171 Ashley Ave.
Charleston, SC 29425
843-792-1414
800-424-MUSC
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February 2007
This edition:
Letter From Our Chair
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L. Lyndon Key, MD
Professor and Chairman
Department of Pediatrics |
Dear faculty, Children's Hospital staff and other friends,
Dr. Paul Darden will be heading our effort to obtain a Child Health Research Career Development Award (K12) grant. This is an educational grant
that will provide training for basic science-oriented clinicians. It will function similarly to the program developed in the Academic Generalist Program
through our clinical masters that helps to develop clinical trialists. In recent years, we have put together a team of scientists in the Darby Children's
Research Institute (DCRI) who do basic science research and train our fellows and junior faculty how to develop funded programs. Our success has been greatly
enhanced by the recruitment and expansion of several programs.
We have a number of superb mentors who have helped us to develop the research careers of our faculty. The two premier groups who have provided help in mentoring
junior faculty over the years have been Dr. Inderjit Singh and Dr. Bruce Hollis.
[read more]
Feature Story
Pediatric Cardiology: Research efforts going strong
The pediatric cardiology department is pushing forward in the field, and that means strengthening and expanding its research efforts.
The program combines all aspects of taking care of and treating patients with congenital heart disease, says Dr. Philip Saul, director of the
Division of Pediatric Cardiology.
"We do all patient care, and part of that is our clinical research program," says Dr. Saul. "We have a dedicated faculty who all spend at least
some of their time doing research."
The clinical faculty in the division is unique. "They're all relatively young, and all have the same belief that in order to push forward in the
field, more of what we do needs to be driven by evidence-based research," says Dr. Saul.
[read more]
New recruit strengthens research efforts
The unique chance to work in a pediatric cardiology department but also with a group of skilled and collaborative basic investigators focused on
disease-related, developmental cardiovascular biology is what lured Dr. Kyu-Ho Lee to the Darby Children's Research Institute.
"This was a rare opportunity for me, because I'm clinically trained but also have a strong basic science training and interest," says the young
recruit, who first worked with Dr. Saul at Boston Children's Hospital. He holds a joint appointment in Pediatric Cardiology and Cell Biology and Anatomy.
[read more]
Message From Our Medical Director
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J. Philip Saul, MD
Medical Director
Director, Pediatric Cardiology |
In addition to serving as medical director, I am also the director of pediatric cardiology at the Children's Hospital. Consequently, this month's
e-newsletter highlights an area near and dear to my heart - research in children's heart disease. In pediatric cardiology, as with all of our pediatric
subspecialties, we recognize and value the tripartite role of an academic medical practice: patient care, teaching and research. Patient care is our
first priority from both a divisional and individual standpoint. We try to ease the stress of the patients and their families by delivering timely and
excellent care. Our second priority is to educate our students and trainees. We provide excellent training programs and expect the very best from our
students, the next generation of practicing physicians, educators, and scientists. Finally, that leads us to our third critical practice - research.
Research is an extremely important priority for future care of our patients and for the field of pediatric cardiology. As the feature story highlights,
our research goals are achieved in three different ways. One is to integrate clinical research projects into our daily patient care activities so our
patients have access to exciting medical advances and new options for treatment. The second is to foster research by supporting key faculty members
such as Dr. Lee, an extremely well trained pediatrician who was recruited to conduct basic research in the Darby Children's Research Institute. The
final and ultimate aim of our efforts is translational research. Translational research brings advances from the laboratory to the bedside - it translates
research into clinical care. Tim McQuinn, a laboratory scientist and pediatric cardiology clinician sets a wonderful standard of excellence in translational
research. In conclusion, research has many components and is an integral part of the academic medical practice at MUSC. Research makes it possible to
practice the very best medicine.
Update From Our Administrator
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John Sanders, MHA
Administrator
MUSC Children's Hospital |
Ronald McDonald House Expands
The Ronald McDonald House (RMH) has become a second home for many of the families we serve at the Children's Hospital. A substantial amount of effort
has been put into the expansion of the facilities of the RMH. Prior to the renovations, most of the families were those who had children in our ICUs -
these were the more critical cases. In fact, more than 900 families were regrettably denied the opportunity to stay at the RMH in 2006 due to the lack
of room availability.
Today, the RMH is able to accept twice the number of families with children in all of our service areas. We realize that nobody wants to have their
children in the hospital but for those who do have a child with a serious illness, the RMH provides a warm and safe environment that while staying
close to their loved ones. It allows families to find comfort in normal routines such as cooking dinner, doing laundry or just hanging out together
like they would at home.
We are so grateful to have a strong relationship with the Ronald McDonald House and their amazing team members. The RMH faculty understands the high
level of stress the families are dealing with and they do their best to be as supportive and considerate as possible. The staff and the child-friendly
facility create a unique home-away-from-home environment and we appreciate all they do. RMH is an integral part of children's care in the Charleston
area and we look forward to continuing our work together to better serve our patients and families.
Darby Children's Research Institute News
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Bernard L. Maria, MD, MBA
Executive Director
Darby Children's
Research Inst. |
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Inderjit Singh, PhD
Scientific Director
Darby Children's
Research Inst. |
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2nd Anniversary for DCRI
We will soon celebrate the 2nd Anniversary for the Charles P. Darby Children's Research Institute (DCRI). The DCRI and its dedicated investigators have
proven to be incredibly productive over the last two years, and we are very proud of the work being done. Each day, there are new developments taking
place and successful collaborations being established. The DCRI continues to attract new scientists including Dr. Bell in Renal Biology, Dr. Lee in
Cardiobiology, and Dr. Swaja in Bioengineering, among others in 2006-2007.
On March 1, 2007, the DCRI invites you to learn about new discoveries in basic biology and in translational and clinical sciences that impact our children's health.
[read more]
Evidence-Based Tip
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Laura Cousineau, MLS
MUSC Library
Dept. of Pediatrics EBM Faculty |
Diagnosis: How good is this test?
Usually, when we use the word "diagnosis," we are referring to the process of making a diagnosis or performing a differential diagnosis. In Evidence-Based
Medicine, however, when we pose a diagnosis question, we want to know how well a particular test does in telling us if our patient does or does not have a
certain condition.
Diagnostic studies give us information that tells us how well the test does, compared to "the truth," as represented by the "gold standard." Bandolier's EBM Glossary
defines gold standard as "A method, procedure or measurement that is widely accepted as being the best available." For example, a recent study at Vanderbilt University Medical
Center compared the rapid flu test (influenza rapid antigen detection) to culture and reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. Two important percentages result from
this comparison: sensitivity and specificity.
[read more]
A special thanks to the following individuals for their efforts in putting together Kids Connection each month.
Editor: Bernard L. Maria, MD, MBA
Publisher: Jennifer Cherock (Trio Solutions Inc.)
Feature Writer: Mary Sue Lawrence, Trio Solutions Inc
Contributing Writers:
Lyndon Key,
Bernard Maria,
John Sanders,
Inderjit Singh,
Laura Cousineau
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