Breakthroughs at the Research & Innovation Campus continued as our researchers worked tirelessly to develop new treatments and therapies that will transform the lives of children and families around the world.
Taking a look at the breakthroughs happening in our now six research centers, we spotlighted the following stories:
Reflecting on decades of progress in the blood, marrow and cell therapy programs at Children’s National. Our researchers have made significant strides in this field, and we are proud to be at the forefront of these life-saving treatments.
In genetic medicine, we continue to be a beacon of hope for families facing rare and complex conditions. Our researchers are making incredible breakthroughs that are changing the landscape of pediatric medicine.
We are also proud to share the $90 million award received from an anonymous donor to support pediatric brain tumor research. The predominant focus of this award is to develop new treatments that will improve outcomes for children with this devastating disease.
This year, we opened a new Center that enhances our research capabilities in the field of Prenatal, Neonatal & Maternal Health Research. We are excited about the possibilities this new center will bring and look forward to the discoveries that will emerge from it.
In addition, we are driving future pandemic readiness with the NIH funded Pediatric Pandemic Network. Our researchers are using cutting-edge technology and innovative approaches to prepare for the next pandemic and protect children.
We are also exploring the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in pediatric breakthroughs. Our researchers are using machine learning and other AI techniques to develop new treatments and therapies that will transform the lives of children.
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At the RIC’s 12-acre campus in Northwest Washington, D.C., experts from Children’s National work alongside public and private partners in industry, universities, federal agencies, start-up companies and academic medical centers to find solutions to some of science’s most vexing challenges.
The Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus (RIC) has become the first science ecosystem dedicated to pediatric health to join a network of over three dozen innovation districts worldwide that integrate research space with sustainable communities to create models for urban work and living.
Known as the Global Network of Innovation Districts (GNID), the community was conceived to unlock the design of campuses like the RIC to create collaborations among highly trained professionals. At the RIC’s 12-acre campus in Northwest Washington, D.C., experts from Children’s National work alongside public and private partners in industry, universities, federal agencies, start-up companies and academic medical centers to find solutions to some of science’s most vexing challenges. The campus is surrounded by mass transit, open spaces, retail and housing, and it’s built on deep historic roots in the city as the former home of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Kerstin Hildebrandt, vice president of research administration at the Children’s National Research Institute, said the team at the Research & Innovation Campus is excited to maximize its potential by joining this global network of economic drivers that are enhancing their communities and cities.
“We look forward to sharing our best practices, and we want to learn about how our national and international colleagues are tackling complex issues,” she said. “For example, we can learn how others are leveraging their assets to improve their communities and their response to health crises, climate change and other significant challenges.”
The GNID was launched in March of last year by The Global Institute on Innovation Districts (GIID), an international nonprofit focused on the advancement of innovation districts. With an initial group of 23 districts. GIID is now expanding the network to include approximately 20 additional districts that extend across Europe, North America, Latin America, Australia and Asia.
GIID’s Founder Julie Wagner said innovation districts have become a worldwide phenomenon. She said their leaders are recognizing that working and collaborating with their peers — from Melbourne to Medellin — is a powerful strategy to help these complex geographies leverage their assets in new ways.
“We are finding that innovation districts are willing to execute impactful strategies after holding highly curated exchanges with their peers,” Wagner said. “These are the places armed to solve some of the world’s most vexing challenges. From where I sit, we all need to give them as many tools as possible to help them get there.”
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More than 30 million children seek emergency care each year, but 80 percent of these visits happen at hospitals that aren’t designed for pediatrics — a daunting figure during pandemics and other crises in healthcare. This considerable hurdle is one of many challenges that leaders in pediatric health came to discuss during a two-day symposium on promoting child health, hosted by Children’s National Hospital, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Pediatric Pandemic Network (PPN).
The symposium laid out a multitude of issues facing children and their doctors: growing mental health diagnoses, shrinking access to care in rural areas, asthma and eczema, winter respiratory surges and more.
Joelle Simpson, M.D., chief of emergency medicine at Children’s National and PPN principal investigator, said the network is drawing on expertise from 10 pediatric hospitals to ensure communities are better prepared for whatever challenges lie ahead, through training and support, collaboration among pediatric specialists, education on best practices and the promotion of equity and inclusion.
Built on a Health Resources and Services Administration grant, the network is focusing on four key areas: infectious disease and disease outbreaks, emergency and disaster management, mental and behavioral health, and health equity and community engagement. “This year, we know we are boiling the ocean as we come together,” Simpson said.
Miss the symposium? Check out the recordings available on YouTube, including the closing Q&A with many of the panelists and Sheryl Gay Stolberg, health policy reporter with the New York Times.
Day 1 of the 6th Annual Children’s National Hospital – NIAID Symposium
Day 2 of the 6th Annual Children’s National Hospital – NIAID Symposium
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A group of children’s hospitals from across the country will coordinate on the response to future pandemics and other disasters through a new $29 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The group, known as the Pediatric Pandemic Network (PPN), will focus on the unique needs and challenges to children during pandemics and disasters, ensuring that health equity is at the forefront of emergency planning.
The five hospitals are:
Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C. (lead institution)
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Pediatrics at Children’s of Alabama
Children’s Mercy Kansas City
Seattle Children’s
“As the current pandemic has proven to the world, pandemics and public health crises magnify pre-existing environmental, health, social and economic inequities,” said Joelle Simpson, M.D., M.P.H., principal investigator of this grant and division chief of Emergency Medicine and medical director of Emergency Preparedness at Children’s National. “Communities of color not only feel the impact of pandemics and disasters far more severely than others, but also have more difficulty obtaining aid and assistance. If the needs of vulnerable populations are not addressed in emergency planning, the national disaster preparedness strategy could fail for all.”
The hospitals recognize that while the COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating for the entire world, the pediatric population in particular has been challenged by a lack of established coordination among pediatric care providers. In addition to addressing health equity, the funding facilitates the following:
Establishing pathways to gather and disseminate research-informed insights into how to care for children in a future pandemic to both medical providers and community organizations.
Developing a telehealth infrastructure to support the care of acutely ill children and expand mental health access.
Expanding pediatric-focused emergency preparedness and planning with a focus on behavioral health, social support, and educational services, all of which are typically provided by community organizations.
