Features

Who Do You Trust?
Who Do You Trust? 1024 304 Abbie Miller

Health and science communicators face increasing challenges in a world where misinformation abounds and trust is a coveted commodity. You might have heard the phrase “post-truth world” used to describe the shifting dynamics of fact, fiction and trusted sources. With the increase in artificial intelligence (AI) generated content, the end of fact-checking on the world’s…

Single Ventricle, Many Research Angles
Single Ventricle, Many Research Angles 1024 658 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

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…

Clinical Genomics: From Research to Reality
Clinical Genomics: From Research to Reality 1024 716 Abbie Miller

Without genomic sequencing, many genetic diseases would never be diagnosed. Genomic testing — whole exome or whole genome sequencing — is vital to reducing the diagnostic odyssey for children with rare, undiagnosed disease. But is genetic analysis only useful in these cases? Experts across the country have long suggested that genomic testing can be even…

From Bench to Bedside: Collaborations Drive Meaningful Change
From Bench to Bedside: Collaborations Drive Meaningful Change 1024 360 Abbie Miller

The move from a research-first approach to genomic testing to offer more clinically available assays was driven in part by limitations in current clinical testing offerings, as well as by the decreasing cost and turn-around time of genomic sequencing. This environment drove the development of translational protocols. “Our team works with researchers, clinicians and others…

Genomic Analysis: Overcoming a Formidable Challenge
Genomic Analysis: Overcoming a Formidable Challenge 1024 360 Abbie Miller

Despite the improvements in scale and speed of generating genomic sequencing data, the challenge of genomic analysis and its costs remains. “In my opinion, the cost of data analysis has always been the largest component of the overall cost,” says Elaine Mardis, PhD, co-executive director of the Steve and Cindy Rasmussen Institute for Genomic Medicine…

Studying the Environment’s Impact on Pediatric Health Outcomes
Studying the Environment’s Impact on Pediatric Health Outcomes 1024 619 Wendy Margolin

A massive population database is expected to inform and transform children’s health outcomes. Researchers from Nationwide Children’s Hospital and The Ohio State University are focusing on how early exposures might be associated with areas such as neurodevelopment and cardiovascular outcomes as part of a large national study, Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program.…

Managing the Pain of Medical Procedures With Virtual Reality
Managing the Pain of Medical Procedures With Virtual Reality 1024 572 Mary Bates, PhD

Clinicians across departments pilot a virtual reality game for pediatric pain management, moving virtual reality closer to clinical standard practice. A recent pilot study from researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital demonstrated the benefits of a virtual reality (VR) game during potentially painful procedures in different clinical settings. Providers and patients reported positive feedback to the…

Congenital Hypothyroidism: What Endocrinologists Need to Know
Congenital Hypothyroidism: What Endocrinologists Need to Know 1024 585 Pam Georgiana

Your top 10 questions are answered by Nationwide Children’s experts from the Division of Endocrinology. Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) is a common endocrine disorder, affecting approximately 1 in every 2,000 to 4,000 live births globally. Confusion regarding proper screening and follow-up protocols for this serious yet preventable condition impact clinical care and outcomes for children with…

Meet Amy Brown Schlegel, MD, Section Chief of Neonatology
Meet Amy Brown Schlegel, MD, Section Chief of Neonatology 1024 603 Pam Georgiana

After over a decade in Neonatology at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Dr. Schlegel has been appointed section chief of Neonatology. We recently sat down to talk with Dr. Schlegel about her time at Nationwide Children’s and her plans for leading the next phase of growth in Neonatal care. Amy Brown Schlegel, MD, practices Neonatology in the…

Varhouse and AVA: Revolutionizing Genomic Data Management and Interpretation
Varhouse and AVA: Revolutionizing Genomic Data Management and Interpretation 1024 672 Lauren Dembeck

The groundbreaking software system is used for both research and clinical purposes and is transforming how genomic data is organized, interpreted and applied to improve patient care. When it comes to working with big data, it doesn’t get much bigger than the human genome. Each of our genomes has approximately 6 billion data points, half…

Leveraging Technology and Partnerships to Transform Pediatric Orthopedic Care
Leveraging Technology and Partnerships to Transform Pediatric Orthopedic Care 1024 683 Erin Gregory

