The University of Nebraska Board of Regents today approved the creation of the Child Health Research Institute, a collaboration between the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Children’s Hospital & Medical Center. The institute will provide a base for an already established and growing research program within the 10-year-old affiliation between Children’s and UNMC.
John Sparks, M.D., chairman of the UNMC Department of Pediatrics, said that since UNMC and Children’s first affiliated in 2007, the affiliation has been extremely successful and has seen dramatic growth in both the clinical and education areas.
"On the research side, we’ve also been very successful and have grown our research on many different metrics," he said. "We’ve developed particular expertise in four areas – cancer, heart disease, infectious disease and rare diseases – and have increased our funding and activities dramatically."
As a result, Dr. Sparks said, the time is right to launch into a bigger commitment to research.
"The institute will further strengthen the mutual commitment between Children’s and UNMC in research and to help define a roadmap for the future, to ensure we continue successfully in research for years to come.
"We’ve been growing, but we see the institute now as an organizing force to set a tone and direction for the future," he said. "The focus is to start growing our critical mass of researchers and to improve our publications and our funding base. I would hope in the not too distant future we’ll be big enough to think about our own facility."
Jennifer Larsen, M.D., vice chancellor of research, said the institute will aid research growth.
"The Child Health Research Institute is an outstanding opportunity to build on our existing research strengths and partnership with Children’s towards even more nationally recognized programs," Dr. Larsen said. "This institute has already attracted some outstanding potential new faculty, which will be a benefit to our entire research community."
Dr. Sparks said the creation of the institute has been a 10-year process.
"We’ve got a very dedicated group of pediatric researchers within UNMC and Children’s," he said. "We’ve developed some really good collaborations with other colleges and other campuses, and I think putting this all together will do nothing but benefit the health of children in the state for years to come."
No state funds were requested to create the institute.
Fostering collaboration
Dr. Sparks pointed to a collaboration on a cancer study with UNMC’s College of Public Health Epidemiology Department and the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Geography Department, looking at the epidemiology of childhood cancer in the state of Nebraska, as an example of the type of interdisciplinary research the institute will help foster.
"This grew from CDC data suggesting that Nebraska was in the top five in the incidence of childhood cancer," he said. "We’ve collaborated with an outstanding group at the College of Public Health to refine the epidemiology, and we’ve been working with a group at the UNO Geography Department, looking at geographic mapping of childhood cancer in Nebraska. It’s been a great collaboration."
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