The hub for this grant will be located at the newly opened Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus – the site of the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Work will take place in the renovated Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, where past investigators made seminal discoveries in infectious diseases and pandemics. The former campus was named after Walter Reed because of his work around discovering the cause and prevention of outbreaks of yellow fever. This modern-day team of physician researchers intends to make equally important contributions to future pandemics and other disasters to help preserve the health of our nation’s children.
In September 2021, HRSA launched the Regional PPN by funding five pediatric hospitals to support the planning and preparation of children’s hospitals to respond to a global health threat. This new grant doubles the size and reach of the network in order to benefit all children in the nation.
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A recent Children’s National Grand Rounds panel analyzed the state of the life sciences industry in the region and the potential steps that can be taken to accelerate the manufacturing landscape.
The BioHealth Capital Region, consisting of Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., has surged in recent years to become one of the nation’s strongest biopharma clusters. While the region does not lack opportunity to cultivate and grow innovation, manufacturing business related to scientific research and development in Maryland is lagging compared to other leading states.
That was the message from Martin Rosendale, CEO of the Maryland Tech Council, who was recently the featured speaker of the Children’s National Grand Rounds panel, which analyzed the state of the life sciences industry in the region and the potential steps that can be taken to accelerate the manufacturing landscape. The Maryland Tech Council is a not-for-profit collaborative community actively engaged in building strong life sciences and technology industries.
“On the manufacturing business front, we’ve actually been lagging compared to the rest of the country. Other metros have grown faster than we have over the last five years, but that presents an opportunity,” says Rosendale. “We have the opportunity to work more with academia and medical institutions like Children’s National to produce more companies, more intellectual property and more startups.”
According to the Milken data, when compared to other leading states including Massachusetts (2nd), California (3rd), New York (8th), Florida (9th) and Texas (12th), Maryland ranked as the 20th state for life sciences manufacturing growth over a five-year period. Of the growth that occurred over that time, the greatest came in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria and Baltimore-Columbia-Towson metros, where industry wages tend to be higher.
Kolaleh Eskandanian, vice president and chief innovation officer at Children’s National Hospital, recently moderated the Children’s National Grand Rounds panel, which analyzed the state of the life sciences industry in the BioHealth Capital Region.
Highlighting the region’s status as a rich biopharma cluster, and the fact that the innovation sector is growing up in and around Washington, D.C., Rosendale identified the key to help bolster life sciences manufacturing in the region – sustaining life sciences business spending in Maryland. Evidence has demonstrated that incentives are a core component of supporting business research and development, and sustained spending has helped support high-tech business formation and high-wage job creation. It has also generated job creation in occupations that require fewer credentials, such as non-tech-intensive industries.
Growth in these areas can be bolstered by Maryland’s existing life sciences landscape, which ranks as one of the strongest and most robust in the nation. It contributes more than 54,000 high paying jobs in the state with over 2,700 life science firms and more than 500 biotech firms, according to a recent Milken Institute report.
“The District of Columbia has a robust pipeline of up-and-coming talent to further develop the life sciences industry in the region. The potential this expertise offers is a key focus of the new Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus, to drives discoveries that save and improve the lives of children,” says Eskandanian. “Children’s National has combined our strengths with those of public and private partners, including industry, universities, federal agencies, start-up companies and academic medical centers, to provide a rich environment to help bolster pediatric innovation and commercialization to further advance the life sciences industry.”
Data from Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN) continues to show that Maryland and the greater BioHealth Capital Region remains one of the country’s premier hubs for innovation companies. The rankings are based on five criteria including NIH funding, VC funding, patents, lab space and jobs. In 2021, the BioHealth Capital Region held its top-four ranking and is expected to rise to a top-three cluster by 2023. The current top-three clusters ranked in the United States are Boston/Cambridge, MA (1st), the San Francisco Bay Area (2nd) and New York/New Jersey (3rd).
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Reinforcing its commitment to expanding innovation in pediatric care, Children’s National Hospital has joined a strategic partnership with the Center for Advancing Innovation (CAI) , along with collaborators Resonance Philanthropies and Digital Infuzion, to launch the 2021-2022 Innovate Children’s Health Challenge. This year’s event, Innovate Children’s Health II, focuses on technologies that address pandemic resiliency and prevention in the pediatric population and seeks to advance diagnostics, therapeutics and digital health tools that address pediatric mental health.
The initiative matches entrepreneurial talent with breakthrough inventions to launch startups and connect them with capital. For this challenge, more than 15 startups will compete for the opportunity to commercialize promising mental health solutions from a variety of research partners, including Children’s National. Nationally recognized for its expertise and commitment to innovation in pediatric care, Children’s National will contribute to the clinical validation of selected technologies.
“In addition to our role in providing clinical validation, this initiative provides the opportunity for intellectual property (IP) developed by leading clinicians at Children’s National Hospital, as well as other great pediatric institutions, to be considered for partnership with entrepreneurs who can help bring these technologies to market,” says Kolaleh Eskandanian, PhD, MBA, PMP, vice president and chief innovation officer at Children’s National Hospital. “Our mission is to improve children’s healthcare and Innovate Children’s Health II is a great way to harness this trifecta model — innovation, talent and capital — in order to develop breakthrough solutions that address the unique needs of pediatric patients.”
“In addition to our role in providing clinical validation, this initiative provides the opportunity for intellectual property (IP) developed by leading clinicians at Children’s National Hospital, as well as other great pediatric institutions, to be considered for partnership with entrepreneurs who can help bring these technologies to market,” says Kolaleh Eskandanian, PhD, MBA, PMP, vice president and chief innovation officer at Children’s National Hospital.
There are three ways to participate in Innovate Children’s Health II:
Entrepreneurial-minded people, alone or as members of multidisciplinary teams, may compete to commercialize vetted inventions;
Existing startups may enter the challenge with other public health-related inventions, including their own and/or others to which they have access;
Participants may submit ideas that they believe will improve emergency preparedness and pandemic response.
Inventors and technology licensing officers may submit inventions to be evaluated and made available for licensing to challenge winners. Innovate Children’s Health II will accept invention submissions until September 1, 2021. Anyone with an entrepreneurial spirit and interest in stopping current and future pandemics is invited to sign up to learn more about the challenge. Teams may also enroll in the challenge to choose a featured invention, bring in a third-party invention or get matched with an invention based on area of interest.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has made our children anxious, depressed and pessimistic about their futures. Through Innovate Children’s Health II, CAI and our strategic partner Children’s National will strive to give our children hope,” says Rosemarie Truman, founder and CEO of CAI. “We are grateful to Digital Infuzion and Resonance Philanthropies for their support, which makes this challenge possible.”
