Academic and Research Committee (ARC) Awards

These grants support multi-disciplinary programs that can become self-sustaining within one to three years. Awardees this year are:

Topic PI Division Title
Clinical Mary Greiner, MD General Pediatrics Integrated Data Environment for Children in Foster Care
Clinical Gruschen Veldtman, FRCP, MBChB Cardiology Fontan Center
Clinical/Research Hermine Brunner, MD, MSc, MBA and John Harley, MD, PhD Rheumatology and CAGE Lupus Treatment and Research Center
Research Burns Blaxall, PhD, FAHA Molecular Cardiovascular Biology Center for Translational Fibrosis Research
Research David Haslam, MD Infectious Diseases Precision Metagenomics for Infection Risk
Research Stephen Waggoner, PhD CAGE Kawasaki Disease—Diagnosis and Treatment
Research James Wells, PhD and Yi Zheng, PhD Experimental Hematology Proton Radiation Biology Discovery and Translation

Center for Clinical and Translational Science and Training (CCTST) Program Awards

Cincinnati Children’s partners with the University of Cincinnati and other institutions to support programs funded through the Center for Clinical and Translational Science and Training (CCTST). This list shows faculty who received grants to support translational research, build core capabilities, develop innovative research methods, or collaborate with community partners.

Type Title PI PI Department/Division Co-I Co-I Department/Division
P1 Natural killer cells in cytomegalovirus vaccination Stephen Waggoner, PhD Center for Autoimmune Genomics & Etiology David Bernstein, MD, MA Infectious Diseases
P1 Small Animal testing of IV probenecid Jack Rubinstein Neurology
P1 Development of a Lead Compound Active Against AMP Kinase to Gilioblastoma Biplab Dasgupta, MD, MPH Oncology William Seibel, PhD Hematology/ Cancer Biology
P1 HIFs Promote Innate Immunity in Histoplasmosis George Deepe, MD Infectious Diseases Claire Chougnet, PhD Immunobiology
P1 Prevention of red cell storage damage by a combinatorial approach Francis McCormack Pulmonary Medicine
P1 Correction of Epidermolysis Bullosa Via Genome Editing and Tissue Engineering John Van Aalst, MD, MS Craniofacial and Plastic Surgery Dorothy Supp Surgery
Core Establishment of a research bronchoscopy core Dennis McGraw Pulmonary Medicine
PI M Gene/PMTtherapy of hPAP;critical barriers to human translation Paritha Arumugam, PhD Translational Pulmonary Science Center Bruce Trapnell, MD Pulmonary
PI M The role of ErbB3 Joan Garrett College of Pharmacy Pulmonary Medicine
RT Core Hyperpolarized-gas core: Lighting up the lungs Jason Woods, PhD Pulmonary Medicine Zackary Cleveland, PhD Pulmonary Medicine
RT Core Epigenomics Data Analysis Core Artem Barski, PhD Allergy and Immunology and Human Genetics
JIT C1 3D chemotaxis of T lymphocytes from head and neck cancer patients Laura Conforti Nephrology and Hypertension Steve Woodle Transplant Surgery
JIT C1 Cell RNAseq Analysis of Human Plasma Cells James Driscoll Hematology and Oncology Jennifer McGuire Psychology and Behavioral Science
JIT C1 Glutamate, glutamine, and GABA in chronic brain injury Nathan Evanson, MD, PhD Pediatric Rehab. Medicine
JIT C1 Development of a novel systematic high- throughput targeted metagenomics technology Long (Jason) Lu, PhD Biomedical Informatics
JIT C1 Therapeutic Benefit of HSP90 Inhibition in Pulmonary Fibrosis Satish Madala, PhD Pulmonary Medicine Joshua Benoit Biological Sciences, Arts & Sciences
JIT C1 Determining Mechanisms Associated with Dispersal Stephen Matter Biological Sciences, Arts & Sciences
JIT C2 Prostaglandin biosynthesis: a novel therapeutic target in TSC disorders Jane Yu Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Jerry Lingrel Molecular Genetics
JIT C2 Role of Na,K-ATPase isoform in skeletal muscle regeneration and differentiation Judith Heiny Molecular and Cellular Physiology
JIT C2 Virus-mediated cell-specific inhibition of miR- 324-5p in epilepsy Christina Gross, PhD Neurology
JIT C2 Identification of Cancer-associated Fibroblasts-induced Melanoma Suppression Yuhang Zhang Division of Pharmaceutical Science
JIT C2 Genetic Differences in Abdominal Aortic Thrombi Phillip Owens Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Health and Disease Simon Hogan, PhD Allergy and Immunology
