News in Brief
The Department of Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children's and the University of Cincinnati Medical Center has again been ranked among the top five pediatric programs at medical schools in the United States. The U.S. News & World Report annual guide to America's best graduate schools ranks the Department of Pediatrics as the fourth best in the nation, behind only Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins University.
U.S. News also regularly ranks Cincinnati Children's among the 10 best pediatric hospitals in the United States. In the most current survey, released in July, the magazine ranked Cincinnati Children's eighth in pediatric care.
Five scholars from major hospitals in China have been selected for the Bang Bao Research Scholar Program, sponsored by Pampers and Cincinnati Children's. The scholarships include one year's research and training at Cincinnati Children's, plus funding for continued research at their home institutions in China.
The scholars are Dr. Jihong Dai (pediatric pulmonology) of Chongqing, Dr. Xiujing Sun (neonatology) of Beijing, Dr. Dan (Danielle) Yu (neonatology) of Chengdu, and Dr. Jie Shen (pediatric cardiology) and Dr. Xiaowen Zhai (pediatric hematology/oncology and experimental hematology), both of Shanghai.
Cincinnati Children's has been awarded $1.5 million from the Charlotte R. Schmidlapp Fund, Fifth Third Bank, Trustee, to create a center that will support the career development of women in academic pediatrics. The Charlotte R. Schmidlapp Center for Career Development in Academic Pediatrics is intended to enhance the careers of women, from high school students to senior faculty, through a wide range of programs and services.
"Little gain in the advancement of women in academic medicine has been made in the last 25 years," says Sandra Degen, PhD, chair of the Tenure and Promotion committee at Cincinnati Children's, and acting vice president for research at the University of Cincinnati. "Even though about one-third of all faculty are women, there continues to be a lag in the proportion of women at the higher academic ranks, both locally and nationally, and few women reach the top rung of the academic ladder." With this center, the Department of Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children's will be in an excellent position to become a national model for advancing the careers of women faculty.
In addition to continuing to provide support for research by promising young women scholars, the Career Center will focus on enhancing the mentorship skills of division leaders and developing a system for ongoing tracking of mentorship and career development to ensure continued success. The center also will sponsor a variety of educational programs including:
- A summer internship program for female high school students
- Seminars and retreats
- Invited speakers
- Opportunities for women faculty to attend national leadership meetings
- A national leadership meeting for women to be held at Cincinnati Children's
The $1.5 million award stems from the success of another program supported by the Schmidlapp Fund. The Fifth Third Bank/Charlotte R. Schmidlapp Women Scholars Program at Cincinnati Children's was established in 1997 with a $500,000 grant. This program was designed to enhance recruitment and retention of female researchers, provide mentoring and protected time for research, and help women through the tenure and promotion process.
Cincinnati Children's has a renowned research staff that attracts millions of dollars in research funding and private and corporate donations annually. These funds are reinvested into research supplies, equipment and salaries so our researchers have the resources to continually "raise the bar" in the pediatric health care field. We are ranked second in funding among comprehensive pediatric centers receiving National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grants. Recent grants obtained include the following:
| Cohen, M: Expression and Function of the Guanylin Ligand Family; National Institutes of Health; 2/1/05 - 11/30/09; $1,100,000 |
| Crombleholme, T: Twin-Twin Transfusion Syndrome Trial; National Institutes of Health; 6/1/04 - 5/31/06; $1,513,083 |
| Devarajan, P: Implications of the Ask1/JNK Pathway in ARF; National Institutes of Health; 4/1/05 - 3/31/10; $1,100,000 |
| Hewett, T: Identifying Female Athletes at High Risk for ACL Injury; National Institutes of Health; 9/21/20 - 8/31/20; $1,753,425 |
| Holland, S: FMRI, Genes and Outcome for Cochlear Implants in Infants; National Institutes of Health; 12/1/04 - 11/30/09; $1,698,642 |
| Ratner, N: Therapeutic Targets for Neurofibromatosis: Identification by Cross-Species Gene Expression Analysis; Department of Defense (Army); 2/1/04 - 2/28/07; $3,105,545 |
| Ris, MD: Neurobehavioral Late Effects in Pediatric Brain Tumors; National Institutes of Health; 3/22/05 - 2/28/10; $1,751,622 |