Eskandanian adds that supporting and expanding pediatric innovation is a key focus of the new Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus, the first-of-its-kind focused on pediatric health care innovation, with the first phase currently open on the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center campus in Washington, D.C. With its proximity to federal research institutions and agencies, universities, academic research centers, as well as on-site incubator Johnson and Johnson Innovation – JLABS, the campus provides a rich ecosystem of public and private partners which will help bolster pediatric innovation and commercialization.
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Located on a nearly 12-acre portion of the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center campus, the Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus is the nation’s first campus dedicated to pediatrics, which formally opens in September 2021.
On April 26, 2021, AlgometRx Inc., a Children’s National spinout company developing a handheld device to objectively measure pain by pupillary response, will relocate to Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS @ Washington, DC on the Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus. The AlgometRx move comes following the company being awarded the JLABS @ Washington, DC Children’s QuickFire Challenge, which includes a one-year residency at the newly opened JLABS @ Washington, DC – a 32,000-square-foot incubator located at the new Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus in northwest Washington, D.C. As an awardee, AlgometRx also receives access to research and development space, capital equipment, mentorship, resources and programming.
Located on a nearly 12-acre portion of the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center campus, the Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus is the nation’s first campus dedicated to pediatrics, which formally opens in September 2021. This campus aims to help address a significant problem: the development of medical and surgical devices for children has long lagged behind that for adults. Over the past decade, only one in four medical devices approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) were indicated for use in children, and the majority were for those ages 12 and up.
By bringing together public and private partners, the campus is a one-of-a-kind innovation ecosystem that aims to accelerate breakthrough discoveries into new treatments and technologies.
AlgometRx was founded by pediatric anesthesiologist Julia C. Finkel, M.D., and originated at the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at Children’s National.
“Pain is the only vital sign that is not objectively measured,” Finkel said. “The current standard of measuring pain is the 0-10 scale, which is based on observations and subjective assessment. This technique increases the likelihood for inaccuracies, especially for infants and children who cannot clearly communicate their pain.”
Finkel’s research was inspired by a desire to find an objective measurement of pain in nonverbal pediatric patients so physicians can better determine the appropriate pain treatment or the effectiveness of a treatment.
“The Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus enables AlgometRx to focus almost exclusively on collecting data, which is the most crucial step at this time,” Finkel said.
AlgometRx aims to submit a formal application to the FDA in the next 12-18 months, with the next six months dedicated to validating the device through a clinical trial.
“The campus also allows us to take advantage of a vast network of the nation’s most innovative pediatric researchers who can provide mentorship on subjects like clinical trial design, prototyping and grant applications,” Finkel said. “Just outside the campus, our team has proximity to relevant federal agencies, such as the FDA, meaning that to date, we’ve only met with FDA officials in person. This advantageous environment will accelerate our progress and allow us to use this technology to more quickly benefit children in pain.”
After its September grand opening, the Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus aims to expand its role as a biomedical incubator to include about 50 start-up companies, working to translate potential breakthrough discoveries into new treatments and technologies.
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While the last decade brought great advances in technologies that improve the care of adult arrhythmias, pediatric patients have been left behind, with only five devices approved for use in children in the same period.
Congenital heart disease (CHD) affects six out of 1,000 babies born in the U.S. each year and is often complicated by arrhythmias, a condition where the heart beats too rapidly, too slowly or irregularly due to a misfiring of the body’s electrical impulses. While the last decade brought great advances in technologies that improve the care of adult arrhythmias, pediatric patients have been left behind, with only five devices approved for use in children in the same period. As a result, pediatric specialists are often using off-label or improvised devices to treat pediatric arrhythmias, including the smallest newborns.
Recognizing this unmet need, the National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation (NCC-PDI), in collaboration with MedTech Innovator, is accepting applications through April 12, 2021, for its annual “Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids!” competition. This year’s competition focuses on innovations in pediatric devices that treat CHD, with an emphasis on electrophysiology devices such as pacemaker systems, ablation catheters, wearable monitoring devices and related technologies that address arrhythmias in children.
“NCC-PDI was created, with the support of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to seek out and address significant unmet needs in pediatric medical devices,” says Kolaleh Eskandanian, Ph.D., M.B.A., P.M.P., vice president and chief innovation officer at Children’s National Hospital and principal investigator of NCC-PDI. “We have learned from the experts that pediatric-specific technologies for treating arrhythmias would be a game changer in the care of their patients, so we are focusing our competition and grant awards on this opportunity.”
“We have learned from the experts that pediatric-specific technologies for treating arrhythmias would be a game changer in the care of their patients, so we are focusing our competition and grant awards on this opportunity,” says Kolaleh Eskandanian, Ph.D., M.B.A., P.M.P., vice president and chief innovation officer at Children’s National Hospital and principal investigator of NCC-PDI.
Using a virtual format, semi-finalists chosen from all submissions will make their first pitch on May 12, 2021. Up to 10 finalists selected from this event earn participation in a special pediatric-focused track of the MedTech Innovator accelerator program, the largest medtech accelerator in the world, beginning in June 2021. These innovators then participate in the pediatric competition finals in September 2021 where judges will award up to $150,000 in FDA-sponsored grants to the devices selected as most impactful and commercially viable.
How significant is the need for pediatric devices to address arrhythmias? In a recent survey of members conducted by the Pediatric and Congenital Electrophysiology Society (PACES), the vast majority (96%) said they believe there is a deficiency in devices available to serve the needs of pediatric patients. Conducted with the U.S.FDA, the survey also asked respondents to identify the biggest unmet need, which physicians identified as cardiovascular implantable electronic devices that are smaller, have better battery life and have pediatric-specific algorithms. Specifically, a leadless pacemaker designed for pediatric care was consistently on the most-wanted list.
NCC-PDI is one of five members in the FDA’s Pediatric Device Consortia Grant Program created to support the development and commercialization of medical devices for children, which lags significantly behind the advancement of adult medical devices. NCC-PDI is led by the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at Children’s National Hospital and the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland with support from partners MedTech Innovator, BioHealth Innovation and design firm Archimedic.
Eskandanian says that enhancing access to resources for pediatric innovators is also one of the aims of the Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus, a first-of-its-kind focused on pediatric health care innovation, with the first phase currently open on the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center campus in Washington, D.C. With its proximity to federal research institutions and agencies, universities, academic research centers, as well as on-site incubator Johnson and Johnson Innovation – JLABS, the campus provides a rich ecosystem of public and private partners which, like the NCC-PDI network, will help bolster pediatric innovation and commercialization.
