financial support for tuition, fees, and other costs of education. Aicha’s research performed under the direction and mentorship of Christian Capitini, MD, will investigate whether the engineering of a novel anti-GD2 CAR natural killer (NK) construct that exploits endogenous signaling pathways typically used by NK subsets will produce a CAR-NK cell type with enhanced cytotoxicity and cytokine production against a GD2+ neuroblastoma, also resulting in an increase in CAR NK cell glycolysis.
Two Pediatric Projects Awarded NIH “HEROS” Supplements for COVID-19 Research
A team in the lab of James Gern, MD, including co-investigators Christine Seroogy, MD, Daniel Jackson, MD, and Sima Ramratnam, MD, was recently awarded a supplement to their ongoing U19 grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases (NIH/NIAID). This supplement related to the COVID-19 pandemic is entitled, “Human epidemiology and response to SARS-CoV-2 (HEROS),” and builds on the lab’s ongoing work to support the participation of the Wisconsin Infant Study Cohort (WISC) and Childhood Origins of Asthma (COAST) birth cohort studies in the (HEROS) study. Their award is for $210,585 award over 9 months.
Under a separate NIH award led by Daniel Jackson, MD, his team was awarded $794,085 over 8 months to support the participation of the Inner City Asthma Consortium (ICAC3) in the HEROS project. HEROS is a surveillance study to determine the prevalence of SARS-CoV2 infection (detection of virus in nasal secretions) over time in children and their household contacts (caregivers and siblings). In addition to the need for surveying children for asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, this study will allow a comparison between children with asthma and other atopic conditions and children without those conditions. For the overall project, the goal across eleven cites is to rapidly reenroll 6,000 families across the U.S. in the study. Click to read the full article.
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