An interview with Allen A. Kadado, MD, director of the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Center for Orthopedic Innovation, director of the Nationwide Children’s Pediatric Orthopedic Residency Program At Nationwide Children’s Hospital, the Department of Orthopedics drives pediatric health care innovation through collaborations that bridge clinical expertise and technological advancement. Specializing in areas like spinal deformities, trauma…

More Than One REMEDY for Genetic Disorders
More Than One REMEDY for Genetic Disorders 1024 768 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…

Innovative Highchair Design Revolutionizes Pediatric Care: A Collaborative Journey From Concept to Prototype
Innovative Highchair Design Revolutionizes Pediatric Care: A Collaborative Journey From Concept to Prototype 1024 683 Madison Storm

Highchairs are common in homes with babies and toddlers, as well as in places such as hospitals and restaurants where young children are fed. In hospitals, they are mainly used in pediatric care for infants, toddlers and children undergoing treatment or recovery. Highchairs provide a safe, stable seating option during meals and interactions with family,…

What’s New in Pulmonary Care for Children With Sickle Cell Disease?
What’s New in Pulmonary Care for Children With Sickle Cell Disease? 1024 575 Erin Gregory
Illustration of lungs on blue silhouette of upper chest on black background

A recent publication reviews the impact of pulmonary complications on children and youth with sickle cell disease (SCD) and offers suggestions to improve outcomes. Pulmonary complications are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children with sickle cell disease (SCD), yet they remain underrecognized and undertreated. A recent review published in Clinics in Chest Medicine…

Pivotal New Research Fuels Possibilities for Aggressive Pediatric Brain Cancer
Pivotal New Research Fuels Possibilities for Aggressive Pediatric Brain Cancer 1024 414 Wendy Margolin

A new umbrella trial of molecularly driven therapies for high-grade gliomas (HGG) and diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) aims to improve quality of live and extend survival rates for these aggressive tumors. The diagnosis of high-grade glioma (HGG), a type of aggressive, malignant brain tumor, in pediatric patients is particularly heartbreaking. HGGs are one of…

Meet Karen Texter, MD, Director of Fetal Echocardiography at Nationwide Children’s
Meet Karen Texter, MD, Director of Fetal Echocardiography at Nationwide Children’s 1024 691 Abbie Miller

Karen Texter, MD, is a pediatric cardiologist and director of Fetal Echocardiography at Nationwide Children’s. Her clinical and research interests include echocardiography in congenital and acquired heart disease and fetal cardiology. What inspired you to pursue a career in pediatric cardiology? How did you get into fetal cardiology, specifically? My interest in pediatric cardiology really…

Filling the Pipeline for Behavioral Health Professionals
Filling the Pipeline for Behavioral Health Professionals 150 150 Abbie Miller and Shannon Caldwell

Brittany Schaffner, IMFT-S, LPCC-S, shares how a new college course and professional resources are helping more students meet the need for behavioral health care in pediatrics. Tell us about your role at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. I’m a behavioral health clinical training supervisor here at Nationwide Children’s. I facilitate training programs for a wide range of…

Nephrotoxic-Associated Acute Kidney Injury (NAKI) Is Avoidable
Nephrotoxic-Associated Acute Kidney Injury (NAKI) Is Avoidable 375 280 Pam Georgiana

Quality improvement initiative at Nationwide Children’s Hospital leads to significant reductions in NAKI. Nephrotoxic-associated acute kidney injury (NAKI) — an under-recognized but serious risk in pediatric hospital care — affects up to 25% of hospitalized children. It occurs when medications or toxins reduce kidney function by disrupting blood flow, damaging renal cells or triggering inflammation.…

Meet Prof Eileen Africa: Fulbright Scholar and Sports Medicine Expert
Meet Prof Eileen Africa: Fulbright Scholar and Sports Medicine Expert 1024 683 Abbie Miller

Prof Eileen Africa, an associate professor in the Division of Movement Science and Exercise Therapy in the Department of Exercise, Sport, and Lifestyle Medicine at Stellenbosch University in South Africa and a Fulbright scholar, recently visited Nationwide Children’s to work with Dr. James MacDonald and the Sports Medicine Team conducting research about the effectiveness of…