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Artist’s rendering of the entrance to the research building on the Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus.
In 2021, Children’s National Hospital intends to open a one-of-a-kind pediatric research and innovation hub, located on a portion of the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center campus. Called the Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus, this collection of facilities will house both our Research and Rare Disease Institutes. In the 160,000 square foot space, we are excited to pursue breakthrough potential discoveries that aim to quickly translate into new treatments and technologies benefitting our most vulnerable population, children and babies.
The campus also represents an opportunity for entrepreneurs and innovators who share our passion for finding new and better ways to care for children thanks to a collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Innovation called JLABS @ Washington, DC, a facility within the campus.
Strategically located with proximity to leading academic research institutions, medical schools and federal research institutions and agencies, the JLABS @ Washington, DC site will be open to emerging pharmaceutical, medical device, consumer and health technology companies aiming to advance the development of new drugs, medical devices, precision diagnostics and health technologies, including applications in pediatrics.
Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS, in addition to offering emerging life science companies modular lab units, office space, shared core laboratory equipment and business facilities, aims to link the entrepreneurs within the District and across the greater Virginia and Maryland regions with the full breadth of the Johnson & Johnson Innovation model, including opportunities for collaboration, a resource hub, educational events and mentorship from experts from the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies. AlgometRx, a spin-off company from Children’s National Hospital, will be among the first residents of JLABS @ Washington, DC, which aims to opens in 2021, as an awardee of the JLABS @ Washington, DC Children’s QuickFire Challenge.
AlgometRx’s novel technology was developed by hospital pain medicine expert Julia Finkel, M.D., The non-invasive handheld device aims to objectively measure pain by capturing real-time images of a patient’s pupillary response and applies proprietary algorithms to determine the patient’s pain type and intensity.
Do you have a pharmaceutical, medical device, consumer health or health technology innovation that could benefit from this unique and transformational ecosystem? If so, we invite you to submit an application to be considered for joining us at JLABS @ Washington, DC. Learn more by visiting the JLABS website.
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This pilot research program represents a growing academic research partnership between Children’s National and Virginia Tech. Last year, the two institutions announced that Virginia Tech will establish a biomedical research facility on the Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus.
Children’s National Hospital and Virginia Tech have awarded two $50,000 one-year pilot grants to multi-institutional teams of scientists for pediatric brain cancer research.
The inter-institutional program, which launched in December, promotes cross-disciplinary collaborations among researchers at both institutions. At Virginia Tech, the program is part of the Virginia Tech Cancer Research Alliance. Financial support for the program was provided by the Offices of the Physician-in-Chief and Chief Academic Officer at Children’s National, and by Virginia Tech’s Office of the Vice President for Health Sciences and Technology.
“We were delighted to see so many innovative and competitive research proposals for our first round of pilot grants in the area of brain cancer. By forging new research collaborations with our partners at Children’s National, we hope to make major strides in addressing one of the most common and devastating groups of cancers in children,” said Michael Friedlander, Virginia Tech’s vice president for health sciences and technology, and the executive director of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC. “The pilot funding will bootstrap several programs to be able to acquire ongoing sustainable funding by providing the opportunity to test novel high impact ideas for new strategies for treating these disorders. There are simply too few good options for children in this space now and this partnership can change that for the better.”
The collaborative research initiative began through an agreement between the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute and the Children’s National Research Institute. The collaborative teams formed through a series of interactive discussions among Virginia Tech’s Cancer Research Alliance faculty members from the university’s Blacksburg and Roanoke campuses, and Children’s National’s neuro-oncology researchers.
“I am extremely excited by this collaboration between VT and CNH that is focused on pediatric brain tumors which is such an area of unmet need,” said Catherine Bollard, M.D., M.B.Ch.B.,, director of Children’s National’s Center for Cancer and Immunology Research. “I am confident that the funded proposals will soon advance our understanding of pediatric brain tumors and, more importantly, facilitate more joint efforts between two world-class institutions which is especially timely with the development of the Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus.”
Yanxin Pei, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Center for Cancer Immunology Research at Children’s National, and Liwu Li, Ph.D., a professor of biological sciences in Virginia Tech’s College of Science, were awarded one of the pilot research grants to study how white blood cells called neutrophils are involved in metastatic MYC-driven medulloblastoma, an aggressive type of brain tumor in children that often resists conventional radiation and chemotherapies.
Yuan Zhu, Ph.D., the Gilbert Family Professor of Neurofibromatosis Research at Children’s National, and Susan Campbell, Ph.D., an assistant professor of animal and poultry sciences in Virginia Tech’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, were awarded funds to study glioma-induced seizures in mice with a genetic mutation that inhibits the production of P53, a key protein involved in suppressing cancer cell growth and division.
The successful applicants will receive funding starting this month and are expected to deliver preliminary data to support an extramural research application by 2024.
This pilot research program represents a growing academic research partnership between Children’s National and Virginia Tech. Last year, the two institutions announced that Virginia Tech will establish a biomedical research facility on the Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus. It will be the first research and innovation campus in the nation focused on pediatrics when it opens later this year and will house newly recruited teams of pediatric brain cancer researchers.
Liwu Li, Ph.D., Yanxin Pei, Ph.D., Susan Campbell, Ph.D., and Yuan Zhu, Ph.D., were awarded funding through the new pilot research program.
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There are many lessons to be learned from the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but one that is at the forefront is to be prepared for anything and to strengthen readiness even in the unlikeliest circumstances.
This was the focus of a recent panel discussion featuring Lee Beers, M.D., F.A.A.P, medical director of Community Health and Advocacy within the Goldberg Center for Community Pediatric Health and Child Health Advocacy Institute at Children’s National Hospital. Dr. Beers is also president of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The webinar entitled, “Protecting Our Future: Spurring Innovation to Support Pediatric Preparedness,” was hosted by Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS (JLABS) as a product of BLUE KNIGHT™, a collaboration between JLABS and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a component of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
This event focused on what innovators can do to develop therapeutics, diagnostics, vaccines and other technologies that may protect our future, our children. Experts shared what has been done to develop groundbreaking medical countermeasures that aim to prepare and protect pediatric populations from the health threats of today and those of tomorrow. The main discussions were on ecosystems readiness, adaptations for the pediatric population and the way forward in 2021.
