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Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

Lowering Thrombin Levels Offers a Double Benefit in Glomerular Disease Model
 Lowering Thrombin Levels Offers a Double Benefit in Glomerular Disease Model 1024 410 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
microscopy image of podocytes, a type of cell found in the kidney, stained with blue and fluorescent yellow. small red dots mark the cell

Preclinical studies suggest that reducing levels of the clotting enzyme may simultaneously reduce kidney damage and lower risk of blood clots. Preclinical research in an in vivo model now confirms what Bryce Kerlin, MD, and his team first proposed in a publication 8 years ago: excess thrombin directly injures podocytes, and high levels in the…

Speeding Up Science With Patient-Derived Xenografts
 Speeding Up Science With Patient-Derived Xenografts 1024 483 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
cropped microscopy image of lungs tissue with tumors

A perfect storm of advanced technologies and scientific collaboration opens doors to rapid progress in pediatric oncology research. The world of pediatric cancer research faces the challenges of small patient numbers, increased ethical considerations, limited funding and poorly classified diseases. In some ways, these challenges reflect the field’s successes over the past half century, which…

Genome Database Analysis Suggests Cystic Fibrosis is More Globally Distributed Than Previously Believed
 Genome Database Analysis Suggests Cystic Fibrosis is More Globally Distributed Than Previously Believed 1024 768 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

Despite lower CF incidence in non-European populations, total CF births in Asia, Africa and South America likely equal or surpass those in North America and Europe. Cystic fibrosis (CF) has long been viewed as a disease that primarily affects people of European descent. Even as genetic research expanded and highly effective modulator therapies (HEMT) became…

Registry Data Provide Insight Into Ultra-Rare Pediatric Tenosynovial Giant Cell Tumors
 Registry Data Provide Insight Into Ultra-Rare Pediatric Tenosynovial Giant Cell Tumors 1024 473 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

At A Glance Tenosynovial giant cell tumor (TGCT) is a rare condition that affects joints, mostly in adults but sometimes in children. New research using an international patient registry shows that children often wait more than a year for the correct diagnosis because symptoms such as pain and swelling can look like sports injuries or…

Nationwide Children’s Hospital Completes One of the World’s First Prenatal Treatments for Spinal Muscular Atrophy
 Nationwide Children’s Hospital Completes One of the World’s First Prenatal Treatments for Spinal Muscular Atrophy 1024 600 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
Baby Bryson laughing at a check up following treatment for SMA.

Investigational third-trimester, transplacental “bridging” therapy with risdiplam — followed by rapid postnatal treatment — aims to protect motor neurons during a critical window before and immediately after birth.  When Stacy Auker found out she was pregnant with her third child, she knew a diagnosis of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) was a possibility.  “We have relatives who have been affected, so I…

As Suicide Increases in Preteens, Investigators Expand Research into Causes and Prevention
 As Suicide Increases in Preteens, Investigators Expand Research into Causes and Prevention 1024 576 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

By tracking trends in suicide over time, researchers identify critical new directions for suicide prevention work. Last year, a study published in JAMA Network Open by researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and collaborating institutions reported that suicide among preteens (children ages 8-12) had increased 8.2% annually from 2008 to 2022. “This has become a critical…

Better Asthma Outcomes: A Systems-Level Approach
 Better Asthma Outcomes: A Systems-Level Approach 1024 422 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
Smiling child wearing a blue bike helmet and vest while riding outdoors on a sunny day, promoting bicycle safety and healthy outdoor activities for kids.

A dedicated team of experts embraced sweeping tactics to reduce asthma-related emergency department visits by 33% and inpatient length of stay by 0.9 days. This is how they did it. It started with a conversation about the data: Why are kids with asthma the hospital’s most frequent fliers? After all, excellent preventive and acute treatments…

A Digital Bundle to Help Primary Care Clinicians Successfully Promote Cardiovascular Health
 A Digital Bundle to Help Primary Care Clinicians Successfully Promote Cardiovascular Health 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

A web-based app that integrates into electronic record systems could offer primary care providers an evidence-based way to effectively address cardiovascular risks and behavior change with parents. On average, physicians get a total of 4 hours of education in nutrition and behavior change counseling during medical school. “That’s a horrible baseline,” says Amrik Singh Khalsa,…

Pediatric Restless Legs Syndrome: More Common (and Impactful) Than You Might Think
 Pediatric Restless Legs Syndrome: More Common (and Impactful) Than You Might Think 1024 683 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

This underdiagnosed condition is more than just a bedtime annoyance — it may reflect nutrient deficiencies and have major impacts on daytime behavior. Restless legs syndrome (RLS) affects 2-4% of school-aged children, with symptoms that can significantly impact sleep quality, family relationships and daytime behavior. The condition causes discomfort in the arms or legs during…

