We're all about children!
 November 2005
This edition:
Letter From Our Chair
On October 28 and 29 at the beautiful historic Middleton Place Plantation, we looked beyond the daily workload and stared at the stars. In our summit we explored everyone's passion. While those in our group articulated a diverse array of individual passions, we discovered a common theme: the passion for excellence. In our attempt to find our BHAG--our "Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal"--we moved closer together, realizing that we could come to a consensus. The time to take advantage of our strengths is at hand. We must all embrace this goal. We must stand in awe of the fact that we are even trying to accomplish it. We should all keep in mind the NASA housekeeping staff member in the late 1960s who, when asked, "What are you doing?" answered without hesitation, "I am putting a man on the moon." We are all striving toward the shared goal of excellence. During our Middleton Place retreat, we pledged to make the most, in every way possible, of the newly opened Charles P. Darby Children's Research Institute and all it represents to the many constituencies we serve. We have invested $16,000,000 from our capital campaign. We cannot afford to miss the opportunity to fully capitalize on Dr. Darby's vision for excellence in children's care through research and education. This opportunity does not mean that we will postpone other opportunities and efforts, such as those to develop Transitional Medicine (from childhood disease to adult disease management), or to delay implementation of evidenced-based medicine practices. It does not mean that we will give up our quest to develop a freestanding community children's hospital. All of these are necessary goals, but this is a unique moment in time for children's research at MUSC, a time when translational sciences will be center-stage at the Institution as a whole and, indeed, nationally. We must dedicate ourselves in unison to take advantage of the gifts of our benefactors. Now, more than ever, we must focus on how we can each contribute our strengths to this shared mission. Little research has been done specifically on children when it comes to best practices, evidence-based procedures, and pharmacotherapeutics. I challenge each member of our faculty and staff to start working towards the grand vision of "putting a man on the moon." In the coming weeks and months, we will work to sustain the momentum and energy we gained at the retreat and enlist the collective wisdom, the intellectual capital, and the passion for excellence in pediatrics that all of us share. I am grateful to all of you who have answered the call to serve children through excellent service, teaching and research. Sincerely,  L. Lyndon Key, MD Chair, Department of Pediatrics Feature Story By: Mary Sue Lawrence, Trio Solutions Inc. Pediatric Epidemiology Remains the Framework for Discovery
"I'm aware of just one other such division in the country," says Dr. Thomas C. Hulsey, ScD, MSPH, the director of Pediatric Epidemiology since its inception in 1997. Epidemiologists study populations and look for trends that provide insight into the underlying mechanisms of disease. The department's division of pediatric epidemiology conducts population-based research on, specifically, children's health issues. A population-based view often reveals nuances in disease distribution that other types of investigations overlook. [read more] Message From Our Medical Director
Furthermore, many trials are designed to compare two existing alternate therapies which may have been used for many years without any data supporting which was best. For example, most new surgical techniques are developed by innovative individual surgeons, but are never formally evaluated against other surgical techniques or medical therapies. Appropriate concerns over the protection of children in research studies, combined with the relatively small number of children compared to adults with any particular condition, have also hampered our ability to objectively compare one therapy against another, or even against "no therapy" for most conditions in children. Moving the care of our children to the stage that our evaluations and therapies are based on evidence, rather than intuition, will require that we continue to bring clinical investigations to the pediatric population. It is also important to note that, for many serious diseases, only the very latest "investigational" therapies offer hope for long term survival. Thus, as an institution, we recognize that the presence of clinical research in the hospital is critically important to our primary mission of delivering the best care possible to the children who come to us. Children's Research Institute News
Why are Clinical and Translational Sciences critically important to young South Carolinians? In this issue of Kids Connection, we focus on the importance of clinical and translational research to create value and health for our children. Discovery is an important component of the overall mission of the Children's Hospital. The opening of the Charles P. Darby Children's Research Institute (DCRI) in February 2005 signals a deep commitment to developing and refining new approaches and treatments for children in the future. The building itself was constructed on a beautiful historic site that reminds us daily of advances in children's care over the last 200 years. Thus, Past, Present (Children's Hospital), and Future (DCRI) have joined to meet the health needs of our children. [read more] Mental Health Resource News Brief Mental Health and Child Development Tips Parents are sometimes apprehensive about research involving their children. Health care providers and consumers of their services desire evidence-based scientific information to guide decision-making, however the only way to obtain this type of information is through recruitment of youth to clinical studies. Families sometimes have preconceived negative connotations that enrollment in a research study means their child is being treated like a guinea pig. It is up to health care providers to teach families about the importance of their participation. Tips for engaging families to consider enrollment of their child in a clinical study include:
For more information, please e-mail co-moderators spratte@musc.edu or maciasm@musc.edu or call Josie Kirker, MSW at (843) 876-1507. A special thanks to the following individuals for their efforts in putting together Kids Connection each month. Managing Editor: Bernard L. Maria, MD, MBA Publisher: Jennifer Cherock (Trio Solutions Inc.) and Jessica Munday (Trio Solutions Inc.) Web design: Brian Dadin (Trio Solutions Inc.) Contributing Writers: Lyndon Key, MD; Bernard Maria, MD; Inderjit Singh, PhD; Philip Saul, MD; Mary Sue Lawrence; Thomas C. Hulsey, MD |
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