“One size does not fit all for pediatrics when it comes to treatments and personal protective equipment,” said Dr. Beers “We need to know the need and how to do the roll-out.” Fellow panelists agreed.
Dr. Beers went on to say that mental health is the pandemic within the pandemic for our nation’s youth. There are increased cases and severity now for children who struggle to cope with the lockdowns. “We cannot have our children bear the burdens of our challenges.”
After robust questions and answers from everything from the role of artificial intelligence in preparing for future pandemics to the inclusion of families in research and decisions, the panelists walked away with a good feeling about the future with the unprecedented speed of vaccines aimed to counter the effects of the 2020 virus crisis.
The consensus priorities of 2021 should be to develop specifics for children and not just adaptations from adults, with the aim to advance equity, diversity and inclusion in treatment goals, and to build on the success of telemedicine.
Nationally, funding for pediatric research continues to trail efforts targeted for adults. That’s why Children’s National is creating a one-of-a-kind pediatric research and innovation hub. The Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus is set to open in 2021, located on a nearly 12-acre portion of the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center campus. The campus will combine the strengths of Children’s National with those of public and private partners who share the vision of accelerating new discoveries that save and improve the lives of children. At the new campus, breakthrough innovations can more quickly be translated into new treatments and technologies benefitting kids.
Sally Allain, Head of Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS @ Washington, D.C., highlighted the opening of a 32,000 square-foot facility on the Research & Innovation Campus with a residency capacity for up to 50 companies. This will be the first JLABS site anchored with a children’s hospital and research institute working to bring recognition to the need for more early-stage research and innovation in pediatrics for our smallest patients.
The new site will serve as an incubator for pharmaceutical, medical device, consumer and health technology companies, and serve as the hub for BLUE KNIGHT™. BLUE KNIGHT™ aims to stimulate innovation and incubation of technologies that improve health security and response through companies focused on public health threats and emerging infectious diseases. At JLABS @ Washington, DC, companies selected for BLUE KNIGHT™ will have access to the JLABS ecosystem and being a part of the Research & Innovation Campus, as well as fee assistance for certain costs associated with access, mentorship for BARDA, and dedicated equipment for BLUE KNIGHT™ companies.
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As a Johnson & Johnson Innovation Quickfire Children’s Challenge awardee, Dr. Finkel and AlgometRx will be among the first group of startups taking up residence at the new JLABS @ Washington, DC, located on the Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus, when it opens in 2021 at the historic former Walter Reed Army Medical Center site.
Medical technology innovator Julia Finkel, M.D., principal investigator for the Pain Medicine Initiative of the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at Children’s National Hospital, recently participated in Galen Growth’s 2020 Global Healthtech Summit on a virtual panel featuring resident companies from Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS who are utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) with the aim to create advanced solutions for diagnostics, treatment and clinical trials. The summit, hosted in Singapore, brought the innovators together to discuss their views on their progress, the challenges and opportunities for bringing medtech innovations to market in the current climate, as well as the tools needed to succeed.
Joining Dr. Finkel on the panel were JLABS resident company leaders Don Crawford, CEO, Analytics 4 Life; Jim Havelka, CEO, Inform AI; and Kim Walpole, CEO, Trials.ai, which leverages AI to help research teams design more effective clinical trials. The 50-minute program, moderated by Kara Bortone, senior director, Portfolio and Sourcing Management, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS, focused on topics such as how these startups approached the market and regulatory processes as well as the up-and-coming trends in health technology.
A pediatric anesthesiologist, Dr. Finkel explained the significance of achieving real-time, objective pain measurement. “Pain is one word that represents a myriad of conditions,” she says. “Pain from acute post-operative conditions is very different from peripheral neuropathic pain and different from the type of inflammatory pain seen in lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. Being able to discern the drivers of pain, the etiology, is essential to treating it well and to developing better therapeutics in the future.”
Dr. Finkel points out that AlgometRx measures nociception, which is pain fiber activation, and that is also what medications are addressing. “We’re not discounting a patient’s perception of pain, as we recognize that one’s experience of pain is very complex,” she says. “What we aim to measure is the activity being transmitted by the pain nerve and the type of nerve fiber that is doing the transmitting.”
Aiming to identify pain phenotypes is an important part of current AlgometRx development work, says Dr. Finkel, as it could significantly aid clinical decision-making in treating and monitoring patients’ pain. The company’s current regulatory focus is to seek FDA clearance related to its potential use for patients with peripheral neuropathy, which is pain and numbness resulting from damage to the nerves outside of the brain and spinal cord. The company has also identified fibromyalgia cases as a place where the technology could potentially benefit a large number of patients as it considers regulatory clearance targets.
As the COVID-19 pandemic presented many unique challenges to healthcare startups this year, panel participants were asked to discuss the hurdles they faced and how it impacted device development.
Dr. Finkel notes that the pandemic slowed patient enrollment in AlgometRx clinical studies, but also presented some upside. “At first, that had a negative impact, but it wound up being a good thing,” she says. “It gave us a moment to pause, regroup and examine the data we’d already generated. That break gave us improved information and a new, more powerful approach. It changed our trajectory by altering our regulatory path in terms of the order of things in our pipeline, so we’ve been enormously productive.”
As a Johnson & Johnson Innovation Quickfire Children’s Challenge awardee, Dr. Finkel and AlgometRx will be among the first group of startups taking up residence at the new JLABS @ Washington, DC, located on the Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus, when it opens in 2021 at the historic former Walter Reed Army Medical Center site. Along with a one-year residency at the new JLABS @ Washington DC facility,* AlgometRx will receive mentorship from experts at the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies and grant funding to help support its continued advancement to commercialization.
*Residency at JLABS @ Washington subject to acceptance and execution of a License Agreement with Children’s National.
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Children’s National Hospital announced a $5 million gift from The Boeing Company that will help drive lifesaving pediatric discoveries at the new Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus.
Children’s National Hospital announced a $5 million gift from The Boeing Company that will help drive lifesaving pediatric discoveries at the new Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus. The campus, now under construction, is being developed on nearly 12 acres of the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Children’s National will name the main auditorium in recognition of Boeing’s generosity.
“We are deeply grateful to Boeing for their support and commitment to improving the health and well-being of children in our community and around the globe,” said Kurt Newman, M.D., president and CEO of Children’s National “The Boeing Auditorium will help the Children’s National Research & Innovation campus become the destination for discussion about how to best address the next big healthcare challenges facing children and families.”
