Infectious Disease

2024 with a lightbulb instead of a zero

The best of 2024 from Innovation District

2024 with a lightbulb instead of a zero2024 marked another groundbreaking year for Children’s National Hospital, showcasing remarkable advances across the spectrum of pediatric medicine, research and healthcare innovation. From pioneering surgical procedures to breakthrough artificial intelligence applications, the institution continued to push the boundaries of what’s possible in children’s healthcare. Read on for our list of the most popular articles we published on Innovation District in 2024.

1. Prenatal COVID exposure associated with changes in newborn brain

A study led by researchers at Children’s National Hospital showed that babies born during the COVID-19 pandemic have differences in the size of certain structures in the brain, compared to infants born before the pandemic. The findings suggest that exposure to the coronavirus and being pregnant during the pandemic could play a role in shaping infant brain development.
(3 min. read)

2. Children’s National Hospital again ranked among the best in the nation by U.S. News & World Report

Children’s National Hospital was ranked as a top hospital in the nation by the U.S. News & World Report 2024-25 Best Children’s Hospitals annual rankings. This marks the eighth straight year Children’s National has made the Honor Roll list. The Honor Roll is a distinction awarded to only 10 children’s hospitals nationwide.
(2 min. read)

3. Children’s National performs first ever HIFU procedure on patient with cerebral palsy

In January 2023, a team of multidisciplinary doctors performed the first case in the world of using bilateral high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) pallidotomy on Jesus, a 22-year-old patient with dyskinetic cerebral palsy. The procedure is part of a clinical trial led by Chima Oluigbo, M.D., pediatric neurosurgeon at Children’s National Hospital.
(3 min. read)

4. Novel ultrasound device gets FDA breakthrough designation with Children’s National support

A novel ultrasound device developed by Bloom Standard received the Food and Drug Administration’s valued breakthrough device designation with the help of Children’s National Hospital. The device that enables autonomous, hands-free ultrasound scans to be performed anywhere, by any user.
(2 min. read)

5. First-of-its-kind pilot study on the impacts of Lyme disease in pregnancy and infant development

Understanding the effects of Lyme disease on the developing fetal brain is essential to ensure timely prenatal and postnatal treatments to protect the fetus and newborn. In response to this need, Children’s National Hospital is leading a pilot study to establish the groundwork needed for a larger study to determine the effect of in utero exposure to Lyme disease on pregnancy and early childhood neurodevelopmental outcomes.
(3 min. read)

6. Earliest hybrid HLHS heart surgery kids thrive 5 years later

Five years ago, Cayden was born 6 weeks early weighing less than four pounds and at risk of dying from her critical congenital heart disease. Today, she’s a happy five-year-old. Early diagnosis of her hypoplastic right ventricle, double inlet left ventricle and critical coarctation of the aorta allowed for the team at Children’s National Hospital to create a careful plan for safe delivery and to offer an innovative hybrid HLHS surgical approach at the hospital within 24 hours after she was born.
(1 min. read)

7. Wayne J. Franklin, M.D., F.A.C.C., named senior vice president of the Children’s National Heart Center

Children’s National Hospital appointed Wayne J. Franklin, M.D., F.A.C.C., as the new senior vice president (SVP) of the Children’s National Heart Center. In this role, Dr. Franklin oversees the full spectrum of heart care services including cardiac imaging and diagnostics, interventional cardiology, electrophysiology, cardiac anesthesia, cardiac surgery and cardiac intensive care.
(2 min. read)

8. Artificial – and accelerated – intelligence: endless applications to expand health equity

By pioneering artificial intelligence (AI) innovation programs at Children’s National Hospital, Marius George Linguraru, D.Phil., M.A., M.Sc., and the AI experts he leads are ensuring patients and families benefit from a coming wave of technological advances. The team is teaching AI to interpret complex data that could otherwise overwhelm clinicians.
(4 min. read)

9. Evidence review: Maternal mental conditions drive climbing death rate in U.S.

Painting a sobering picture, a research team led by Children’s National Hospital culled years of data demonstrating that maternal mental illness is an under-recognized contributor to the death of new mothers. They called for urgent action to address this public health crisis.
(3 min. read)

10. Nathan Kuppermann, M.D., M.P.H., named chief academic officer and chair of Pediatrics

Children’s National Hospital appointed Nathan Kuppermann, M.D., M.P.H., as its new executive vice president, chief academic officer and chair of Pediatrics. In this role, Dr. Kuppermann oversees research, education and innovation for the Children’s National Research Institute as well as academic and administrative leadership in the Department of Pediatrics at George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Services.
(2 min. read)

11. First global clinical trial achieves promising results for hypochondroplasia

Researchers from Children’s National Hospital presented findings from the first clinical trial of the medication vosoritide for children with hypochondroplasia – a rare genetic growth disorder. During the phase 2 trial, researchers found vosoritide increased the growth rate in children with hypochondroplasia, allowing them to grow on average an extra 1.8 cm per year.
(2 min. read)

12. Pioneering research center aims to revolutionize prenatal and neonatal health

Since its establishment in July 2023, the Center for Prenatal, Neonatal & Maternal Health Research at Children’s National Hospital has gained recognition through high-impact scientific publications, featuring noteworthy studies exploring the early phases of human development.
(3 min. read)

2024-25 US News Badges

Children’s National again ranked among the best in the nation by U.S. News & World Report

2024-25 US News BadgesChildren’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., was ranked as a top hospital in the nation by the U.S. News & World Report 2024-25 Best Children’s Hospitals annual rankings. This marks the eighth straight year Children’s National has made the Honor Roll list. The Honor Roll is a distinction awarded to only 10 children’s hospitals nationwide.

This year, U.S. News ended ordinal rankings on its Honor Roll. Instead of assigning a numerical rank from 1 to 10, all hospitals on the Honor Roll will be recognized as having attained the highest standards of care in the nation.

In addition, Children’s National tied for #1 pediatric hospital in the Mid-Atlantic region, which includes New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, West Virginia and Virginia. It’s also best in the Mid-Atlantic in Neonatology.

For the fourteenth straight year, Children’s National ranked in 10 specialty services. New this year, U.S. News included behavioral health as a service line in the rankings. Since it’s the first year, there are no ordinal rankings for behavioral health, but the Children’s National program was named one of the top 50 programs in the country.

“In my first year here, I witnessed what makes Children’s National so special — our commitment to collaboration, empowering one another, and charting a bold path forward for pediatric care,” said Michelle Riley-Brown, MHA, FACHE, president and chief executive officer of Children’s National. “I’m proud U.S. News again recognized Children’s National as one of the top in the nation and the highest-ranked pediatric hospital in D.C., Maryland and Virginia. Together, we’ll continue to push the boundaries of care, research and innovation to make a difference for those who matter most — the kids.”

The annual rankings are the most comprehensive source of quality-related information on U.S. pediatric hospitals and recognizes the nation’s top 50 pediatric hospitals based on a scoring system developed by U.S. News.

“For nearly two decades, U.S. News has published Best Children’s Hospitals to empower the parents and caregivers of children with complex medical needs,” said Ben Harder, chief of health analysis and managing editor at U.S. News. “Children’s hospitals appearing on the U.S. News Honor Roll have a track record of delivering unparalleled specialized care.”

The bulk of the score for each specialty service is based on quality and outcomes data. The process includes a survey of relevant specialists across the country, who are asked to list hospitals they believe provide the best care for patients with the most complex conditions.

The Children’s National specialty services that U.S. News ranked in the top 10 nationally are:

The other four specialties ranked among the top 50 are Behavioral Health, Cardiology and Heart Surgery, Pulmonology and Lung Surgery, and Urology.

Douglas Postels and other clinicians in Malawi

Think tank improves care for Malawian children with seizures, epilepsy

  • Scenes from Dr. Postels' trip to Malawi
  • Scenes from Dr. Postels' trip to Malawi
  • Scenes from Dr. Postels' trip to Malawi
  • Scenes from Dr. Postels' trip to Malawi
  • Scenes from Dr. Postels' trip to Malawi
  • Scenes from Dr. Postels' trip to Malawi
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Global health leaders from Children’s National Hospital joined Malawian clinical experts in a two-day think tank to improve the care of children with seizures in the southern African nation. Details were published recently in a perspective in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

“The meeting was eye-opening,” said Douglas Postels, M.D., a pediatric neurologist and faculty member with the Center for Translational Research at Children’s National. “Outcomes are changed when we collaborate directly and work through the best solutions for clinical care in low-resource settings. You must weigh what clinics need, what they can implement, and the impact on public health.”