Meet Antonio Cabrera, MD, Chief of Cardiology at Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Meet Antonio Cabrera, MD, Chief of Cardiology at Nationwide Children’s Hospital 150 150 Abbie Miller

Antonio Cabrera, MD, FAAP, FAHA, FACC, FHFSA, is the division chief of cardiology and co-director of the Heart Center. He is a professor of pediatrics at The Ohio State University and currently holds the Nationwide George H. Dunlap Endowed Chair in Pediatric Cardiology. Previously, Dr. Cabrera served as the L. George Veasy Presidential Professor at…

The Current and Future State of Scoliosis Care and Research
The Current and Future State of Scoliosis Care and Research 1024 683 Madison Storm

In the United States alone, scoliosis affects an estimated 7 million people – just under twice the population of Los Angeles – according to the Scoliosis Research Society. Each year, an estimated 30,000 children begin wearing braces for treatment.  Over time, the treatments available for different types of scoliosis have continued to advance, in large…

4 Things to Know About Bladder Exstrophy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital
4 Things to Know About Bladder Exstrophy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital 1024 734 Abbie Miller

Led by V. Rama Jayanthi, MD, and Peter Cuckow, MB, BS, FRCS, the Bladder Exstrophy Program at Nationwide Children’s is poised to launch a new era of care for children in the United States. When Drs. Jayanthi and Cuckow start talking about their new program, their excitement is palpable. “We’re so excited to bring this…

Meet David Axelson, MD, Chief of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health
Meet David Axelson, MD, Chief of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health 1024 647 Shannon Caldwell

Dr. Axelson and his team have achieved amazing things in the last decade, from more than doubling the volume of patients served to establishing a new research institute for mental and behavioral health, and they’re not slowing down. We recently sat down to talk with Dr. Axelson about his time at Nationwide Children’s and his…

Treating Obesity With GLP-1s — Finding the Way Forward
Treating Obesity With GLP-1s — Finding the Way Forward 150 150 Abbie Miller

Using lessons learned from medicating mental and behavioral health conditions, Stephen Cook, MD, offers suggestions about how medications approved for adolescents with obesity should become part of care.   For most of the time in Western medicine, people have treated obesity like a choice — not a disease. Like other conditions now understood to be…

Approaching Uncertainty in Medicine With a Growth Mindset
Approaching Uncertainty in Medicine With a Growth Mindset 1024 531 Abbie Miller

In baseball, a really good batting average is .333 — which means the batter hits the ball and gets to first base a third of the time. That also means they miss —they fail — two-thirds of the time. Medical providers are expected to get things right 100% of the time,” says Michael Patrick, MD,…

Weight-Based Stigma and Its Impact on Children With Obesity
Weight-Based Stigma and Its Impact on Children With Obesity 1024 376 Alaina Doklovic

More children in the United States live with obesity than any other chronic condition. The obesity rate among U.S. children and teens has more than tripled since 1980, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Although there are numerous efforts underway to help children and adults reach and maintain a healthy weight,…

Virtual Surgical Planning for Musculoskeletal Oncology
Virtual Surgical Planning for Musculoskeletal Oncology 150 150 Abbie Miller

CT of pelvis showing tumor MRI of pelvis showing tumor Step 1: Data acquisition: Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance images (MRI) are obtained during the same visit with markers used to help align the scans to create the composite image. That composite is used to develop the virtual model. Step 2: The 3D Printing and Innovations…

Biofilms: The Good, the Bad & the Groundbreaking
Biofilms: The Good, the Bad & the Groundbreaking 1024 615 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…

From Scan to Plan: Making Virtual Surgical Planning the Standard of Care for Ortho-oncology Operations
From Scan to Plan: Making Virtual Surgical Planning the Standard of Care for Ortho-oncology Operations 1024 281 Abbie Miller

“We deal in rarities,” says Thomas Scharschmidt, MD, director of the Pediatric Orthopedic Oncology Program at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and professor of Orthopedics at The Ohio State University. “When you consider that across the entire U.S. population, we have between 2,500 and 3,000 cases of primary malignant bone tumors each year, and only half of…