Predicting Acute Kidney Injury in Neonates Using Machine Learning Algorithms
 Predicting Acute Kidney Injury in Neonates Using Machine Learning Algorithms 480 320 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

A new model accurately identifies neonates at risk of acute kidney injury (AKI) — and the factors physicians should address to prevent it — offering the first AKI prediction tool specific to this vulnerable population. Acute kidney injury (AKI) is common and irreversible, making preventive measures essential to maintaining health. Multiple risk prediction tools exist…

Understanding Long-Term Outcomes for Children With Anorectal Malformation
 Understanding Long-Term Outcomes for Children With Anorectal Malformation 1024 683 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

Researchers finally have high-quality data about the trajectory of continence outcomes — and key predictors for quality of life — across childhood for children with anorectal malformations. For many parents of children with an anorectal malformation (ARM), the primary goal is for the child to be “clean and dry” — able to manage bowel movements…

By the Book: Guiding Teens Through Inpatient Psychiatric Stays
 By the Book: Guiding Teens Through Inpatient Psychiatric Stays 1024 555 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

A new patient guidebook provides evidence-based resources to engage adolescents in their recovery throughout and after their hospital stay. Inpatient admissions for child and adolescent psychiatry patients typically occur due to a psychiatric crisis. At Nationwide Children’s Hospital, children stay an average of eight days before transitioning to outpatient care. While in the hospital, they…

A Simple Intervention With Great Potential
 A Simple Intervention With Great Potential 1024 585 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

If the CORD-CHD Study meets even a single endpoint, it will represent one of the simplest and most accessible improvements in congenital heart disease management in recent history. The concept is elegant in its simplicity: delay clamping the umbilical cord for a minute or two after birth to allow a gentle increase in the baby’s…

Single Ventricle, Many Research Angles
 Single Ventricle, Many Research Angles 1024 658 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

An overview of the people and projects behind one of the world’s most robust single-ventricle heart disease research hubs.  In the field of single-ventricle heart disease (SVHD), there are more questions than answers. What causes the heart to form with only one ventricle? At what point in fetal development might we intervene to improve its…

Setting the Standard for Cloacal Malformation Management
 Setting the Standard for Cloacal Malformation Management 1024 928 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

The team in the Center for Colorectal and Pelvic Reconstruction at Nationwide Children’s Hospital has transformed the profession’s approach to surgical care and follow-up, dramatically altering patient outcomes in the process. To say that cloacal malformation management has been historically understudied may be an understatement. “At the time we published our surgical protocol, it was…

Genomics Testing in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: Reducing Variability, Improving Utility
 Genomics Testing in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: Reducing Variability, Improving Utility 1024 575 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

Genomics testing of infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) has the potential to improve care, but process improvement efforts require consideration of major differences in hospital resources. Babies with genetic conditions make up a significant number of the infants in pediatric and neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), but knowing which babies are sick…

Featured Researcher – Julie Leonard, MD, MPH
 Featured Researcher – Julie Leonard, MD, MPH 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

As a long-time pediatric trauma clinician-scientist, Julie Leonard, MD, MPH, board-certified emergency medicine specialist and principal investigator in the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, has contributed to numerous veins of research in her field. The recent publication of a set of clinical prediction criteria for cervical spine injury represents the…

Updated Small Baby Care Guidelines Reflect 20 Years of Work Toward Improved Outcomes
 Updated Small Baby Care Guidelines Reflect 20 Years of Work Toward Improved Outcomes 1024 683 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

Thorough management guidelines for babies born before 27 weeks’ gestation join the program’s long list of accomplishments in improving survival and standardizing care for this vulnerable population. As the Small Baby Program at Nationwide Children’s Hospital celebrates its 20th anniversary, it is also releasing its latest set of care guidelines for their tiny patients. Divided…

More Than One REMEDY for Genetic Disorders
 More Than One REMEDY for Genetic Disorders 1024 768 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

How a new approach to correcting heterozygous mutations and other novel techniques for gene editing are transforming the potential to combat disease The field of gene therapy has had some astounding success in recent years — much of which emerged from labs at Nationwide Children’s Hospital — but it has also stumbled over some serious…

Featured Researcher – Eric Sribnick
 Featured Researcher – Eric Sribnick 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

When children experience a traumatic brain injury (TBI) as well as significant injuries elsewhere in the body—such as a liver or spleen laceration or a broken bone—they face a substantially increased risk of subsequent infection. Research suggests this may stem from a sort of shock to the immune system leading to immunoparalysis, which leaves children…

