US News Ranks Cincinnati Children's Among Top Three Children's Hospitals
U.S. News & World Report has ranked Cincinnati Children’s the third best children’s hospital in the United States in general pediatrics in the 2008 edition of its annual "America’s Best Children’s Hospitals."
U.S. News also ranked for the first time the best children’s hospitals for specialty care.
Cincinnati Children’s ranked in the top 20 in the following specialties: #3 in digestive diseases, #3 in respiratory diseases, #4 in cancer, #6 in neonatal care, #8 in heart and heart surgery and #17 in neurology and neurosurgery.
Dr. Sudhansu Dey to Head New Division of Reproductive Sciences
Internationally renowned reproductive biologist Sudhansu Dey, PhD, has been named director of the newly formed Division of Reproductive Sciences at Cincinnati Children’s.
Dr. Dey comes to Cincinnati Children’s from Vanderbilt University’s Department of Pediatrics, where he held the post of director of Reproductive and Developmental Biology. He has conducted more than three decades of research in the molecular and genetic processes behind embryo development and embryo-uterine interactions during implantation.
Dr. Dey will lead a group of scientists who are working to unravel the mysteries of early pregnancy events. The new research division puts added emphasis on the work in reproductive biology underway at Cincinnati Children’s, which in part seeks to understand the basis of genetic and drug-induced birth defects.
“There is now evidence that the in utero life of an embryo determines the well-being of the offspring at birth and adult life,” says Dr. Dey. “Our research focus is really to understand the roadmap that constitutes the whole pregnancy process.”
Surgeons’ Findings Lead to New Screening Recommendation
Because a significant number of female infants and young girls with anorectal malformations can also have related gynecologic problems, doctors here are recommending routine vaginoscopy of these patients at the time of colorectal reconstruction.
Of the 2,100 surgeries that Alberto Peña, MD, and Marc Levitt, MD, have performed to correct colorectal and anorectal malformations, they report that 6 percent of the female children had associated gynecologic problems. The two have collaborated closely with pediatric and adolescent gynecologist Lesley Breech, MD, in assessing patients and
making the recommendation.
Dr. Breech points out that in the past, assessment of the reproductive structures was overlooked. “Because bowel and urologic problems can be serious or even life-threatening,” she says, “gynecologic issues may not seem as important immediately.But delineating the reproductive anatomy can be very important to prevent problems in the newborn period or with pubertal development.”
Because Drs. Peña and Levitt also continue to find a high incidence of associated urologic problems in their patients of both sexes, they have developed a unique collaboration with pediatric urologists Curt Sheldon, MD, and Shumyle Alam, MD, for the surgical and long-term urologic care of these patients.
A course offered by Drs. Peña and Levitt at Cincinnati Children’s this October will feature sessions on the gynecologic and urologic challenges that children with anorectal malformations often face. They will offer live demonstrations of the surgical repair of the most frequent types of anorectal defects, lectures and discussion, and a
special session on nursing management of these patients.
For more information, call 513-636-6732. Read additional course information.
Sickle Cell Center Receives $6.4 Million NIH Grant
Cincinnati Children’s has received a four-year, $6.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fund research at the Cincinnati Comprehensive
Sickle Cell Center (CCSCC) in the Division of Hematology/Oncology.
The new funding, from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, will fund three projects that will “make us a leader in basic and translational research into sickle cell disease,” says Clinton Joiner, MD, PhD, director of the CCSCC.
“This grant helps us look into the future to develop new ways to treat and cure sickle cell disease,” says Dr. Joiner. “At the same time, we’ll focus on how we can best deliver to our patients the excellent therapies we already have.”
The new NIH grant funds three projects:
- Monica Mitchell, PhD, and Lori Crosby, PsyD, will assess barriers to using hydroxyurea therapy, which reduces pain and decreases the need for blood transfusions;
- Dr. Joiner will lead a study of ways to improve hydration of sickle cells though genetic alteration of blood stem cells;
- Punam Malik, MD, will lead research to develop gene therapy to cure sickle cell disease.