JIT C3 How does the UPR promote allergenicity? Fred D. Finkelman, MD Allergy Immunology, and Rheumatology
JIT C3 RhoA in immune aspects of colitis Fukun Guo, PhD Experimental Hematology and Cancer Biology
JIT C3 Metabolic Targets in Myelodysplastic Syndromes Gang Huang, PhD Pathology and Experimental Hematology and Cancer Biology
JIT C3 B Cell Epigenetic Dysregulation & Type 1 Kabuki Syndrome Andrew W. Lindsley, MD, PhD Allergy and Immunology Joan Garrett Pharmaceutical Sciences
JIT C3 Determining Changes to Mitochondrial Proteins in Response to Drug Resistance Edward Merino Arts and Sciences: Chemistry
P&M C1 Design Thinking to Improve Informed Consent in the ED Todd Florin, MD, MSCE Emergency Medicine
P&M C1 An Informed Consent Algorithm to Guide Acute Care Research Cheryl McCullumsmith Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience Jacqueline Grupp-Phelan, MD, MPH-ED Emergency Medicine
P&M C1 iPad App-Based Consent to Improve Study Comprehension and Information Retention David Russell, MD, PhD Neonatology and Pulmonary Biology Brenda Poindexter, MD, MS Neonatology and Pulmonary Biology
P&M C3 Validating a Geocoding Approach for Multi Site Studies Cole Brokamp, PhD Biostatistics and Epidemiology Patrick Ryan, PhD, MS Biostatistics and Epidemiology
P&M C3 Cryptic to Concrete: A Framework to Improve Accuracy of Burn Scar Assessment Elizabeth Dale Plastic/Burn Surgery
P&M C3 AdmixPower: Power and sample size calculators for admixture mapping in admixed populations Tesfaye Mersha, PhD Asthma Research Mekibib Altaye, PhD Biostatistics and Epidemiology
P&M C3 Optimization of Early Phase Clinical Trial Enrollment Using a Bayesian Approach Simon Tremblay Transplant Surgery Steve Woodle Transplant Surgery
P&M C3 Machine learning method to facilitate nutritional therapy metabolomics studies Xueheng Zhao, PhD Mass Spectrometry Laboratory Kenneth Setchell, PhD Mass Spectrometry Laboratory
Retreats, Workshops & Symposiums 2017 Research Week Christopher Lindsell Emergency Medicine
Retreats, Workshops & Symposiums BD2K-LINCS Data Science Symposium Mario Medvedovic, PhD Environmental Health
Retreats, Workshops & Symposiums 2nd Annual Conference to Eliminate Racial Disparities in Breastfeeding and Infant Mortality: Building Bridges Toward Equity. Julie Ware, MD, MPH, IBCLC General & Community Pediatrics
Retreats, Workshops & Symposiums Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and University of Cincinnati Symposium: Human organoid models to study enteric pathogenesis James Wells, PhD Developmental Biology
Retreats, Workshops & Symposiums Precision Genomics Midwest Peter White, PhD Biomedical Informatics
Retreats, Workshops & Symposiums Smith-Lemli-Opitz Scientific Conference Laura Woollett Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Community Health Grant Be Well Sport Club: Collaboration for Welness in Children with Physical Disability Jennifer Angeli, PT, DPT, PhD Occupational Therapy & Physical Therapy Adam Ayers
Community Health Grant Healthy Student Bodies for Healthier Communities Deborah Mariner Allsop Donna Shambley-Ebron College of Nursing
Community Health Grant FOsTering Sports Ream Participation (FOoTSTEP) Mary Greiner, MD General & Community Pediatrics Brandy Pendelton
Community Health Grant Neighbors Helping Neighbors: Preventive and Behavioral Health Russell Curington College of Pharmacy
Community Health Grant Improving Family Health through Fit Kit Intervention Jenna Williams, MS, RD Healthworks Robert Siegel, MD, FAAP Center for Better Health and Nutrition
Partnership Development Grant Recreational Music Making: Impact on Stress Level and Well-Being in African American Women Sheila Nared Melinda Butsch Kovacic, MPH, PhD Asthma Research
Partnership Development Grant Pilot Testing of an integrative chronic pain group visit for homeless adults with chronic pain Nancy Elder Family Medicine Kate Bennett
Partnership Development Grant Parents and Family Members: Leaders of Care for Childhood Asthma Management. Ginny Frazier Camille Graham, MD General & Community Pediatrics
Partnership Development Grant Student-Run Free Clinic Cincinnati Caroline Hensley Martita Meehan, Dawna-Cricket
Partnership Development Grant Exploring the Efficacy of a Resource Map for Persons Experiencing Homelessness and the Agencies that Serve Them Joseph Kiesler Family Medicine Francie Wolgen