Improving Pediatric Clinical Trials by Incorporating Parent Input
 Improving Pediatric Clinical Trials by Incorporating Parent Input 1024 681 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

A Parent Council in an ongoing pediatric stroke rehabilitation trial provides important insights into how parent involvement can inform and enrich the research process. While the need for diverse and inclusive clinical trial populations has been acknowledged for the last few decades, the value of input into trial design from the patient (and in pediatrics,…

Subclinical Herpes Simplex Virus in Neonates: What to Do?
 Subclinical Herpes Simplex Virus in Neonates: What to Do? 1024 683 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

Neonates can test positive for HSV without having visible lesions or other classic symptoms, leaving clinical uncertainty regarding appropriate antiviral treatment and testing protocols. Researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital have shared data on a sample of 17 neonates who tested positive for herpes simplex virus (HSV) at mucosal sites, without any mucosal lesions, positive blood…

What Primary Care Providers Need to Know About Precocious Puberty
 What Primary Care Providers Need to Know About Precocious Puberty 1024 683 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

PCPs are the first line of defense in recognizing and referring possible cases of precocious puberty to endocrinologists for formal diagnosis and treatment. Precocious puberty — signs of the onset of puberty before the age of 8 in girls and 9 in boys — affects less than 1% of children in the United States, and…

Biofilms: The Good, the Bad & the Groundbreaking
 Biofilms: The Good, the Bad & the Groundbreaking 1024 615 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

Decades of research into the structure and function of bacterial biofilms have begun to pay off in the form of imminent clinical applications capable of harnessing both the protective and problematic aspects of this universal phenomenon. Imagine a hospital emergency department filled with patients — those with painful ear infections, recurrent urinary tract infections, fevers…

Loss of RNase 6 Increases Susceptibility to Upper Urinary Tract Infections, Model Shows
 Loss of RNase 6 Increases Susceptibility to Upper Urinary Tract Infections, Model Shows 1024 575 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

The latest in a robust series of studies confirms an important role for RNase 6 in deterring infections of the ureters and kidneys.   Research teams at the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital have long been studying a superfamily of ribonucleases for their role as natural antimicrobials in the human urinary tract.…

Study Reveals New Use for GER Tool in Neonates: Swallowing Analysis
 Study Reveals New Use for GER Tool in Neonates: Swallowing Analysis 1024 683 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
Dr. Jadcherla

Investigators have repurposed a simple test for gastroesophageal reflux (GER) disease to provide valuable insight into multiple swallowing abnormalities in newborn babies. A tool used to diagnose gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) in hospitalized neonates now has another use: characterizing swallowing abilities. The researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital who pioneered the objective use of the test,…

Novel Brace for Hip Immobilization After Bladder Exstrophy Repair
 Novel Brace for Hip Immobilization After Bladder Exstrophy Repair 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

An innovative orthopedic brace allows families to avoid the disadvantages of casts, external fixators and traction devices after bladder exstrophy surgery. After bladder exstrophy repair — a complicated surgery to move a baby’s bladder from outside of the abdomen to the inside — postoperative hip position can cause tension on the incisions, making pelvic immobilization…

New Study Demonstrates Potential for a Gene Therapy for Vanishing White Matter Disease
 New Study Demonstrates Potential for a Gene Therapy for Vanishing White Matter Disease 1024 552 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

The research, conducted in mouse models, shows promising safety and efficacy for a currently incurable, life-limiting condition. Researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital have confirmed initial safety and efficacy data for a gene supplementation therapy for Vanishing White Matter (VWM) disease in mouse models. Testing multiple versions of therapy in two separate mouse models representing different…

Opportunities to Reduce Stress for Parents of Kids With Autism
 Opportunities to Reduce Stress for Parents of Kids With Autism 1024 683 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

Research suggests parenting self-efficacy and family resources influence parental stress levels, offering potential modifiable targets for clinicians aiming to help families thrive.   A study led by pediatric psychology experts at Nationwide Children’s Hospital has confirmed that parenting self-efficacy is associated with parental stress levels in families of children with autism, and that parenting self-efficacy…

Optimizing Prenatal and Neonatal Care for Infants With Treatable Rare Diseases
 Optimizing Prenatal and Neonatal Care for Infants With Treatable Rare Diseases 1024 619 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

As new treatments emerge and diagnostics improve, earlier interventions offer infants with rare metabolic and neurodegenerative conditions a future wildly different than ever before. Not long ago, a diagnosis of molybdenum cofactor deficiency (MoCD) type A meant death before kindergarten. Since the FDA approval of NULIBRY® (fosdenopterin) in 2021, however, children diagnosed with MoCD type…