Lessons Learned: From First Gen Student to Chief Scientific Officer
Lessons Learned: From First Gen Student to Chief Scientific Officer 1024 683 Nationwide Children's

Joanne Turner, PhD, chief scientific officer at the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, shares what it’s like to go from first gen college student to academic leadership.    What inspired you to go to college and pursue a bachelor’s degree in science? When I was in school, college never came up as…

Empowering Therapists With Better Tools
Empowering Therapists With Better Tools 1024 481 Wendy Margolin

New research director sets out to improve mental and behavioral health care with assessments.  Providing mental or behavioral health care without simple, effective clinical assessment tools is like trying to lose weight without access to a bathroom scale, says Eric Youngstrom, PhD, the new director of the Institute for Mental and Behavioral Health Research at…

Has the Next Generation of Gene Therapy Arrived?
Has the Next Generation of Gene Therapy Arrived? 1024 683 Wendy Margolin

Researchers crack the code to deliver dual gene therapy in preclinical studies – with promises of wider applications. In a gene therapy breakthrough, a Nationwide Children’s Hospital researcher has successfully used an adeno-associated virus (AAV) to introduce two genes into cells with a single vector. Paul Martin, PhD, created a new dual gene vector approach…

Extended Reality Offers New Ways to View Congenital Heart Disease
Extended Reality Offers New Ways to View Congenital Heart Disease 1024 577 Mary Bates, PhD

Researchers are evaluating the technology’s potential to improve clinical practice, trainee and family education, and patient outcomes. What if you could put on a headset and teleport inside a model of a patient’s beating heart? What if you could interact with that heart — touch it with your fingertips, zoom in or out or view…

4 Questions With Jeffrey Leonard, MD
4 Questions With Jeffrey Leonard, MD 1024 683 Abbie Miller

Jeffrey Leonard, MD, is chief of Neurosurgery and the Robert F. & Edgar T. Wolfe Foundation Endowed Chair in Neurosurgery at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. He is also a principal investigator in the Center for Childhood Cancer Research in the Abigail Wexner Research Institute and a professor of Neurological Surgery at The Ohio State University College…

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

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…

Turning Complications into Fuel for a New Approach to Better Outcomes
Turning Complications into Fuel for a New Approach to Better Outcomes 1024 418 Alaina Doklovic

A new web application enhances Morbidity and Mortality data storage and actively improves patient care. Morbidity and Mortality (M&M) Conferences are mandated meetings that occur regularly at all academic medical centers and are powerful opportunities for learning and reflection. These conferences have been around for decades and provide opportunities to learn from medical errors, complications…

Accelerating Advances in Epilepsy Surgery
Accelerating Advances in Epilepsy Surgery 1024 683 Abbie Miller

One program is bringing together clinical care, surgery and research to create a brighter future for children with intractable epilepsy. Childhood-onset epilepsy affects 1% of children worldwide. Up to a third of patients with epilepsy will have medically refractory epilepsy, continuing to have seizures despite using two or more antiseizure medications. Options for this group…

New Frontiers for Data Science in Pediatric Research
New Frontiers for Data Science in Pediatric Research 1024 577 Peter White, PhD

From discovery science to population health, researchers generate masses of data that hold immense potential to transform pediatric research, diagnostics, treatments and even guide disease prevention strategies. To make sense of this data deluge, we’ve been harnessing the power of cloud computing and cutting-edge data science techniques, such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML)…

Unraveling the Genetic Mystery Behind a Rare Pediatric Disease
Unraveling the Genetic Mystery Behind a Rare Pediatric Disease 980 429 Wendy Margolin

Prune belly syndrome (PBS) is a rare, congenital urologic disease, affecting an estimated 1 out of 50,000 births. While most urologists will see fewer than three cases of PBS in their careers, Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s Linda Baker, MD, has treated more than 50 patients and met and counseled nearly 200 in the last 15 years.…

The First 3 Years With PBS: Bryson’s Story
The First 3 Years With PBS: Bryson’s Story 953 269 Wendy Margolin