The big picture

Dr. Postels does research and provides clinical care at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH), the largest public hospital in Malawi. “Queen’s” is the only medical setting in a country of over 20 million people where an electroencephalogram (EEG) and specialty pediatric neurology services are available. QECH is an essential — and often overtaxed — component of neurological care in Malawi. Cerebral malaria, epilepsy and seizures from birth asphyxia drive the need for neurological evaluations.

EEG is available at QECH for all hospitalized children and is principally used to evaluate for subclinical seizures in those who are comatose. One of three trained technicians acquires the EEG, which is electronically sent to the United States for interpretation. Under best-case scenarios, the turnaround time between EEG collection and interpretation from a neurologist in the U.S. is about two hours. However, many obstacles can slow results, including misaligned schedules across time zones, internet outages and other complications.

With the support of the Center for Translational Research, Dr. Postels brought five U.S.-based colleagues to Africa to meet with Malawian clinicians to better understand local clinical care needs.  A think tank of U.S. and Malawian clinicians worked together to consider research directions and priorities for neurology care and EEG services.  Their conversation focused extensively on integrating technology in the places where it will be most clinically useful.

The fine print

Dr. Postels’ research group aims to aid in the clinical care of Malawian children with epilepsy and to make EEG accessible outside of Queen’s hospital. They hope to eventually create a point-of-care EEG system, linking a method of EEG acquisition that requires little training to apply with a software-based interpretation system.

Expanding the use of EEG in Malawi and throughout Africa has numerous clinical applications. Malawian clinicians hoped that EEG could be made available at their local hospitals and folded into a more comprehensive care algorithm for children at risk of seizures — “one aspect of a ‘packet of care’ that included better overall understanding of seizures, criteria for administration of antiseizure medications, and transfer to the central hospital,” according to the journal article.

Malawian clinicians were also interested in using EEG to detect increased intracranial pressure after head trauma, as neuroimaging services are nearly as rare as EEG in Malawi.  One pediatrician also wanted to use EEG to guide the treatment of neonatal seizures, which are common in children with birth asphyxia, and to use EEG as a prognostic biomarker.

“We hope to empower Malawian clinicians with clinical research skills and experiences so that they can lead and direct future discussions with patients, parents and stakeholders to advance neurologic care and research in their country,” Dr. Postels and his team wrote.

To dive deeper, read the complete perspective — “Establishing Priorities for Epilepsy Care and Electroencephalogram Use in Low-Resource Settings” — in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Visitors from the UAE at Children's National Hospital.

New philanthropic support from the United Arab Emirates furthers research breakthroughs and care

Visitors from the UAE at Children's National Hospital.

His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates (right) visited Children’s National in September 2024.

Continuing a 30-year partnership that has yielded 82 U.S. patents and countless medical breakthroughs for kids and their families, the Government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has strengthened its transformational commitment to Children’s National Hospital with a new $35 million donation focused on prenatal, neonatal and maternal health.

The announcement of the new gift comes after a recent visit to the hospital by His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), who met with Emirati families and patients receiving care at Children’s National Hospital.

The investment is the latest chapter of a longstanding philanthropic partnership between the UAE and Children’s National. Each year, more than 100 Emirati families travel to Children’s National for advanced pediatric care and life-saving treatments.

This latest investment will bolster various strategic health initiatives, including within the hospital’s Center for Prenatal, Neonatal & Maternal Health Research and the Zickler Family Prenatal Pediatrics Institute.

Researchers in the Center for Prenatal, Neonatal & Maternal Health Research are focused on the role of perinatal factors — including maternal stress, anxiety and depression — on the developing brain of the child. Studies also are revealing the impact of congenital anomalies such as heart disease and acquired conditions such as maternal infection with COVID-19 or Zika virus. New approaches to prenatal and postnatal care promise to optimize long-term outcomes of many hospitalized babies.

“Children in the Washington, D.C., area and across the world benefit greatly from the breakthroughs that have emerged from the incredible decades-long partnership between the UAE and Children’s National,” said Michelle Riley-Brown, President and CEO of Children’s National. “I am deeply grateful for the UAE’s most recent gift. The contribution will positively impact children and families and support the teams of researchers and specialists who dedicate their lives to developing innovative medical care.”

Key milestones

The UAE helped to establish the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at Children’s National in 2009. Today, the Sheikh Zayed Institute (SZI) has grown into a world-class, self-sustaining research center receiving more than 80% of its funding from grants and outside sources.

This platform for invention is advancing autonomous, robotic surgery. The institute’s researchers believe pediatric surgical outcomes will improve if the precision and delicacy of a robot are incorporated into procedures such as gallbladder removal. SZI is also propelling the use of artificial intelligence to improve pediatric medicine and expand health equity. One example is a deep learning algorithm that uses hand-held ultrasounds to detect early signs of rheumatic heart disease, which kills nearly 400,000 people worldwide each year.

“The lives and health of countless children and families in the Washington area, in the UAE and around the world have been transformed by our partnership,” said Yousef Al Otaiba, the UAE Ambassador to the United States. “Our continued support promises even more breakthrough innovations in pediatric medicine.”

The UAE also supported the opening of the Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus through a 2019 commitment. The campus represents the first pediatric innovation hub of its kind, where scientists, inventors, caregivers, patients’ families and health authorities come together to advance pediatric health.

The Children’s National Rare Disease Institute and Center for Genetic Medicine Research are two of the teams housed at the campus. Together, they are pioneering care for children in the Washington region and abroad as an international referral site for rare disorders. Two examples of their research endeavors include: next-generation genomic testing to better understand how differences in genetic material can affect human health and identifying biochemical analytes.

The UAE opened a medical office in Washington, D.C., in 1991. Since then, thousands of Emirati patients have visited Children’s National for life-changing care for conditions such as congenital heart disease, neurological disorders and cancer. The hospital is currently treating 40 Emirati patients.

“Having our child treated at Children’s National means accessing specialized pediatric care from a renowned institution dedicated to children’s health,” said Hamad Alnuaimi, an Emirati father of a Children’s National patient. “It provides us with confidence and reassurance that our son is receiving the best possible medical attention from experts who understand and prioritize the unique needs of children. For the UAE to have a strong relationship with Children’s National signifies a valuable connection that enhances pediatric healthcare in our country. This partnership allows us to benefit from advanced treatments, medical innovations, and expertise that might otherwise be inaccessible. It represents a commitment to improving the health and well-being of children through international collaboration.”

Audience members at the NIAID Conference

Breaking free of illness: Experts explore solutions for chronic pediatric disorders

  • Scenes from Dr. Postels' trip to Malawi
  • Scenes from Dr. Postels' trip to Malawi
  • Scenes from Dr. Postels' trip to Malawi
  • Scenes from Dr. Postels' trip to Malawi
  • Scenes from Dr. Postels' trip to Malawi
  • Scenes from Dr. Postels' trip to Malawi
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When new patients with chronic illnesses come to Roberta DeBiasi, M.D., M.S., division chief of Infectious Diseases, they are often drained of energy, far behind in school and fatigued by the lack of coordinated care among multiple specialists. She envisions a better way to care for these children: a data-driven, multidisciplinary clinic that can help diagnose and treat disorders facing chronically ill children.

In a keynote address, Dr. DeBiasi laid out her vision for improving care during the 7th annual symposium hosted by Children’s National Hospital and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID): “A new paradigm: Infection-associated chronic illnesses (IACI) affecting children.” Experts from across the country came together to discuss these IACIs, the importance of finding biomarkers to diagnose and monitor them, data-driven therapeutics to treat them, and the urgent need for protocols to guide physicians.

The patient benefit

A range of IACIs – including long COVID, Lyme disease, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), dysautonomia and more – are stealing normal, active lifestyles from children. Dr. DeBiasi said patients need researchers who understand disease pathogenesis and have standardized disease classification to diagnose and treat these disorders. Because of the complexity of these cases, care delivery and coordination also need to change. Patients, she said, would best be served by beginning with a three-hour appointment in a multidisciplinary clinic with experts from behavioral health, rehabilitative medicine and other specialties.