Improving UTI Detection in Neonates: Antimicrobial Peptides and Cotton Balls
 Improving UTI Detection in Neonates: Antimicrobial Peptides and Cotton Balls 1024 683 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

New research sets the stage for less-invasive urinary tract infection identification in neonates 22-37 weeks gestational age. A team of researchers driving the revolution in urinary tract infection (UTI) identification using antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) has now expanded their focus from adults and children to newborns – including those born prematurely. Their latest study, published in…

What Pulmonologists Need to Know About Respiratory Insufficiency in Neuromuscular Disease
 What Pulmonologists Need to Know About Respiratory Insufficiency in Neuromuscular Disease 600 400 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

The RIND Study Group has released new consensus criteria to proactively identify hypoventilation in children with neuromuscular diseases. Recently released consensus criteria from an expert panel of pediatric pulmonologists and sleep specialists define and provide diagnosis guidance surrounding respiratory insufficiency in neuromuscular disease (RIND). The results from the 15-member RIND Study Group’s Delphi study, published…

Gene Therapy for the Masses?
 Gene Therapy for the Masses? 1024 683 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

Long-lived financial and logistical hurdles make bringing new gene therapy products to market a major challenge. To help bring more of these medical miracles to fruition, experts across industry, regulatory review, science and medicine have begun to problem solve together.  With the approval of the gene therapy Kymriah® (tisagenlecleucel) in 2017, the Food and Drug…

QI Initiative Reduces Emergency Room Visits for Functional Constipation
 QI Initiative Reduces Emergency Room Visits for Functional Constipation 1024 683 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

Preliminary data from a large accountable care organization’s quality improvement efforts suggest advanced care visits dropped 27% in two years. Partners For Kids (PFK), the nation’s oldest and largest pediatric accountable care organization, launched a series of quality improvement (QI) projects targeting disease management strategies that could significantly impact healthcare utilization and outcomes for children…

NIDDK Grant Awarded to Launch Integrated Islet Distribution Program Islet Isolation Center
 NIDDK Grant Awarded to Launch Integrated Islet Distribution Program Islet Isolation Center 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

A Nationwide Children’s Hospital research team has received federal funding to become a hub for the isolation and distribution of high-quality human islet cells for the diabetes research community. Since joining Nationwide Children’s Hospital in 2022 as director of the Islet Cell Isolation Program, Balamurugan Appakalai, PhD, has been leading one of the nation’s most…

Featured Researcher — Nilsa Ramirez, MD
 Featured Researcher — Nilsa Ramirez, MD 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

Nilsa Del Carmen Ramirez Milan, MD, director of the Biopathology Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, leads the biorepository team that receives about 1,000 new specimens each day. These must be processed and stored properly—together with the rest of the biobank’s > 6 million specimens. Then there is the outflow of samples provided for clinical analysis…

Featured Researcher — Katherine Bline, MD
 Featured Researcher — Katherine Bline, MD 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

Katherine Bline, MD, is a critical care medicine physician and principal investigator in the Center for Vaccines and Immunity at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Experience caring for some of the hospital’s sickest children in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and mentors who pushed her to understand phenomena she observed clinically have helped Dr. Bline find…

Straightforward Stitch Technique Dramatically Reduces Post-Operative Anorectoplasty Complications
 Straightforward Stitch Technique Dramatically Reduces Post-Operative Anorectoplasty Complications 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

The novel para-U-stitch keeps post-operative wound dehiscence to a minimum, helping patients with anorectal malformations avoid readmission, reoperation and infection. After recognizing a pattern of wound dehiscence and postoperative complications in patients with anorectal malformations (ARMs) repaired without a colostomy bag — meaning they stool directly through the surgical site as it heals — surgeons…

Featured Researcher — Jeff Bridge, PhD
 Featured Researcher — Jeff Bridge, PhD 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

Jeff Bridge, PhD, director of the Center for Suicide Prevention and Research in the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, has been actively working to prevent suicide among at-risk youth since he was 19. Although he started as a volunteer, his career in suicide prevention and research has progressed considerably during his 36…

Featured Researcher — Meisam Naeimi Kararoudi, DVM, PhD
 Featured Researcher — Meisam Naeimi Kararoudi, DVM, PhD 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

Meisam Naeimi Kararoudi, DVM, PhD, director of the CRISPR/Gene Editing Core and principal investigator in the Center for Childhood Cancer Research at Nationwide Children’s, has taken a winding, international road to his current role at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. From his native Iran to Italy, England, Sweden and the United States, Dr. Naeimi Kararoudi has collected…