The one-of-a-kind pediatric hub will bring together public and private partners for unprecedented collaborations. It will accelerate the translation of breakthroughs into new treatments and technologies to benefit kids everywhere.
“Children’s National Hospital’s enduring mission of positively impacting the lives of our youngest community members is especially important today,” said Boeing President and CEO David Calhoun. “We’re honored to join other national and community partners to advance this work through the establishment of their Research & Innovation Campus.”
Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus partners currently include Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS, Virginia Tech, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Food & Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), Cerner, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, National Organization of Rare Diseases (NORD) and local government.
The 3,200 square-foot Boeing Auditorium will be the focal point of the state-of-the-art conference center on campus. Nationally renowned experts will convene with scientists, medical leaders and diplomats from around the world to foster collaborations that spur progress and disseminate findings.
Boeing’s $5 million commitment deepens its longstanding partnership with Children’s National. The company has donated nearly $2 million to support pediatric care and research at Children’s National through Chance for Life and the hospital’s annual Children’s Ball. During the coronavirus pandemic, Boeing fabricated and donated 2,000 face shields to help keep patients and frontline care providers at Children’s National safe.
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Children’s National Research Institute directors Vittorio Gallo, Ph.D., and Mark Batshaw, M.D.
The Children’s National Research Institute recently released its 2019-2020 academic annual report, titled 150 Years Stronger Through Discovery and Care to mark the hospital’s 150th birthday. Not only does the annual report give an overview of the institute’s research and education efforts, but it also gives a peek in to how the institute has mobilized to address the coronavirus pandemic.
“Our inaugural research program in 1947 began with a budget of less than $10,000 for the study of polio — a pressing health problem for Washington’s children at the time and a pandemic that many of us remember from our own childhoods,” says Vittorio Gallo, Ph.D., chief research officer at Children’s National Hospital and scientific director at Children’s National Research Institute. “Today, our research portfolio has grown to more than $75 million, and our 314 research faculty and their staff are dedicated to finding answers to many of the health challenges in childhood.”
Highlights from the Children’s National Research Institute annual report
In 2018, Children’s National began construction of its new Research & Innovation Campus (CNRIC) on 12 acres of land transferred by the U.S. Army as part of the decommissioning of the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center campus. In 2020, construction on the CNRIC will be complete, and in 2012, the Children’s National Research Institute will begin to transition to the campus.
In late 2019, a team of scientists led by Eric Vilain, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Center for Genetic Medicine Research, traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo to collect samples from 60 individuals that will form the basis of a new reference genome data set. The researchers hope their project will generate better reference genome data for diverse populations, starting with those of Central African descent.
A gift of $5.7 million received by the Center for Translational Research’s director, Lisa Guay-Woodford, M.D., will reinforce close collaboration between research and clinical care to improve the care and treatment of children with polycystic kidney disease and other inherited renal disorders.
The Center for Neuroscience Research’s integration into the infrastructure of Children’s National Hospital has created a unique set of opportunities for scientists and clinicians to work together on pressing problems in children’s health.
Children’s National and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases are tackling pediatric research across three main areas of mutual interest: primary immune deficiencies, food allergies and post-Lyme disease syndrome. Their shared goal is to conduct clinical and translational research that improves what we know about those conditions and how we care for children who have them.
An immunotherapy trial has allowed a little boy to be a kid again. In the two years since he received cellular immunotherapy, Matthew has shown no signs of a returning tumor — the longest span of time he’s been tumor-free since age 3.
In the past 6 years, the 104 device projects that came through the National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation accelerator program raised $148,680,256 in follow-on funding.
Even though he’s watched more than 500 aspiring physicians pass through the Children’s National pediatric residency program, program director Dewesh Agrawal, M.D., still gets teary at every graduation.
Understanding and treating the novel coronavirus (COVID-19)
In a short period of time, Children’s National Research Institute has mobilized its scientists to address COVID-19, focusing on understanding the virus and advancing solutions to ameliorate the impact today and for future generations. Children’s National Research Institute Director Mark Batshaw, M.D., highlighted some of these efforts in the annual report:
Eric Vilain, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Center for Genetic Medicine Research, is looking at whether or not the microbiome of bacteria in the human nasal tract acts as a defensive shield against COVID-19.
Catherine Bollard, M.D., MBChB, director of the Center for Cancer and Immunology Research, and her team are seeing if they can “train” T cells to attack the invading coronavirus.
Sarah Mulkey, M.D., Ph.D., an investigator in the Center for Neuroscience Research and the Fetal Medicine Institute, is studying the effects of, and possible interventions for, coronavirus on the developing brain.
You can view the entire Children’s National Research Institute academic annual report online.
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The Children’s National Research & Innovation campus will be a a one-of-a-kind pediatric research and innovation hub.
Children’s National Hospital president and CEO, Kurt Newman, M.D., recently spoke with Modern Healthcare about the soon-to-open Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus and how it will help address the lagging development of devices, medications and technologies specifically designed to help children.
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Children’s National Hospital and Virginia Tech create formal partnership that includes the launch of a Virginia Tech biomedical research facility within the new Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus.
Children’s National Hospital and Virginia Tech recently announced a formal partnership that will include the launch of a 12,000-square-foot Virginia Tech biomedical research facility within the new Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus. The campus is an expansion of Children’s National that is located on a nearly 12-acre portion of the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. and is set to open its first phase in December 2020. This new collaboration brings together Virginia Tech, a top tier academic research institution, with Children’s National, a U.S. News and World Report top 10 children’s hospital, on what will be the nation’s first innovation campus focused on pediatric research.
“Virginia Tech is an ideal partner to help us deliver on what we promised for the Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus – an ecosystem that enables us to accelerate the translation of potential breakthrough discoveries into new treatments and technologies,” says Kurt Newman, M.D., president and CEO, Children’s National. “Our clinical expertise combined with Virginia Tech’s leadership in engineering and technology, and its growing emphasis on biomedical research, will be a significant advance in developing much needed treatment and cures to save children’s lives.”
Earlier this year, Children’s National announced a collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Innovation LLC to launch JLABS @ Washington, DC at the Research & Innovation Campus. The JLABS @ Washington, DC site will be open to pharmaceutical, medical device, consumer and health technology companies that are aiming to advance the development of new drugs, medical devices, precision diagnostics and health technologies, including applications in pediatrics.