“When one of these patients comes to us, we feel helpless as physicians,” Dr. DeBiasi said. “There’s no diagnostic, and we don’t know how to treat them…. It is, to me, very energizing that we’re going to be able to have a coordinated way to help these families. But to do that, we have to have standardized disease classification.”

Moving the field forward

In 2017, NIAID and Children’s National launched a clinical research partnership devoted to advancing the health of children with allergic, immunologic, auto-inflammatory and infectious diseases through collaborative research and education. The partnership — co-led by H. Clifford Lane, M.D., NIAID’s deputy director for Clinical Research and Special Projects, and Catherine Bollard, M.D., M.B.Ch.B., director of the Center for Cancer and Immunology Research at Children’s National — promotes the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and cure of these childhood diseases. Every year, the partnership organizes and funds a symposium to explore cutting-edge research and pressing issues in pediatric care.

At this year’s gathering, experts examined the specifics of various disorders, including Alexandra Yonts, M.D. She provided new data from the Children’s National Post-Covid Program and explained that patients “are clamoring” for help with symptom management.

“There have been virtually no randomized, controlled trials and very little evidence on any sort of aggressive treatments, or pharmaceutical management options, especially in the pediatric population,” Dr. Yonts said. “Upon recent attendance at some long COVID meetings, there is an expressed concern, especially among pediatric providers, about trying medications off-label in these long COVID patients.”

Miss the symposium? You can learn more about the science they explored in the symposium’s recording on topics including:

  • Potential overarching mechanisms of disease, including pathogen- and host-mediated factors.
  • Identifying potential biomarkers for chronic illnesses
  • Treatments and multidisciplinary approaches for patients with IACIs
  • Patient advocacy
AAP 2024 Conference logo

Children’s National Hospital the 2024 American Academy of Pediatrics meeting

Children’s National Hospital-affiliated participants will attend this year’s American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition. The meeting will take place in Orlando, Florida from September 27 to October 1. You will find a mini schedule of sessions below.

Date Time Presenter Title
9/27/2024 8:00:00 AM Briony Varda, M.D. H1016: Section on Surgery Program: Day 1
9/27/2024 8:00:00 AM Briony Varda, M.D. H1017: Section on Urology Program: Day 1
9/27/2024 8:00:00 AM Lowell Frank, M.D., FAAP H1014: Section on Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery Program: Day 1
Through the Looking Glass: Using Past Decisions to Inform Current and Future Clinical and Professional Practice
9/27/2024 2:30:00 PM Brian K. Reilly, M.D., FAAP S1208: Sounding the Alarm on Noise: Prevention Is Key
9/27/2024 4:00:00 PM Brandon Kappy, M.D., MPP S1312: Using Lessons From the East Palestine Train Derailment to Prepare for Environmental Disasters
9/28/2024 8:00:00 AM Alicia M. Tucker, M.D. H2013: Section on Obesity Program
9/28/2024 8:00:00 AM Annie L. Andrews, M.D., MSCR H2011: Section on Emergency Medicine Program: Day 2
EmergiQuiz, State of the Section & SOEM Awards Presentations and 2024 PEMPix & Hot Topics in Pediatric Emergency Medicine
9/28/2024 12:00:00 PM Monika Goyal, M.D., M.S.C.E.
 Prevalence of Period Poverty in a Pediatric Emergency Department
9/28/2024 3:30:00 PM Allison Markowsky, M.D., MSHS, FAAP S2412: What’s Trending in the Newborn Nursery: Controversies and Evidence
9/28/2024 5:00:00 PM Bernhard L. “Bud” Wiedermann, M.D., M.A., FAAP S2507: Should I Change My Clinical Practice Based on a Hot New Article? Reading Journals With a Critical Eye
9/29/2024 8:30:00 AM Dennis Ren, M.D. H3022: Section on Emergency Medicine Program: Day 3
Inaugural “Babble Royale” Competition & More Hot Topics in PEM; PediSonoFest
9/29/2024 9:00:00 AM Natasha Shur, M.D. S3208: Genetic Testing Boot Camp
9/29/2024 1:00:00 PM Lamia Soghier, M.D., M.Ed., M.B.A., FAAP H3037: Section on International Medical Graduates Program
Opportunities and Paths for Career Development in Academic Pediatrics
9/29/2024 4:00:00 PM Margaret Rush, M.D., MSHS I3304: Emergencies in the Technology-Dependent Medically Complex Children: What Every Pediatrician Should Know
9/29/2024 5:00:00 PM Anjna Melwani, M.D. S3501: Emergencies in the Technology-Dependent Medically Complex Children: What Every Pediatrician Should Know
9/30/2024 2:00:00 PM Rana F. Hamdy, M.D., M.P.H., MSCE S4302: Diagnosis and Treatment of Community-Acquired Pneumonia
10/1/2024 9:00:00 AM Nathaniel S. Beers, M.D., M.P.A., FAAP S5207: Eliminating Suspension, Expulsion, and Other Harsh Discipline Practices in Schools and Early Education

 

boy on cot in emergency shelter

New federally supported hub to advance solutions for pediatric health emergencies

boy on cot in emergency shelterClinicians caring for children are often left to rely on off-label devices and medications approved for adults, especially during public health crises, national disasters and other emergencies. To address this critical gap, Children’s National Hospital is launching a 10-year partnership with the federal Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) — valued at $1.5 million per year, with the possibility of an additional funding boost of up to $515 million.

This new pediatric-focused hub will be known as the SPARK Hub — or the Hub for Special Populations Acceleration, Research and Knowledge for Innovations in Pediatrics. It will join a network of four existing BARDA hubs to develop various tools for national health emergencies, including infectious disease outbreaks or chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear attacks. The new opportunity for Children’s National positions the organization as a leader among those working to ensure clinicians and their patients have the resources they need in crises, approved for kids and ready for clinical use.

BARDA is part of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which leads the nation’s medical and public health preparedness, response and recovery efforts during disasters and public health emergencies. The new SPARK Hub led by Children’s National seeks to accelerate innovations that can detect, prevent or respond to the medical consequences of a health security threat for children. SPARK’s scope includes drugs, biologics, devices, diagnostics and digital health solutions that improve prevention, readiness and response.

Kolaleh Eskandanian, Ph.D., M.B.A., P.M.P., vice president and chief innovation officer at Children’s National and principal investigator of SPARK Innovations in Pediatrics, said the hospital was honored to take on this role, which “underscores our commitment to advancing the health and safety of children during public health emergencies.”

“To tackle the complex challenges in developing pediatric medical countermeasures, we have assembled an exceptional team of pediatrician-scientists,” Dr. Eskandanian said. “Their expertise will be instrumental as we partner with BARDA on this vital mission, ensuring that our most vulnerable populations receive the care and protection they deserve.”

Children’s National will lead the hub with its SPARK partners: BioHealth Innovation, Consortia for Improving Medicine with Innovation and Technology (CIMIT) at Mass General Brigham, and University Hospitals Rainbow Babies and Children’s. Johnson & Johnson Innovation JLABS and BLUE KNIGHT™ join the team as strategic industry partners.

The BARDA Accelerator Network aims to provide comprehensive support to health security innovators, startups and BARDA portfolio companies. Dr. Eskandanian said that innovators have ideas for devices, but they often could benefit from wrap-around support to accelerate their development through technical guidance, business and commercialization expertise, and resources. The network will facilitate the rapid development, evaluation, validation and commercialization of medical countermeasures.

“One of the critical challenges we face in safeguarding our children during public health emergencies is the limited medical countermeasures specifically approved for pediatric use,” Dr. Eskandanian said. “This creates significant ethical, legal and operational dilemmas when considering whether to use untested or off-label options for our youngest and most vulnerable populations.”

Children’s National has in-depth experience leading nonprofit accelerator programs to spur innovation in healthcare. It is currently serving its 11th year as leader of one of five pediatric consortia funded by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Alliance for Pediatric Device Innovation, which focuses on bringing patients medical devices specifically evaluated and labeled for use in pediatrics.