Center for Pediatric Genomics Pilot Studies

The Center for Pediatric Genomics (CpG) has established a fund to distribute $1 million annually among projects that accelerate innovative research, development, and implementation of genomic science. Awardees this year are:

Faculty Division Title
Iouri Chepelev, PhD Center for Autoimmune Genomics and Etiology Altered Three-Dimensional Chromatin Structure of the MHC Region in Lupas
Theodosia Kalfa, MD, PhD CBDI/Hematology Congenital Dyserythropoietic Anemia Registry (CDAR)
Laura Ramsey, PhD Research in Patient Services Genetic Influences on Efficacy of Methotrexate in a Murine Model of Arthritis
Beena Kamath-Rayne, MD, MPH PI/Neonatology and Pulmonary Biology Novel Biomarkers to Predict Fetal Maturity from Amniotic Fluid Transcriptome
Michael Jordan, MD Immunobiology N-CoR, Lymphoid Development and Severe Combined Immune Deficiency
Hector Wong, MD Critical Care Medicine Deconvolution of Neutrophil Heterogeneity in Pediatric Sepsis
Jonathan Katz, PhD Immunobiology Type 1 Diabetes Etiology as Revealed by Shared Molecular Mechanisms
Kakajan Komurov, PhD CBDI/Exp Hem A Web Portal for Query and Building of Structural Models of Disease Mechanisms
Sing Sing Way, MD, PhD Infectious Diseases Gene Expression Among Individual Microchimeric Maternal Cells

Children’s Health Research Career Development Award (CHRCDA)

This NICHD-funded program provides grants to support training physician-scientists to stimulate pediatric research across a variety of disciplines. This year’s awardees are:

Name Division Title of Research
Matthew Alder, MD, PhD CBDI - BMT and Immune Deficiency A Potential Role for olfm4 in Sepsis
Kathryn Weaver, MD Human Genetics Ttc21b Is Critical for Craniofacial Development

Cincinnati Children's Innovation Fund

The Cincinnati Children’s Innovation Fund is designed to accelerate the commercialization of discoveries, innovations, projects or products. Recipients this year are:

PI Title
Hector Wong, MD Rapid Biomarker Assay for Septic Shock Mortality Risk Stratification
Bruce Trapnell, MD, MS A Pilot Study of Pioglitazone Therapy of Autoimmune Pulmonary Alveolar Proteinosis
Doug Millay, PhD Harnessing Cell Fusion to Deliver Therapeutic Material to Skeletal Muscle
Yizhao Ni, PhD Automated Patient Identification for Research Studies in Emergency Departments
Stuart Goldstein, MD, FAAP, FNKF Development of Electronic Health Record Diagnostic Service to Identify and Direct Biomarker Assessment in Critically Ill Children at Risk for Acute Kidney Injury
Abby Hess, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC Development of a Game Application that Interfaces with Anesthesia Equipment to Facilitate Improved Anesthesia Induction Experiences and Post-Operative Outcomes in Pediatric Patients

Adare Drug Repurposing and Optimization Innovation Fund

This fund focuses on research to help medications initially developed for adults better meet the needs of children. As in past years, Adare Pharmaceuticals has selected a recipient for the Adare Drug Repurposing and Optimization Innovation Award.

Alexion Rare Disease Innovation Fund

Alexion Pharmaceuticals and Cincinnati Children’s have established a collaboration to fund the advancement of research in rare disease. As in past years, Alexion has selected a recipient for the Alexion Rare Disease Innovation Award.

Fifth Third Bank/Charlotte R. Schmidlapp Women Scholars Awards

This program provides grants to support the academic career development of women faculty who have demonstrated academic potential and leadership skills as they progress toward the ranks of associate and full professor. This year’s awardees are:

Name Division Year
Patricia Fulkerson, MD PhD Allergy and Immunology 2016-2017
Ellen Lipstein, MD, MPH Adolescent and Transition Medicine 2016-2017
Teodosia Kalfa, MD, PhD Hematology 2017-2018

GAP Funding Awards

This program provides one year of support to bridge gaps in R01-level funding or equivalent. Awardees this year are:

PI Division Grant Title Funding Round
Alexei Grom, MD Rheumatology Clinical significance of genetic variation in the cyolytic pathway in MAS/sHLH 2016 - July
Susmita Kashikar-Zuck, PhD BMCP Multi-site randomized clinical trial of FIT Teens for Juvenile Fibromyalgia 2016 - July
Qishen Pang, PhD CBDI/Exp Hem FA DDR Pathway in Germline Integrity 2016 - July
Joshua Waxman, PhD HI/Molecular Cardio Biol Mechanisms restricting outflow tract development 2016 - July
Timothy Weaver, MS, PhD PI/Pulmonary Biology Deficiency of Phospholipid transfer protein, a driver of allergic airway disease 2016 - July
Yi Zheng, PhD CBDI/Exp Hem Leukemia stem cell polarity and differentiation therapy 2016 - July
Biplap DasGupta, PhD CBDI/Oncology Exploring Therapeutic Vulnerability of Passenger Alterations in Glioblastoma 2016 - November
Matthew Flick, PhD CBDI/Hematology Thrombin-dependent mechanisms of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma disease 2016 - November
Richard Lang, PhD Ophthalmology Regulation of eye development by an Opsin5-dopamine pathway 2016 - November
Susanne Wells, PhD CBDI/Oncology HPV infection and replication: role of the FA pathway 2016 - November
Eric Mullins, MD CBDI/Hematology Mechanisms linking hemostatic factors and neru 2017 - March
Yutaka Yoshida, PhD Developmental Biology Formation and function of corticospinal circuits 2017 - March
Andy Herr, PhD Immunobiology Studies of metal-dependent intercellular adhesion in staphylococcal biofilms 2017 - March

Place Outcome Awards

This program, administered by the James M. Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence, provides grants to stimulate the development of health services and quality improvement research at Cincinnati Children’s and to ensure optimal implementation of clinical and operational innovations in the care delivery system. Awardees receiving funding are:

Project Period
PI Name Division Name CO PI Name Award Start Date Award End Date Award Title
Rachel M. Thienprayoon, MD, MSCS Anesthesia 1/1/2017 12/30/2018 Identifying and Defining Caregiver and Provider-Prioritized Domains of Quality in Pediatric Hospice/Palliative Care
David Hartley, PhD, MPH James M Anderson Center/ Emergency Med. Nathn Timm, MD 7/1/2016 6/30/2018 Social Media for Early Warning of Epidemics
Amanda Schondelmeyer, MD, MSc Hospital Medicine 7/1/2016 6/30/2018 Understanding Continuous Physiologic Monitoring in Hospitalized Patients:
A Mixed Methods Study
Karen Burkett, PhD, RN PPCNP-BC, Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics 7/1/2016 6/30/2017 Headstart Navigator Intervention for Development Testing
Kristen Copeland, MD General & Community Pediatrics 7/1/2015 6/30/2017 Innovations in Management of Obesity and Inactivity in Pediatric Primary Care
Natoshia Cunningham, PhD Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics 7/1/2015 6/30/2017 Improving Screening and Care for Anxious Youth with Functional Abdominal Pain
Chris Dandoy, MD, MSc CBDI/Bone Marrow Transplantation & Immune Deficiency 7/1/2015 6/30/2017 Factorial design to improve sleep hygiene in patients and families undergoing stem cell transplant
Mark Paterno, PT, PhD, MBA, SCS Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine 7/1/2015 6/30/2017 Redefining Rehabilitation after Anterior
Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction
Thomas Sitzman, MD Plastic Surgery 7/1/2015 6/30/2017 Standardizing Assessment and Improving
Outcomes in Cleft Palate Surgery
Kathleen Walsh, MD, MSc James M Anderson Center / Behavioral Medicine & Psychology Lori Crosby, PsyD 7/1/2015 6/30/2017 A multifaceted intervention to improve adherence to hydroxyurea among children with sickle cell disease

Procter Scholar Grant

The Procter Scholar Program supports faculty members from the Departments of Pediatrics, Surgery, Radiology, Patient Services, and Anesthesia who are committed to pursuing academic research careers.

Year Recipient Division Title
Third Year Ernest Pedapati, MD Psychiatry Cortical Plasticity and Neuromodulation of Social Cognition in Autism Spectrum Disorders
Third Year Hitesh Deshmukh, MD, PhD Neonatology Developmental Regulation of Host Resistance and Innate Immune Response by Intestinal Microbes
Third Year Patrick McGann, MD Hematology A Phase I/II Study of Hydroxyurea for Children with Sickle Cell Anemia in Angola
First Year Theresa Alenghat, VMD, PhD Immunobiology Epigenomic regulation of inflammatory Bowel Disease
First Year Grant Schulert, MD, PhD Rheumatology Monocyte and macrophage polarization in systemic JIA and MAS
First Year Amy Shah, MD Endocrinology The effects of Bariatric surgery on high density lipoprotein subspecies and their function
First Year John Hutton, MD Gen Peds/Reading and Literacy Validation of a "Novel" Literacy Screening Tool and th Neurobiology of Rhyming
First Year Pooja Khandelwal, MD CBDI/BMT Inhibition of lymphocyte trafficking as novel acute visceral GVHD prophylaxis in pediatrics

Research, Innovation & Pilot (RIP) Funding Awards

This program provides grants to support collecting preliminary data for innovative and essential projects considered to be good candidates for future external funding. Awardees receiving funding this year include:

PI Division Grant Title Funding Round
Scott Powers, PhD, ABPP BMCP Discovery mechanisms of cognitive behavioral therapy response in youth with migraine 2016 - July
Jason Woods, PhD Pulmonary/IRC Detecting early BOS in bone-marrow transplant recipients 2016 - July
Fred Finkelman, MD Immunobiology Role of the unfolded protein response in Allergy Pathogenesis 2016 - November
John Hogenesch, PhD Chronobiology Center Molecular mechanisms that connect circadian rhythms and cell cycle in gastrointestinal system 2016 - November
Takahisa Nakamura, PhD Endocrinology Identification of endogenous pathogenic dsRNAs that dysregulate metabolic homeostasis in obesity 2016 - November
Dean Beebe, PhD, ABPP BMCP Night to Night Sleep Variability as a contributor to adolescent obesogenic behavior 2016 - November
Greg Myer, PhD, FACSM Sports Medicine Prospective model of brain plasticity associated with musculoskeletal trauma 2016 - November
Jean Tkach, PhD IRC MRI Markers for Pulmonary Hypertension in Neonates with BPD 2016 - November
Marie-Dominique Filippi, PhD CBDI/Exp Hem Cytokine signaling in pre-leukemic hematopoietic stem cell emergence and predisposition to leukemia 2017 - March
Brian Gebelein, PhD Developmental Biology Molecular defects underlying NEUROG3 mutations associated with human diseases 2017 - March
H. Lee Grimes, PhD Immunobiology Elucidation of developmental trajectories of hematopoietic stem cells and their immediate mixed lineage intermediates undergoing specification 2017 - March
Ruhikanta Meetei, PhD CBDI/Exp Hem Novel interacting partners of FANCD2 in response to replication stress at newly replicated DNA 2017 - March
Steve Wu, MD Neurology Mechanism of Frontal Cortex Mediated Motor Control in Tourette Syndrome 2017 - March
Chunyue Yin, PhD Gastroenterology Deficiency in ATP-binding cassette transporter ABCC12 contributes to progressive familial intrahepatic cholestrasis 2017 - March
Shelia Angeles-Han, MD, MSc Rheumatology Measuring meaningful biomarkers in children with chronic non-infectious Uveitis 2017 - March

Trustee Grant Awards

This program provides research funds for junior faculty to support rapid achievement of independent, sustained extramural funding for their research. This year’s awardees are:

Award Recipient Department/Discipline Title of Trustee Award Project
Theresa Alenghat, VMD, PhD Immunobiology Regulation of Intestinal Homeostasis by Commensal Bacteria-Derived Metabolites
Sarah Beal, PhD Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology Understanding Health and Wellbeing Among Adolescents in Protective Custody
Katherine Bowers, PhD, MPH Biostatistics & Epidemiology Prenatal Maternal Distress and Offspring Neurodevelopment
Zackary Cleveland, PhD Pulmonary Medicine Tissue Density and Specific Ventilation MRI in Models of Progressive Lung Disease
Andrew Dauber, MD Endocrinology Functional and Developmental Characterization of Activation Mutations in CDKN1C
Patricia Fulkerson, MD, PhD Allergy and Immunology Roles of Helios and Aiolos in Eosinophil Development
Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus, PhD General and Community Pediatrics The Role of Executive Functions in Reading in Children with Dyslexia
Darren Kadis, PhD Neurology Mapping Language with fMRI-constrained MEG Effective Connectivity Analyses
Satish Madala, PhD Pulmonary Medicine Wilms' Tumor 1 - Regulation of Pulmonary Fibrosis
Yutaka Maeda, DVM, PhD Pulmonary Biology Mechanism of NKX2-1-Mediated Suppression of Airway Hyper-Secretion
Phillip Minar, MD Gastroenterology Molecular Signature to Predict Response to Biologic Therapy in Pediatric Crohn's
Jun Nakamura, PhD Neurosurgery Molecular characterization of choroid plexus cilia in a novel mouse mutant with communicating hydrocephalus
Catherine Quatman-Yates, PT-DPT Sports Medicine Autonomic Dysfunction: A Systemic Impairment and Therapeutic Target for Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries
Jennifer Schumacher, PhD Developmental Biology Roles of the adaptor protein She in Vegf signaling and vascular maintenance
Ting Wen, MD, PhD Allergy and Immunology Investigating the roles of FFAR3 in Th2 cytokine production by esophageal lymphocytes