The first time Andrea Williams met her new baby was four days after his birth. Baby Bryson was born with the rare congenital disorder, prune belly syndrome (PBS), and was rushed to the Nationwide Children’s Hospital NICU immediately after birth. His enlarged belly meant he was delivered by C-section at 37 weeks, and it wasn’t…

Practical Advice for Investigator-Initiated Trials
Practical Advice for Investigator-Initiated Trials 1024 363 Lauren Dembeck

Investigator-initiated trials play a crucial role in advancing medical research and contributing to evidence-based medicine. These trials are initiated, designed and conducted by researchers, often physicians or scientists, rather than by pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies. They allow researchers to explore specific hypotheses, novel interventions or unique patient populations that may not be addressed in industry-sponsored…

New National “Vital Signs” to Measure Population-wide Pediatric Health
New National “Vital Signs” to Measure Population-wide Pediatric Health 1024 683 Jeb Phillips

In 2017, an opinion piece in JAMA Pediatrics started this way: “We call for a national effort to develop a parsimonious set of quality and outcome measures for (all) children.” And now, for perhaps the first time in American pediatrics, that “parsimonious set: has been laid out to guide communities and health systems across the United…

What Features Make Virtual Reality Effective in Pain Management?
What Features Make Virtual Reality Effective in Pain Management? 934 401 Mary Bates, PhD

Game realism, fun and engagement all impact pain perception during burn dressing changes. Researchers from Nationwide Children’s Hospital show that three key features of a virtual reality intervention (game realism, fun and engagement) influence self-reported pain scores during burn dressing changes. The findings provide insight into the potential mechanisms through which virtual reality affects pain…

Gene Therapy for the Masses?
Gene Therapy for the Masses? 1024 683 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…

Innovations in Pediatric Cancer and Transplants: Q&A With Sara K. Rasmussen, MD, PhD
Innovations in Pediatric Cancer and Transplants: Q&A With Sara K. Rasmussen, MD, PhD 150 150 Pam Georgiana

Sara K. Rasmussen, MD, PhD, is a transplant and pediatric surgeon in the Department of Abdominal Transplant and Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery and an associate principal investigator in the Center for Clinical and Translational Research in the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. She earned both her medical and doctoral degrees from West Virginia University…

The Endocrinologists’ Role in Caring for TPIAT Patients
The Endocrinologists’ Role in Caring for TPIAT Patients 1024 500 Lauren Dembeck
illustrated cross section of islets from pancreas

Children with recurrent acute or chronic pancreatitis often suffer debilitating pain and may endure an impaired quality of life. They may be frequently admitted to the hospital, disrupting their daily routines and activities. Patients may undergo medical and endoscopic interventions for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes and may be offered surgical interventions. Total pancreatectomy with…

Changing the Landscape of Blood Disorder Treatments: A Long Time Coming
Changing the Landscape of Blood Disorder Treatments: A Long Time Coming 1024 574 Alaina Doklovic

New therapies, from virus-mediated gene therapy to CRISPR-based treatments, are poised to change the clinical landscape of blood disorder treatments and outcomes.   For more than two decades experts have been searching for curative therapies for blood disorders. They have invested time, money and expertise to bring these therapies to fruition, something that the Division…

Meet Toni Pearson, MD: Pediatric Movement Disorders Expert
Meet Toni Pearson, MD: Pediatric Movement Disorders Expert 150 150 Pam Georgiana

Toni S. Pearson, MD, joined Nationwide Children’s in 2022 as an attending pediatric neurologist and professor of pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. She specializes in childhood movement disorders, such as dystonia, chorea, parkinsonism, ataxia, myoclonus, tremors, tics, and spasticity. Dr. Pearson is also developing a fellowship training program for a new…

Innovative Gene Therapy Approach for Treating Patients with Tuberous Sclerosis Type 2
Innovative Gene Therapy Approach for Treating Patients with Tuberous Sclerosis Type 2 150 150 Lauren Dembeck

Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a devastating genetic disease that affects nearly 1 in every 5,500 newborns and approximately 2 million people worldwide. The disease is characterized by the formation of non-malignant tumors throughout multiple organs, including the kidney, lungs, eyes, and heart, but predominantly the brain. It is typically diagnosed in infants and young…