“We are proud to welcome Virginia Tech to our historic Walter Reed campus – a campus that is shaping up to host some of the top minds, talent and innovation incubators in the world,” says Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. “The new Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus will exemplify why D.C. is the capital of inclusive innovation – because we are a city committed to building the public and private partnerships necessary to drive discoveries, create jobs, promote economic growth and keep D.C. at the forefront of innovation and change.”
Faculty from the Children’s National Research Institute and the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech Carilion (VTC) have worked together for more than a decade, already resulting in shared research grants, collaborative publications and shared intellectual property. Together, the two institutions will now expand their collaborations to develop new drugs, medical devices, software applications and other novel treatments for cancer, rare diseases and other disorders.
“Joining with Children’s National in the nation’s capital positions Virginia Tech to improve the health and well-being of infants and children around the world,” says Virginia Tech President Tim Sands, Ph.D. “This partnership resonates with our land-grant mission to solve big problems and create new opportunities in Virginia and D.C. through education, technology and research.”
The partnership with Children’s National adds to Virginia Tech’s growing footprint in the Washington D.C. region, which includes plans for a new graduate campus in Alexandria, Va. with a human-centered approach to technological innovation. Sands said the proximity of the two locations – just across the Potomac – will enable researchers to leverage resources, and will also create opportunities with the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, Va. and the Virginia Tech Carilion Health Science and Technology campus in Roanoke, Va.
Carilion Clinic and Children’s National have an existing collaboration for provision of certain specialized pediatric clinical services. The more formalized partnership between Virginia Tech and Children’s National will drive the already strong Virginia Tech-Carilion Clinic partnership, particularly for children’s health initiatives and facilitate collaborations between all three institutions in the pediatric research and clinical service domains.
Children’s National and Virginia Tech will engage in joint faculty recruiting, joint intellectual property, joint training of students and fellows, and collaborative research projects and programs according to Michael Friedlander, Ph.D., Virginia Tech’s vice president for health sciences and technology, and executive director of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC.
“The expansion and formalization of our partnership with Children’s National is extremely timely and vital for pediatric research innovation and for translating these innovations into practice to prevent, treat and ultimately cure nervous system cancer in children,” says Friedlander, who has collaborated with Children’s National leaders and researchers for more than 20 years. “Both Virginia Tech and Children’s National have similar values and cultures with a firm commitment to discovery and innovation in the service of society.”
“Brain and other nervous system cancers are among the most common cancers in children (alongside leukemia),” says Friedlander. “With our strength in neurobiology including adult brain cancer research in both humans and companion animals at Virginia Tech and the strength of Children’s National research in pediatric cancer, developmental neuroscience and intellectual disabilities, this is a perfect match.”
The design of the Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus not only makes it conducive for the hospital to strengthen its prestigious partnerships with Virginia Tech and Johnson & Johnson, it also fosters synergies with federal agencies like the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, which will collaborate with JLABS @ Washington, DC to establish a specialized innovation zone to develop responses to health security threats. As more partners sign on, this convergence of key public and private institutions will accelerate discoveries and bring them to market faster for the benefit of children and adults.
“The Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus pairs an inspirational mission to find new treatments for childhood illness and disease with the ideal environment for early stage companies. I am confident the campus will be a magnet for big ideas and will be an economic boost for Washington DC and the region,” says Jeff Zients, who was appointed chair of the Children’s National Board of Directors effective October 1, 2019. As a CEO and the former director of President Obama’s National Economic Council, Zients says that “When you bring together business, academia, health care and government in the right setting, you create a hotbed for innovation.”
Ranked 7th in National Institutes of Health research funding among pediatric hospitals, Children’s National continues to foster collaborations as it prepares to open its first 158,000-square-foot phase of its Research & Innovation Campus. These key partnerships will enable the hospital to fulfill its mission of keeping children top of mind for healthcare innovation and research while also contributing to Washington D.C.’s thriving innovation economy.
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The event featured an onstage discussion by Melinda Richter, global head of Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS and Dr. Kurt Newman, M.D., president and CEO of Children’s National Hospital, about the power of collaboration to spur innovation.
The 7th Annual Pediatric Device Innovation Symposium, presented by Children’s National Hospital, recently brought together stakeholders from across the clinical, investor, business and regulatory sectors of pediatric device development for a day-long program focused on closing the wide gap that exists between the number of medical devices developed for adults and the significantly smaller number developed for children.
Co-located with AdvaMed’s The MedTech Conference for the third consecutive year, the symposium featured an opening keynote address by Melinda Richter, global head of Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS, who was later joined Kurt Newman, M.D., president and CEO of Children’s National Hospital, for an on-stage discussion about the power of collaboration to spur innovation.
That collaboration was on display as Dr. Newman and Richter shared details of the recently announced JLABS @ Washington, DC, a 32,000 square-foot facility to be located at the new Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus on the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center campus in the nation’s capital.
“We had this idea at Children’s National to develop the first pediatric research and innovation campus in the world to create a sustainable pipeline and ecosystem of everything needed to bring medical devices from concept to market for children. Seeing what Johnson & Johnson has accomplished with JLABS across the world, we knew they were the right partner,” said Dr. Newman.
Richter highlighted the need to take action, “We have made modest progress in pediatric device innovation, but we need to do better. We need to advance solutions that take into account the unique characteristics of our youngest and most vulnerable of patients. Only then will we achieve real progress for children and their families.” Of all the medical devices approved each year, only 25% are approved for children and most of those are approved for patients over the age of 18. Richter encouraged symposium attendees to leverage collaborations and convenings to move pediatric device development forward and lauded innovators focused on babies and children, calling them “super heroes.”
$150K medical device pitch competition
Six innovations that address the significant unmet needs of neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) patients were awarded a total of $150K during the medical device pitch competition at the 7th Annual Pediatric Device Innovation Symposium hosted by Children’s National Hospital at Boston Convention & Exhibition Center. From L to R are: Anthony Sandler, M.D., Children’s National Hospital; Neil Ray, Raydiant Oximetry; Julia Finkel, M.D., AlgometRx, Inc.; Eric Chehab, Ph.D., Novonate; Xina Quan, Ph.D., PyrAmes, Inc.; Mark Lehmkuhle, Epitel, Inc.; Adam Zysk, Ph.D., Rhaeos, Inc.; and Kolaleh Eskandanian, Ph.D., Children’s National Hospital.