Children’s National is also one of two leading hospital sites for the Pediatric Pandemic Network (PPN), which aims to empower healthcare systems and communities to provide high-quality, equitable care to children every day and in crises. The Health Resources and Services Administration, a part of HHS, funds the PPN.

coronavirus and DNA

Untangling the root of long COVID with research

Alexandra Yonts, M.D.

Understanding and treating long COVID is still in its early days, but Dr. Yonts is beginning to see trends, along with hope for symptom relief.

A child who forgets the alphabet or spends 20 hours a day on the sofa will get a pediatrician’s attention. In late 2020, a stream of post-COVID patients just like this started presenting in the clinic of Alexandra Yonts, M.D., an infectious diseases specialist at Children’s National Hospital. Dr. Yonts quickly recognized the need to understand these patients and worked with hospital leadership to open the Pediatric Post-COVID Program, putting her at the forefront of clinicians and researchers investigating the disorder.

Understanding and treating long COVID is still in its early days, but Dr. Yonts is beginning to see trends, along with hope for symptom relief. She will present detailed data from a retrospective study of 254 post-COVID patients at the 2024 Children’s National-NIAID annual symposium, A New Paradigm: Infection-Associated Chronic Illnesses Affecting Children. She’ll discuss her findings on the patients’ symptoms at presentation, trajectory over time and a cluster analysis of symptom grouping. She gave an overview of her research and clinical work to Innovation District.

Q: What are you seeing in the Pediatric Post-COVID Program?

A: In the Infectious Diseases clinic, we had historically seen about one patient a month with prolonged fatigue or other persistent symptoms after an infection. Yet when COVID started, we noticed an increase in those patients. By late 2020, the numbers were increasing significantly, along with an uptick in appointment requests. We knew we needed to start a Pediatric Post-COVID Program, which launched in May 2021.

From the beginning and continuing to this day, severe fatigue is the most common reason kids come to our clinic, as is the case with adults. This ranges from marathon runners who can’t run a half-mile to those sleeping on the couch for 20 hours a day. We’re still researching the factors affecting this wide spectrum of symptoms.

Cognitive issues — often referred to as brain fog — are also significant. These can be seen as attention issues, such as difficulty remembering the alphabet in younger children or focusing in class for older children. Many kids have gastrointestinal problems like nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. There’s also a prevalence of dysautonomia, affecting functions like blood pressure and heart rate, often seen in conditions like POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome).

Initially, we saw kids infected early in the pandemic who had symptoms for 15 to 20 months. Our peak referrals were in 2022 after the Omicron variant, when we had a six-month waitlist. Although COVID cases have decreased, we still see kids with long-standing symptoms who have seen multiple providers without success. That’s why we’re here.

Q: Where are we in our understanding of long COVID, and where do we need to go?

A: We have lots of data but don’t know how it fits together yet. Research shows ongoing immune reactions to viral particles, with some patients having spike antigen in their blood or stool long after infection. There’s also evidence of autoimmunity and endovascular dysfunction, but we don’t yet understand the connections. It seems like viral persistence might be the underlying problem, but we haven’t pinpointed it yet.

Q: How important is it for the community to come together for events like the Children’s National-NIAID symposium?

A: It’s absolutely critical. We need researchers, clinicians and patients to collaborate. Researchers bring scientific expertise, clinicians provide practical insights and patients share their lived experiences and priorities. Conversations like the Children’s National-NIAID symposium are crucial for collaboration, thoughtful study design, advocacy and building connections with the patient community to make them feel validated and heard.

Learn more at the Children’s National-NIAID symposium on Sept. 5, by registering here.

smoke coming from chimney stacks

Call for action on healthcare sustainability

smoke coming from chimney stacks

New research reveals the U.S. healthcare system’s contribution to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change is disproportionately high and harms the public.

A recent review reveals the U.S. healthcare system’s contribution to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change is disproportionately high and harms the public. The findings are part of a series of articles being co-published by Open Forum Infectious Diseases and the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, which highlight the effect of climate change and air pollution on global health and infectious diseases.

“Our current policies and practices on healthcare waste and emissions do not do justice to the health of the children we want to improve,” said Shreya Doshi, pediatric fellow at Children’s National. “The U.S. contributes to 27% of the global healthcare industry GHG emissions (greater than any other country). Infectious diseases professionals can use their background in antimicrobial stewardship and infection prevention and control to lead projects in healthcare sustainability and make a difference.”

Q: How will this work benefit patients?

A: Ultimately, when different specialties and organizations in healthcare make changes to their practices, we will have fewer GHG emissions and a healthier planet for our patients. There is also strong evidence that climate change affects vulnerable communities and countries disproportionately and we hope to change that. We want to provide safe healthcare to children from the current generation without taking away resources from the future generation.

Q: What’s been the hold up in the field?

A: Lack of awareness and time needed for change in practices and policies. For any organization leadership buy-in is needed when it comes to healthcare sustainability. Children’s National actually received a sustainability award two years ago for reducing anesthetic gases.

Q: What did you find that excites you? What are you hoping to discover?

A: There is so much yet to be explored at the intersection of infectious diseases and healthcare sustainability and that’s exciting! No matter what you do within the healthcare field — there is room for improvement and room for reduction in waste and GHG emissions. It is time to reassess and, rethink and innovate our practices. Having collaborators in other specialties who are passionate about the sustainability can help us move the needle faster. Lastly, it is important to know that work in healthcare sustainability has huge cost savings, so it’s a win for the financial health of the institution and for the planet!

You can read the full study, Healthcare Sustainability to Address Climate Change: Call for Action to the Infectious Diseases Community, in the Open Forum Infectious Diseases and the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society.

Marius George Linguraru giving a lecture on AI

Artificial – and accelerated – intelligence: endless applications to expand health equity

In the complex world of pediatric diseases, researchers need access to data to develop clinical trials and the participation of vulnerable patients to develop new devices and therapies. Both are in short supply, given that most children are born healthy, and most severe pediatric diseases are rare.

That creates a dilemma: how do researchers build a foundation to advance new treatments? Enter artificial intelligence (AI).

“AI is the equalizer: accelerated intelligence for sick kids. No other advance on the horizon holds more promise for improving equity and access to pediatric healthcare when diseases are rare and resources are limited,” says Marius George Linguraru, D.Phil., M.A., M.Sc., the Connor Family Professor in Research and Innovation and principal investigator in the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation (SZI). “AI will shrink the distance between patient and provider, allowing our physicians and scientists to provide targeted healthcare for children more efficiently. The possibilities are endless.”

Why we’re excited

By pioneering AI innovation programs at Children’s National Hospital, Dr. Linguraru and the AI experts he leads are ensuring patients and families benefit from a coming wave of technological advances. The team is teaching AI to interpret complex data that could otherwise overwhelm clinicians. Their work will create systems to identify at-risk patients, forecast disease and treatment patterns, and support complex clinical decisions to optimize patient care and hospital resources. Already, the AI team at SZI has developed data-driven tools touching nearly every corner of the hospital:

  • AI for rheumatic heart disease (RHD): In partnership with Children’s National cardiology leaders, including Craig Sable, M.D., the Uganda Heart Institute and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, the AI team has developed an algorithm that can use low-cost, portable ultrasound imaging to detect RHD in children and young adults, a disease that takes nearly 400,000 lives annually in limited-resource countries. Early testing shows the AI platform has the same accuracy as a cardiologist in detecting RHD, paving the way for earlier treatment with life-saving antibiotics. This year, Children’s National physicians will be in Uganda, screening 200,000 children with local cardiology experts and AI technology.
  • Newborn screening for genetic conditions with mGene: Working with Rare Disease Institute clinicians and Chief of Genetics and Metabolism Debra Regier, M.D., the AI team has built technology to detect rare genetic disorders, using an algorithm and a smartphone camera to identify subtle changes in facial features. Tested on patients from over 30 countries and published in The Lancet Digital Health, the application helps screen children for advanced care when a geneticist may not be within reach. With funding from the National Institutes of Health, Children’s National and its research partners are piloting a newborn screening program in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
  • Pediatric brain tumors: To improve and personalize the treatment decisions for children with brain tumors, Dr. Linguraru’s team is working with Brain Tumor Institute Director Roger Packer, M.D., the Gilbert Family Distinguished Professor of Neurofibromatosis, on algorithms that can characterize and measure brain tumors with unprecedented precision. The team recently won the International Pediatric Brain Tumor Segmentation Challenge, distinguishing the Children’s National algorithm as among the best in the world.
  • Ultra-low field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): With a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the AI team is working alongside Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, King’s College London and the UNITY Consortium to expand global brain imaging capacity. The consortium is helping clinicians in limited-resource countries improve the treatment of neonatal neurological conditions, using AI to boost the quality of ultra-low field MRI and expand access to this portable and more affordable imaging option.
  • Federated learning: Children’s National has collaborated with NVIDIA and other industry leaders to accelerate AI advances through federated learning. Under this approach, institutions share AI models rather than data, allowing them to collaborate without exposing patient information or being constrained by essential data-sharing restrictions. The SZI team was the only pediatric partner invited to join the largest federated learning project of its kind, studying the lungs of COVID-19 patients. Details were published in Nature Medicine.