How Language-Processing Technology Could Transform Medical Practice, Research and Patient Participation
 How Language-Processing Technology Could Transform Medical Practice, Research and Patient Participation 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

Recent revolutions in researchers’ ability to process natural language sources, such as clinic visit notes, transcripts or medical diaries, could dramatically expand opportunities to improve health care and prevention health outreach.   Natural Language Processing (NLP) is a subfield of computer science and artificial intelligence that deals with the interaction between computers and human language.…

Beyond the Wow Factor: Artificial Intelligence in Pediatrics
 Beyond the Wow Factor: Artificial Intelligence in Pediatrics 1024 576 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

What promise do AI and machine learning hold for pediatrics, and how can their potential flourish while still safeguarding children’s health and privacy? Machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) have exploded across the worlds of marketing and commerce in recent years. Streaming services track what you watch and suggest other content you may enjoy.…

Nephrology Education Ripe With Opportunities to Improve Health Equity
 Nephrology Education Ripe With Opportunities to Improve Health Equity 1024 575 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

The Health Care Justice Committee of the American Society of Nephrology has released recommendations for incorporating anti-racism and social justice concepts into education and mentoring with the goal of improving health equity.   In 2020, leaders in the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) reached out to Ray Bignall II, MD, pediatric nephrologist and assistant chief…

Featured Researcher — Eric Nelson, PhD
 Featured Researcher — Eric Nelson, PhD 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

Eric Nelson, PhD, is a principal investigator in the Center for Biobehavioral Health in the Abigail Wexner Research Institute (AWRI) at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. His work centers around how the brain develops, particularly during adolescence, as well as how it changes (or doesn’t) during periods of mental health symptoms, crises or therapeutic interventions. He collaborates…

Cancer-Causing Gene and Treatment Target for Ultra-Rare Rhabdomyosarcoma Confirmed Via Multiple Models
 Cancer-Causing Gene and Treatment Target for Ultra-Rare Rhabdomyosarcoma Confirmed Via Multiple Models 1024 764 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

An international team has validated a cancer-causing gene fusion — and therapeutic targets — for an unusual presentation of muscle cancer in infants. In 2016, researchers first identified a novel gene mutation and fusion in rare cases of infants with rhabdomyosarcoma, a type of skeletal muscle-like cancer, normally only seen in school-age children and teenagers.…

Adding Telehealth Solutions to the Autism Toolbox: What Really Works?
 Adding Telehealth Solutions to the Autism Toolbox: What Really Works? 1024 535 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
Collage of health technology tools

The COVID-19 pandemic forced autism diagnostics and follow-up care to digital, remote platforms. Now that telehealth is no longer required, what’s worth keeping as a digital service option?   It may be hard to imagine successfully observing a child over video — or even just having responses to prompts relayed over the phone — in…

Myopericarditis After COVID-19 Vaccination
 Myopericarditis After COVID-19 Vaccination 1024 683 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

A meta-analysis of international studies offers more detailed insight into the severity and outcomes of vaccine-related myopericarditis in the adolescent and young adult population. Concerns over myopericarditis and other cardiovascular complications in teens and young adults have gained considerable media attention. While myopericarditis-related data have been well characterized in adults with and without vaccination, the…

Featured Researcher — Jonathan Slaughter, MD, MPH
 Featured Researcher — Jonathan Slaughter, MD, MPH 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

Jonathan Slaughter, MD, MPH, neonatologist and principal investigator in the Center for Perinatal Research at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, works to identify best practices and reduce treatment variation to improve neonatal clinical care and outcomes. His career took off when, after casually observing practice variation across the institutions where he received training, he noticed that preterm…

Featured Researcher — Motao (Matt) Zhu, MS, MD, PhD
 Featured Researcher — Motao (Matt) Zhu, MS, MD, PhD 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

Motao (Matt) Zhu, MS, MD, PhD, serves as a principal investigator in the Center for Injury Research and Policy at the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. After starting off his epidemiology studies in reproductive health, Dr. Zhu transitioned into injury research and has since become an internationally recognized expert in young driver…

New Nomogram Helps Optimize 3-D Rotational Angiography for Congenital Cardiac Catheterization
 New Nomogram Helps Optimize 3-D Rotational Angiography for Congenital Cardiac Catheterization 1024 775 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

Clinician-researchers studied a large number of 3-D rotational angiography (3DRA) cases to identify patient and practice factors that produce the highest quality images. In an effort to aid in the successful application of 3-D rotational angiography (3DRA) in cardiac catheterization labs worldwide, a team of clinicians at Nationwide Children’s Hospital retrospectively reviewed 208 3DRAs to…