The new award brings the total NIH funding to the CCSCC under Dr. Joiner’s leadership to $27 million since 1998. In addition to laboratory research projects, the CCSCC has participated in many clinical research studies that have helped develop treatments to improve the outlook for people with sickle cell disease. Karen Kalinyak, MD, medical director of the sickle cell clinical program, is a key member of the clinical research team.
Protein May Be Clue to Saving Children From Septic Shock
Researchers at Cincinnati Children’s may have found a way to identify children at greater risk of septic shock. They reported in the August 1
American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine that the protein interleukin-8(IL-8) could be an early diagnostic marker of
the systemic infection that kills nearly 4,000 children in the United States each year.
The researchers had previously shown that higher blood levels of IL-8, secreted as part of the immune system response, result in more
severe septic shock and greater chance of death. The new study reports that an IL-8 blood at or below 220 pg / ml (picograms per
milliliter) predicts with 95 percent accuracy which children with septic shock can survive conventional antibiotics and therapies.
Measuring IL-8 levels will enable doctors to safely treat lower risk patients with conventional methods, and to focus on the most effective
therapies for children at greatest risk, says Hector Wong, MD, of the Division of Critical Care Medicine and the study’s lead author. Dr. Wong is currently working on a “point-of-care” test for early detection of the IL-8 biomarker.
Read more information about the biomarker study.
New Research Division Aims to Enhance Asthma Care
Nationwide, asthma is the number one diagnosis for children admitted to the hospital, says Gurjit Khurana Hershey, MD, PhD, and the incidence of asthma has doubled over the last two decades. To address this growing health concern, Dr. Khurana Hershey has been chosen to head the newly formed Division of Asthma Research at Cincinnati Children’s.
The aim of this division will be to more fully integrate asthma research into the multidisciplinary clinical care provided by Cincinnati Children’s. “Top-notch clinical care requires a top-notch research base,” explains Dr. Khurana Hershey. The new division, she says, will “contribute to new standards for clinical care through novel scientific discoveries and cutting-edge research.”
This new division will partner with the Cincinnati Children’s Asthma Center, under the direction of Carolyn Kercsmar, MD. “The goal is to combine with and further enhance the Asthma Center clinical programs to create a multifaceted initiative that will be a model for excellence in asthma health care,” says Dr. Khurana Hershey.
The division “creates a focus and central base for research efforts around asthma at Cincinnati Children’s,” Dr. Khurana Hershey says. “It will pull individuals with an interest in asthma together from around the medical center to effect changes and ensure the highest standards for asthma care.”
Director Named to IBD Center
Lee A. (Ted) Denson, MD, has been named medical director of the Schubert-Martin Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Center at Cincinnati Children’s. Dr. Denson, a researcher and attending physician in the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, assumes the post formerly held by M. Susan Moyer, MD, who passed away in May 2008.
Dr. Denson’s appointment was made possible in large part by the M. Susan Moyer Chair in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease, established with donations from Dr. Moyer’s colleagues, students and the families she cared for.
Dr. Denson’s research has focused on determining the molecular basis for alterations in growth hormone signaling in IBD. The M. Susan Moyer
Chair will help to further the division’s advanced research and clinical work into the causes and treatment of pediatric IBD.
The Schubert-Martin IBD Center is a nationally-known program named for Drs. William Schubert and Lester Martin, who pioneered the care of children with IBD in Cincinnati.
Read more information about the center.
Researchers Partner with Community Physicians to Improve ADHD Care
An innovative program is helping busy primary care physicians improve the care they provide for school-aged children with attention-deficit/
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a study led by researchers at Cincinnati Children’s.
The study, published in the July edition of Pediatrics, is the first to intervene with an entire community of primary care physicians to help them more accurately diagnose and monitor treatment response of their patients with ADHD, says Jeff Epstein, PhD, director of the Center for ADHD at Cincinnati Children’s and lead author of the study.
The intervention focused on modifying community practictioners’ office systems to accommodate ADHD treatment guidelines established by the American Academy of Pediatrics, says Dr. Epstein. His study documents significant reduction in symptoms for patients during their first several months of treatment as a result.