Children’s National leads the way

Looking ahead, the Children’s National AI team is pursuing a wide range of advances in clinical care. To support patients treated at multiple clinics, they are developing systems to harmonize images from different scanners and protocols, such as MRI machines made by different manufacturers. Similar work is underway to analyze pathology samples from different institutions consistently.

Automation is also making care more efficient. For example, using data from 1 million chest X-rays, the team is collaborating with NVIDIA to develop a conversational digital assistant that will allow physicians to think through 14 possible diagnoses.

Dr. Linguraru says he and his colleagues are galvanized by the jarring statistic that one in three children with a rare disease dies before age 5. While well-implemented AI initiatives can change outcomes, he says the work must be done thoughtfully.

“In the future, patients will be evaluated by human clinicians and machines with extraordinary powers to diagnose illness and determine treatments,” Dr. Linguraru said. “Our team at Children’s National is leading conversations about the future of pediatric healthcare with a focus on safety, resource allocation and basic equity.”

Learn more about our AI initiatives

Innovation leaders at Children’s National Hospital are building a community of AI caregivers through educational and community-building events. At the inaugural Symposium on Artificial Intelligence in 2023 at the Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus, experts from Virginia Tech, JLABS, Food and Drug Administration, Pfizer, Oracle Health, NVIDIA, AWS Health and elsewhere laid out a vision for using data to advance pediatric medicine. The symposium will return on Sept. 6.

Dr. Linguraru is the program chair of MICCAI 2024, the top international meeting on medical image computing and computer-assisted intervention and the preeminent forum for disseminating AI developments in healthcare. The conference is an educational platform for scientists and clinicians dedicated to AI in medical imaging, with a focus on global health equity. It will take place for the first time in Africa on Oct. 6-10.

 

 

borrelia bacteria

First-of-its-kind study on impacts of Lyme disease in pregnancy and infant development

borrelia bacteria

Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi.

Understanding the effects of Lyme disease on the developing fetal brain is essential to ensure timely prenatal and postnatal treatments to protect the fetus and newborn. In response to this need, Children’s National Hospital is leading a pilot study to establish the groundwork needed for a larger study to determine the effect of in utero exposure to Lyme disease on pregnancy and early childhood neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Why it’s important

“Insect-borne illnesses have more than doubled during the last twenty years as a result of multiple factors including environmental changes,” says Sarah Mulkey, M.D., Ph.D., principal investigator of the study and prenatal-neonatal neurologist at Children’s National Hospital. Dr. Mulkey is the Co-Director of the Congenital Infection Program at Children’s National Hospital and has led a long-term child outcome study of the mosquito-borne Zika virus infection in pregnancy and impacts on child neurodevelopment. She is now adding Lyme disease to her work on pregnancy and child outcomes. Lyme disease is transmitted to humans via an infected tick and can be acquired throughout much of the United States. “Very little is known about Lyme disease in pregnancy and if and how it may affect the fetus and impact child neurodevelopment,” said Dr. Mulkey.

This pilot study is funded by the Clinical Trials Network for Lyme and other Tickborne Diseases (CTN), supported by the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Foundation. Roberta DeBiasi, M.D., M.S., division chief of infectious diseases at Children’s National, is a CTN Node Principal Investigator. The study team at Children’s National works closely with members of the CTN as well as other Lyme disease-focused organizations and nonprofits to make sure that the pilot study addresses Lyme disease advocates’ research priorities in a scientifically rigorous way. “This is an important opportunity for us to engage with advocacy groups and others who have been stressing the need for this type of research for decades,” says Meagan Williams, M.S.P.H., C.C.R.C., the senior research coordinator for the study. “We know how important it is to maintain a patient-centered and trauma-sensitive lens in our work with families impacted by Lyme disease during pregnancy. We’ve been working hard to build this study in a way that centers our participants’ lived experiences and focuses on the topics they find important. We’re very grateful to have the support of Lyme disease focused organizations and advocates as we embark on this study because they know and have expressed exactly where the gaps are in the literature. It’s our job to do the work to fill those gaps.”

The big picture

This pilot study aims to build upon existing research, case studies and advocacy to assess developmental and other family impacts of Lyme disease exposure during pregnancy.

Especially as tick season begins in Washington, D.C., and surrounding regions, the investigators are determined to make sure that all eligible people diagnosed with Lyme disease during their pregnancy are aware of the study and have the opportunity to participate. Pregnant volunteers can sign up for participation in the study here. Volunteers may be eligible to join if they are currently pregnant, live in the U.S. or Canada and were diagnosed with Lyme disease during pregnancy or have post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS).

Anyone interested in sharing information about the study with their clients or colleagues may email mewilliams@childrensnational.org for access to the team’s recruitment toolkit that includes flyers, FAQs and other resources. “We have resources available for clinicians, public health professionals, friends and family members and anyone else who may be able to help us identify participants and spread the word about this important study,” Williams says.

The study is registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT06026969). If you have questions about the study, please reach out to Meagan at mewilliams@childrensnational.org or email cnhlymestudy@gmail.com.

Newborn baby in a crib

Pioneering research center aims to revolutionize prenatal and neonatal health

  • Scenes from Dr. Postels' trip to Malawi
  • Scenes from Dr. Postels' trip to Malawi
  • Scenes from Dr. Postels' trip to Malawi
  • Scenes from Dr. Postels' trip to Malawi
  • Scenes from Dr. Postels' trip to Malawi
  • Scenes from Dr. Postels' trip to Malawi
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Catherine Limperopoulos, Ph.D., was drawn to understanding the developing brain, examining how early adverse environments for a mother can impact the baby at birth and extend throughout its entire lifetime. She has widened her lens – and expanded her team – to create the new Center for Prenatal, Neonatal & Maternal Health Research at Children’s National Hospital.

“Despite the obvious connection between mothers and babies, we know that conventional medicine often addresses the two beings separately. We want to change that,” said Dr. Limperopoulos, who also directs the Developing Brain Institute. “Given the current trajectory of medicine toward precision care and advanced imaging, we thought this was the right moment to channel our talent and resources into understanding this delicate and highly dynamic relationship.”

Moving the field forward

Since its establishment in July 2023, the new research center has gained recognition through high-impact scientific publications, featuring noteworthy studies exploring the early phases of human development.

Dr. Limperopoulos has been at the forefront of groundbreaking research, directing attention to the consequences of maternal stress on the unborn baby and the placenta. In addition, under the guidance of Kevin Cook, Ph.D., investigators published a pivotal study on the correlation between pain experienced by premature infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and the associated risks of autism and developmental delays.

Another area of research has focused on understanding the impact of congenital heart disease (CHD) on prenatal brain development, given the altered blood flow to the brain caused by these conditions during this period of rapid development. Led by Josepheen De Asis-Cruz, M.D., Ph.D., a research team uncovered variations in the functional connectivity of the brains of infants with CHD. In parallel, Nickie Andescavage, M.D., and her team employed advanced imaging techniques to identify potential biomarkers in infants with CHD, holding promise for guiding improved diagnostics and postnatal care. Separately, she is investigating the impact of COVID-19 on fetal brain development.

In the months ahead, the team plans to concentrate its efforts on these areas and several others, including the impact of infectious disease, social determinants of health and protecting developing brains from the negative impacts of maternal stress, pre-eclampsia and other conditions prevalent among expectant mothers.