Six winners were announced in the symposium’s $150,000 “Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids!” competition, sponsored by the National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation (NCC-PDI) and focused on NICU devices, which the FDA identifies as an area of significant need for innovation. Ten finalists presented their innovations for a panel of 25 expert judges. Each winner receives a $25,000 award and an opportunity to participate in a first-of-its-kind pediatric accelerator program led by MedTech Innovator.
The winning pediatric devices and companies are:
AlgometRx, Inc., Washington, D.C. – The AlgometRx Rapid Drug Test is used to detect and monitor neonatal abstinence syndrome, allowing for earlier assessment and intervention of opioid withdrawal to reduce physiological stress.
Epitel, Salt Lake City, Utah – Epilog is an inexpensive, discrete and disposable EEG machine that provides real-time monitoring to revolutionize the way neonates suspected of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy are managed at community hospitals.
Novonate, South San Francisco, Calif. – LifeBubble secures and protects the umbilical catheter insertion site for neonates in intensive care, preventing infection from caregivers and parents.
PyrAmes Inc., Cupertino, Calif. – Noninvasive and wireless, the Boppli Band allows for risk- and pain-free continuous blood pressure monitoring for neonates.
Raydiant Oximetry, Mountain View, Calif. – Raydiant Oximetry Sensing Systems is a novel, non-invasive technology that more accurately detects fetal distress during labor and delivery, reducing medically unnecessary cesarean deliveries and the occurrence of newborns suffering the consequences of metabolic acidosis.
Rhaeos, Inc., Evanston, Ill. – FlowSense is a wearable device that enables noninvasive monitoring of ventricular shunt function in patients who have hydrocephalus, obviating the need for imaging and unnecessary hospital visits and admissions.
“Improved neonatal monitoring devices, such as those among our award winners, can make a critical difference in detecting interventions that could positively impact the long-term developmental trajectory of many children, said Kolaleh Eskandanian, Ph.D., M.B.A., P.M.P., vice president and chief innovation officer at Children’s National and principal investigator of NCC-PDI. “We welcome these winning companies into the NCC-PDI network of device startups and entrepreneurs and look forward to helping them accelerate commercialization so that these innovations can benefit children everywhere as soon as possible.”
Children’s National anesthesiologist and innovator Julia Finkel, M.D., delivers a winning pitch for her AlgometRx device for detecting and monitoring neonatal abstinence syndrome.
Award-winner AlgometRx is a spinout company from Children’s National Hospital that was founded by anesthesiologist and pain medicine research chief Julia Finkel, M.D. A non-invasive, handheld and portable device, AlgometRx captures a digital image of a patient’s pupillary light response and applies a series of propriety algorithms to measure pain type, intensity and drug effects in real time. Designed for use in virtually any clinical setting, Dr. Finkel originally developed this objective pain measurement technology to aid in diagnosing and monitoring non-verbal pediatric patients such as neonates. AlgometRx was also selected earlier this year to join the JLABS location in Philadelphia.
The symposium also featured four multidisciplinary panel discussions that followed the theme “Pediatric Device Clinical Trials: Forging a Better Path.” Solutions uncovered during these panels will be highlighted in an upcoming whitepaper that will be used to suggest FDA guidance on pediatric device trial conduct and best practices to safely validate medical devices for children more efficiently and effectively.
Vasum Peiris, M.D., chief medical officer, Pediatrics and Special Populations, Center for Devices and Radiological Health, FDA, gave the closing address, which outlined FDA initiatives focused on pediatric device development. David L. Wessel, M.D., senior vice president for the Center for Hospital-Based Specialties at Children’s National, provided an insightful overview of why NICU device development is so important and shared some of the NICU innovations currently in development at Children’s National, which ranks #1 nationally in NICU care.
Children’s National President and CEO Kurt Newman, M.D.
On April 9, 2019, Children’s National Health System and Johnson & Johnson Innovation LLC announced a collaboration to launch JLABS @ Washington, DC, a 32,000-square foot facility that will be located at the new Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus. The new site will serve as an incubator for pharmaceutical, medical device, consumer and health technology companies. The JLABS @ Washington, DC will be the first and only JLABS embedded in an academic environment with a strong pediatric focus. This new endeavor creates additional opportunities for Children’s National and Johnson & Johnson, together with partners, to shape the landscape of policy and funding to improve research and innovation in pediatric health care.
“The vision we pursued for this campus required a global innovation partner with a strong commitment to pediatric health and a clear understanding of the next big areas of opportunity for improving human health. We believe the JLABS model is exactly what is needed to help us drive discoveries that are then rapidly translated into new treatments and technologies,” said Kurt Newman, M.D., president and chief executive officer of Children’s National.
In addition to fast-tracking scientific innovation, JLABS will serve as a significant economic engine by creating new high-paying jobs in Washington, ultimately attracting venture investment in the region. An economic impact report suggests that the completion of the project will produce up to 110 permanent jobs and $150 million in revenue for the city by 2020. By 2030 the project will produce $6.2 billion in cumulative economic activity, 2,100 permanent jobs and $290 million in cumulative tax revenue for the district.
JLABS provides a continuum of innovators from first-time entrepreneurs to serial scientific founders representing diverse experiences across academic, startup, corporate, government regulators, funders and venture worlds.
“The best part of our collaboration with JLABS is facilitating speed to market for breakthrough therapies and technologies that are conceived in our region, including here in our own institution,” said Kolaleh Eskandanian, Ph.D., M.B.A., P.M.P., vice president and chief innovation officer at Children’s National. “I am excited that our partnership will unlock the untapped talent and great science in our region and bring better innovation to market faster with a strong focus on pediatric health.”
The facility will house state-of-the-art research labs and space for pediatric device development. This will expand Children’s National’s molecular genetic testing and biochemical analysis capabilities and enhance device development and computing infrastructure through collaborations with industry, universities, federal agencies and academic medical centers. “The selection of resident companies for the JLABS @ Washington, DC space will be done on a very competitive basis,” says Dr. Eskandanian. “Startup companies that qualify and are selected by JLABS will be offered laboratory and office space as well as mentorship.”
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The Children’s National Research Institute released its 2022-2023 Academic Annual Report. In the report, a summary of the past academic year highlights the accomplishments of each of the institute’s research centers, provides research funding figures and exalts some of the institute’s biggest milestones.
A group of children’s hospitals from across the country will coordinate on the response to future pandemics and other disasters through a new $29 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The group, known as the Pediatric Pandemic Network (PPN), will focus on the unique needs and challenges to children during pandemics and disasters, ensuring that health equity is at the forefront of emergency planning.