Assembling a team

Given its robust research plan and opportunities for collaboration, the center pulled together expertise from across the hospital’s faculty and has attracted new talent from across the country, including several prominent faculty members:

  • Katherine L. Wisner, M.S., M.D., has accumulated extensive knowledge on the impact of maternal stress on babies throughout her career, and her deep background in psychiatry made her a natural addition to the center. While Dr. Wisner conducts research into the urgent need to prioritize maternal mental health, she will also be treating mothers as part of the DC Mother-Baby Wellness Initiative — a novel program based at Children’s National that allows mothers to more seamlessly get care for themselves and participate in mother-infant play groups timed to align with their clinical appointments.
  • Catherine J. Stoodley, B.S., M.S., D.Phil., brings extensive research into the role of the cerebellum in cognitive development. Dr. Stoodley uses clinical studies, neuroimaging, neuromodulation and behavioral testing to investigate the functional anatomy of the part of the brain responsible for cognition.
  • Katherine M. Ottolini, M.D., attending neonatologist, is developing NICU THRIVE – a research program studying the effects of tailored nutrition on the developing newborn brain, including the impact of fortifying human milk with protein, fat and carbohydrates. With a grant from the Gerber Foundation, Dr. Ottolini is working to understand how personalized fortification for high-risk babies could help them grow.

Early accolades

The new center brings together award-winning talent. This includes Yao Wu, Ph.D., who recently earned the American Heart Association’s Outstanding Research in Pediatric Cardiology award for her groundbreaking work in CHD, particularly for her research on the role of altered placental function and neurodevelopmental outcomes in toddlers with CHD. Dr. Wu became the third Children’s National faculty member to earn the distinction, joining an honor roll that includes Dr. Limperopoulos and David Wessel, M.D., executive vice president and chief medical officer.

Interim Chief Academic Officer Catherine Bollard, M.D., M.B.Ch.B., said the cross-disciplinary collaboration now underway at the new center has the potential to make a dramatic impact on the field of neonatology and early child development. “This group epitomizes the Team Science approach that we work tirelessly to foster at Children’s National,” Dr. Bollard said. “Given their energetic start, we know these scientists and physicians are poised to tackle some of the toughest questions in maternal-fetal medicine and beyond, which will improve outcomes for our most fragile patients.”

Members of the Columbia Zika virus research team

School entry neurodevelopmental outcomes of Zika-exposed Colombian children

Members of the Columbia Zika virus research team

The Children’s National Hospital Zika Research Team and collaborators from Biomelab, in Barranquilla, Colombia take a picture after a study visit in Sabanalarga, Colombia following the neurodevelopmental outcomes of children who had in utero exposure to Zika virus. Pictured from Children’s National Hospital: Dr. Sarah Mulkey, Regan Andringa-Seed, Margarita Arroyave-Wessel, and Dr. Madison Berl.

The long-term neurodevelopmental effects of antenatal Zika virus (ZIKV) exposure in children without congenital Zika syndrome (CZS) remain unclear, as few children have been followed to the age of starting primary school.

In a new study published in Pathogens, researchers found children with in utero ZIKV exposure appear to have an overall positive developmental trajectory at 4 to 5 years of age but may experience risks to neurodevelopment in areas of emotional regulation and adaptive mobility.

The hold up in the field

Children who were born during the ZIKV epidemic and who had in utero exposure to ZIKV are only now at the age to start school. Child neurodevelopmental outcome data has not been reported at the age of school entry for children with antenatal ZIKV exposure who do not have the severe birth defects of CZS.

“As these children approach the early school-age years, we aim to examine whether there are neurodevelopmental differences in executive function, motor ability, language development or scholastic skills as compared to a group of unexposed control participants from the same communities in Colombia,” says Sarah Mulkey, M.D., Ph.D., prenatal-neonatal neurologist in The Zickler Family Prenatal Pediatrics Institute at Children’s National Hospital and lead author of the study.

Moving the field forward

Building on previous findings, this study presents the longitudinal outcomes of a well-characterized Colombian cohort of ZIKV-exposed children without CZS at ages 4 to 5 years. These children have been seen for neurodevelopmental follow-up as infants and toddlers at approximately 6 months, 18 months and 3 years of age as part of an international collaboration between researchers in Barranquilla, Colombia and at Children’s National beginning in 2016. The objective of this study was to assess the multi-domain neurodevelopmental outcomes in 4 to 5-year-old children with antenatal ZIKV exposure without CZS compared to unexposed controls in Colombia.

Why we’re excited

Many of the children who had antenatal ZIKV exposure are making good progress in multiple areas of their neurodevelopment. However, the researchers found that children with antenatal ZIKV exposure have differences in areas of emotional regulation, executive function, mood and behavior which may relate to virus exposure during their early brain development.

“These areas of brain function are important for future academic achievement, employment, mental health and social relationships,” says Dr. Mulkey. “So, it will be important to continue to follow these children at older ages when they start school.”

Children’s National leads the way

Children’s National is a leader in conducting outcome studies of children born following antenatal ZIKV exposure. This study follows children in Colombia who are now 5 years old who were first studied while they were in the womb. These children have contributed unique longitudinal understanding to early child neurodevelopment following in utero exposure to ZIKV.

Dr. Mulkey is committed to studying the long-term neurodevelopmental impacts that viruses like Zika and SARS-CoV-2 have on infants born to mothers who were infected during pregnancy through research with the Congenital Infection Program at Children’s National and in collaboration with colleagues in Colombia.

Additional Children’s National authors include Meagan Williams M.S.P.H., C.C.R.C., senior research coordinator; Regan Andringa-Seed, clinical research coordinator, Margarita Arroyave-Wessel, clinical research coordinator; L. Gilbert Vezina, M.D., director, Neuroradiology Program; Dorothy Bulas, M.D., chief, Diagnostic Imaging and Radiology; Robert Podolsky, biostatistician.

Researchers showing paintings of zika virus

Dr. Sarah Mulkey and Children’s National clinical research coordinators in the Prenatal Pediatrics Institute and the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases display their paintings of the Zika virus. Pictured from left to right: Manuela Iglesias, Elizabeth Corn, Dr. Sarah Mulkey, Emily Ansusinha and Meagan Williams.

pregnant woman talking to doctor

Prenatal COVID exposure associated with changes in newborn brain

pregnant woman talking to doctor

The team found differences in the brains of both infants whose mothers were infected with COVID while pregnant, as well as those born to mothers who did not test positive for the virus.

Babies born during the COVID-19 pandemic have differences in the size of certain structures in the brain, compared to infants born before the pandemic, according to a new study led by researchers at Children’s National Hospital.

The team found differences in the brains of both infants whose mothers were infected with COVID while pregnant, as well as those born to mothers who did not test positive for the virus, according to the study published in Cerebral Cortex.

The findings suggest that exposure to the coronavirus and being pregnant during the pandemic could play a role in shaping infant brain development, said Nickie Andescavage, M.D., the first author of the paper and associate chief for the Developing Brain Institute at Children’s National.

The fine print

The study’s authors looked at three groups of infants: 108 born before the pandemic; 47 exposed to COVID before birth; and 55 unexposed infants. In all cases, researchers performed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of the newborns’ brains during the first few weeks of life. The MRI scans, which are non-invasive and do not expose patients to radiation, provided 3D images of the brain, allowing doctors to calculate the volume of different areas.

Researchers found several differences in the brains of babies exposed to COVID. They had larger volumes of the gray matter that makes up the brain’s outermost layer, compared to the two other groups. In contrast, an inner area of the brain, known as deep gray matter, was smaller than in unexposed babies. These are areas that contain large numbers of neurons that generate and process signals throughout the brain. “Their brains formed differently if they were exposed to COVID,” said Dr. Andescavage, adding that “those exposed to COVID had unique signatures” in the brain.

Doctors also measured the depths of the folds in the babies’ brains – a way to determine how the brain is maturing during early development. Babies born to mothers who had COVID in pregnancy had deeper grooves in the frontal lobe, while babies born during the pandemic – even without being exposed to COVID – had increased folds and grooves throughout the brain, compared to babies born before the pandemic. “There was something about being born during the pandemic that changed how the brain developed,” Dr. Andescavage said.

What’s ahead

The study authors can’t fully explain what caused the differences in brain development in these babies, Dr. Andescavage said. But other studies have linked maternal stress and depression to changes in the newborn brain. In a future study, Dr. Andescavage and her colleagues will examine the relationship between infant brain development and how stress and anxiety during the pandemic may have played a role in early development.

Because the babies in the study were just a few weeks old, researchers don’t know if their altered brain development will affect how they learn or behave. Researchers plan to follow the children until age 6, allowing them to observe whether pandemic-era babies hit key developmental milestones on time, such as walking, talking, holding a crayon and learning the alphabet.

Researchers have been worried about the effect of COVID on the fetus since the beginning of the pandemic. Studies show that babies exposed to COVID in the womb may experience developmental impacts, and research is underway to better understand long-term outcomes.

Although the coronavirus rarely crosses the placenta to infect the fetus directly, there are other ways maternal infection can influence the developing baby. Dr. Andescavage said inflammation is one potential harm to a developing baby. In addition, if a pregnant woman becomes so sick that the levels of oxygen in her blood fall significantly, that can deprive the fetus of oxygen, she added.

In recent decades, studies of large populations have found that maternal infections with influenza and other viruses increased the risk of serious problems in children even years later, including autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and schizophrenia, although the reasons behind the association are not well understood. Technology may allow doctors to answer a number of questions about COVID and the infant brain.

“With advanced imaging and MRI, we’re in a position now to be able to understand how the babies are developing in ways we never previously could,” Dr. Andescavage said. “That will better allow us to identify the exposures that may be harmful, and at what times babies may be especially vulnerable, to better position us to promote maternal wellness. This, in turn, helps infant wellness.”

collage of news outlet logos

Children’s National in the News: 2023

collage of news outlet logos
Explore some of the notable medical advancements and stories of bravery that defined 2023, showcasing the steadfast commitment of healthcare professionals at Children’s National Hospital and the resilient spirit of the children they support. Delve into our 2023 news highlights for more.

1. COVID during pregnancy dramatically increases the risk of complications and maternal death, large new study finds

According to a study published in British Medical Journal Global Health, women who get COVID during pregnancy are nearly eight times more likely to die and face a significantly elevated risk of ICU admission and pneumonia. Sarah Mulkey, M.D., prenatal-neonatologist neurologist, discussed findings based on her work with pregnant women and their babies.
(Fortune)

2. Rest isn’t necessarily best for concussion recovery in children, study says

A study led by Christopher Vaughan, Psy.D., pediatric neuropsychologist, suggests that — despite what many people may presume — getting kids back to school quickly is the best way to boost their chance for a rapid recovery after a concussion.
(CNN)

3. Pediatric hospital beds are in high demand for ailing children. Here’s why

David Wessel, M.D., executive vice president, chief medical officer and physician-in-chief, explained that one reason parents were still having trouble getting their children beds in a pediatric hospital or a pediatric unit after the fall 2022 respiratory surge is that pediatric hospitals are paid less by insurance.
(CNN)

4. Anisha Abraham details impact of social media use on children: ‘True mental health crisis’

Anisha Abraham, M.D., M.P.H., chief of the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, joined America’s Newsroom to discuss the impact social media access has had on children’s mental health.
(FOX News)

5. Saving Antonio: Can a renowned hospital keep a boy from being shot again?

After 13-year-old Antonio was nearly killed outside his mom’s apartment, Children’s National Hospital went beyond treating his bullet wounds. Read how our Youth Violence Intervention Program team supported him and his family during his recovery.
(The Washington Post)

6. Formerly conjoined twins reunite with doctors who separated them

Erin and Jade Buckles underwent a successful separation at Children’s National Hospital. Nearly 20 years later they returned to meet with some of the medical staff who helped make it happen.
(Good Morning America)

7. Asthma mortality rates differ by location, race/ethnicity, age

Shilpa Patel, M.D., M.P.H., medical director of the Children’s National IMPACT DC Asthma Clinic, weighed in on a letter published in Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, asserting that the disparities in mortality due to asthma in the United States vary based on whether they occurred in a hospital, ethnicity or race and age of the patient.
(Healio)

8. How one Afghan family made the perilous journey across the U.S.-Mexico border

After one family embarked on a perilous journey from Afghanistan through Mexico to the U.S.-Mexico border, they eventually secured entry to the U.S. where Karen Smith, M.D., medical director of Global Services, aided the family’s transition and provided their daughter with necessary immediate medical treatment.
(NPR)

9. When a child is shot, doctors must heal more than just bullet holes

With the number of young people shot by guns on the rise in the U.S., providers and staff at Children’s National Hospital are trying to break the cycle of violence. But it’s not just the physical wounds though that need treating: young victims may also need help getting back on the right track — whether that means enrolling in school, finding a new group of friends or getting a job.
(BBC News)

10. This 6-year-old is a pioneer in the quest to treat a deadly brain tumor

Callie, a 6-year-old diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, was treated with low-intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU) at Children’s National Hospital and is the second child in the world to receive this treatment for a brain tumor. LIFU is an emerging technology that experts like Hasan Syed, M.D., and Adrianna Fonseca, M.D., are trialing to treat this fatal childhood brain tumor.
(The Washington Post)

11. F.D.A. approves sickle cell treatments, including one that uses CRISPR

The FDA approved a new genetic therapy, giving people with sickle cell disease new opportunities to eliminate their symptoms. David Jacobsohn, M.B.A., M.D., confirmed that Children’s National Hospital is one of the authorized treatment centers and talked about giving priority to the sickest patients if they are on Vertex’s list.
(The New York Times)

12. 6-year-old fulfils wish to dance in the Nutcracker

After the potential need for open-heart surgery threatened Caroline’s Nutcracker performance, Manan Desai, M.D., a cardiac surgeon, figured out a less invasive procedure to help reduce her recovery time so she could perform in time for the holidays.
(Good Morning America)

AI system that can detect RHD

Novel AI platform matches cardiologists in detecting rheumatic heart disease

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to detect rheumatic heart disease (RHD) with the same accuracy as a cardiologist, according to new research demonstrating how sophisticated deep learning technology can be applied to this disease of inequity. The work could prevent hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths around the world annually.

Developed at Children’s National Hospital and detailed in the latest edition of the Journal of the American Heart Association, the new AI system combines the power of novel ultrasound probes with portable electronic devices installed with algorithms capable of diagnosing RHD on echocardiogram. Distributing these devices could allow healthcare workers, without specialized medical degrees, to carry technology that could detect RHD in regions where it remains endemic.

RHD is caused by the body’s reaction to repeated Strep A bacterial infections and can cause permanent heart damage. If detected early, the condition is treatable with penicillin, a widely available antibiotic. In the United States and other high-income nations, RHD has been almost entirely eradicated. However, in low- and middle-income countries, it impacts the lives of 40 million people, causing nearly 400,000 deaths a year.

“This technology has the potential to extend the reach of a cardiologist to anywhere in the world,” said Kelsey Brown, M.D., a cardiology fellow at Children’s National and co-lead author on the manuscript with Staff Scientist Pooneh Roshanitabrizi, Ph.D. “In one minute, anyone trained to use our system can screen a child to find out if their heart is demonstrating signs of RHD. This will lead them to more specialized care and a simple antibiotic to prevent this degenerative disease from critically damaging their hearts.”

The big picture

AI system that can detect RHD

The new AI system combines the power of novel ultrasound probes with portable electronic devices installed with algorithms capable of diagnosing RHD on echocardiogram.

Millions of citizens in impoverished countries have limited access to specialized care. Yet the gold standard for diagnosing RHD requires a highly trained cardiologist to read an echocardiogram — a non-invasive and widely distributed ultrasound imaging technology. Without access to a cardiologist, the condition may remain undetected and lead to complications, including advanced cardiac disease and even death.

According to the new research, the AI algorithm developed at Children’s National identified mitral regurgitation in up to 90% of children with RHD. This tell-tale sign of the disease causes the mitral valve flaps to close improperly, leading to backward blood flow in the heart.

Beginning in March, Craig Sable, M.D., interim division chief of Cardiology, and his partners on the project will implement a pilot program in Uganda incorporating AI into the echo screening process of children being checked for RHD. The team believes that a handheld ultrasound probe, a tablet and a laptop — installed with the sophisticated, new algorithm — could make all the difference in diagnosing these children early enough to change outcomes.

“One of the most effective ways to prevent rheumatic heart disease is to find the patients that are affected in the very early stages, give them monthly penicillin for pennies a day and prevent them from becoming one of the 400,000 people a year who die from this disease,” Dr. Sable said. “Once this technology is built and distributed at a scale to address the need, we are optimistic that it holds great promise to bring highly accurate care to economically disadvantaged countries and help eradicate RHD around the world.”

Children’s National Hospital leads the way

To devise the best approach, two Children’s National experts in AI — Dr. Roshanitabrizi and Marius George Linguraru, D.Phil., M.A., M.Sc., the Connor Family Professor in Research and Innovation and principal investigator in the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation — tested a variety of modalities in machine learning, which mimics human intelligence, and deep learning, which goes beyond the human capacity to learn. They combined the power of both approaches to optimize the novel algorithm, which is trained to interpret ultrasound images of the heart to detect RHD.

Already, the AI algorithm has analyzed 39 features of hearts with RHD that cardiologists cannot detect or measure with the naked eye. For example, cardiologists know that the heart’s size matters when diagnosing RHD. Current guidelines lay out diagnostic criteria using two weight categories — above or below 66 pounds — as a surrogate measure for the heart’s size. Yet the size of a child’s heart can vary widely in those two groupings.

“Our algorithm can see and make adjustments for the heart’s size as a continuously fluid variable,” Dr. Roshanitabrizi said. “In the hands of healthcare workers, we expect the technology to amplify human capabilities to make calculations far more quickly and precisely than the human eye and brain, saving countless lives.”

Among other challenges, the team had to design new ways to teach the AI to handle the inherent clinical differences found in ultrasound images, along with the complexities of evaluating color Doppler echocardiograms, which historically have required specialized human skill to evaluate.

“There is a true art to interpreting this kind of information, but we now know how to teach a machine to learn faster and possibly better than the human eye and brain,” Dr. Linguraru said. “Although we have been using this diagnostic and treatment approach since World War II, we haven’t been able to share this competency globally with low- and middle-income countries, where there are far fewer cardiologists. With the power of AI, we expect that we can, which will improve equity in medicine around the world.”

2023 with a lightbulb

The best of 2023 from Innovation District

2023 with a lightbulbAdvanced MRI visualization techniques to follow blood flow in the hearts of cardiac patients. Gene therapy for pediatric patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. 3D-printed casts for treating clubfoot. These were among the most popular articles we published on Innovation District in 2023. Read on for our full list.

1. Advanced MRI hopes to improve outcomes for Fontan cardiac patients

Cardiac imaging specialists and cardiac surgeons at Children’s National Hospital are applying advanced magnetic resonance imaging visualization techniques to understand the intricacies of blood flow within the heart chambers of children with single ventricle heart defects like hypoplastic left heart syndrome. The data allows surgeons to make critical corrections to the atrioventricular valve before a child undergoes the single ventricle procedure known as the Fontan.
(3 min. read)

2. Children’s National gives first commercial dose of new FDA-approved gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Children’s National Hospital became the first pediatric hospital to administer a commercial dose of Elevidys (delandistrogene moxeparvovec-rokl), the first gene therapy for the treatment of pediatric patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Elevidys is a one-time intravenous gene therapy that aims to delay or halt the progression of DMD by delivering a modified, functional version of dystrophin to muscle cells.
(2 min. read)

3. New model to treat Becker Muscular Dystrophy

Researchers at Children’s National Hospital developed a pre-clinical model to test drugs and therapies for Becker Muscular Dystrophy (BMD), a debilitating neuromuscular disease that is growing in numbers and lacks treatment options. The work provides scientists with a much-needed method to identify, develop and de-risk drugs for patients with BMD.
(2 min. read)

4. First infants in the U.S. with specially modified pacemakers show excellent early outcomes

In 2022, five newborns with life-threatening congenital heart disease affecting their heart rhythms were the first in the United States to receive a novel modified pacemaker generator to stabilize their heart rhythms within days of birth. Two of the five cases were cared for at Children’s National Hospital. In a follow-up article, the team at Children’s National shared that “early post-operative performance of this device has been excellent.”
(2 min. read)

5. AI: The “single greatest tool” for improving access to pediatric healthcare

Experts from the Food and Drug Administration, Pfizer, Oracle Health, NVIDIA, AWS Health and elsewhere came together to discuss how pediatric specialties can use AI to provide medical care to kids more efficiently, more quickly and more effectively at the inaugural symposium on AI in Pediatric Health and Rare Diseases, hosted by Children’s National Hospital and the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech.
(3 min. read)

6. AAP names Children’s National gun violence study one of the most influential articles ever published

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) named a 2019 study led by clinician-researchers at Children’s National Hospital one of the 12 most influential Pediatric Emergency Medicine articles ever published in the journal Pediatrics. The findings showed that states with stricter gun laws and laws requiring universal background checks for gun purchases had lower firearm-related pediatric mortality rates but that more investigation was needed to better understand the impact of firearm legislation on pediatric mortality.
(2 min. read)

7. Why a colorectal transition program matters

Children’s National Hospital recently welcomed pediatric and adult colorectal surgeon Erin Teeple, M.D., to the Division of Colorectal and Pelvic Reconstruction. Dr. Teeple is the only person in the United States who is board-certified as both a pediatric surgeon and adult colorectal surgeon, uniquely positioning her to care for people with both acquired and congenital colorectal disease and help them transition from pediatric care to adult caregivers.
(3 min. read)

8. First-of-its-kind holistic program for managing pain in sickle cell disease

The sickle cell team at Children’s National Hospital received a grant from the Founders Auxiliary Board to launch a first-of-its-kind, personalized holistic transformative program for the management of pain in sickle cell disease. The clinic uses an inter-disciplinary approach of hematology, psychology, psychiatry, anesthesiology/pain medicine, acupuncture, mindfulness, relaxation and aromatherapy services.
(3 min read)

9. Recommendations for management of positive monosomy X on cell-free DNA screening

Non-invasive prenatal testing using cell-free DNA (cfDNA) is currently offered to all pregnant women regardless of the fetal risk. In a study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, researchers from Children’s National Hospital provided context and expert recommendations for maternal and fetal evaluation and management when cfDNA screening is positive for monosomy X or Turner Syndrome.
(2 min. read)

10. Innovation in clubfoot management using 3D anatomical mapping

While clubfoot is relatively common and the treatment is highly successful, the weekly visits required for Ponseti casting can be a significant burden on families. Researchers at Children’s National Hospital are looking for a way to relieve that burden with a new study that could eliminate the weekly visits with a series of 3D-printed casts that families can switch out at home.
(1 min. read)

11. Gender Self-Report seeks to capture the gender spectrum for broad research applications

A new validated self-report tool provides researchers with a way to characterize the gender of research participants beyond their binary designated sex at birth. The multi-dimensional Gender Self-Report, developed using a community-driven approach and then scientifically validated, was outlined in a peer-reviewed article in the American Psychologist, a journal of the American Psychological Association.
(2 min. read)

12. Cardiovascular and bone diseases in chronic kidney disease

In a study published by Advances in Chronic Kidney Disease, a team at Children’s National Hospital reviewed cardiovascular and bone diseases in chronic kidney disease and end-stage kidney disease patients with a focus on pediatric issues and concerns.
(1 min. read)

ARPA-H logo

Children’s National selected as member of ARPA-H Investor Catalyst Hub spoke network

ARPA-H logoThe hospital will advocate for the unique needs of children as part of nationwide network working to accelerate transformative health solutions.

Children’s National Hospital was selected as a spoke for the Investor Catalyst Hub, a regional hub of ARPANET-H, a nationwide health innovation network launched by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H).

The Investor Catalyst Hub seeks to accelerate the commercialization of groundbreaking and accessible biomedical solutions. It uses an innovative hub-and-spoke model designed to reach a wide range of nonprofit organizations and Minority-Serving Institutions, with the aim of delivering scalable healthcare outcomes for all Americans.

“The needs of children often differ significantly from those of adults. This partnership reflects our commitment to advancing pediatric healthcare through innovation and making sure we’re addressing those needs effectively,” said Kolaleh Eskandanian, Ph.D., M.B.A., vice president and chief innovation officer at Children’s National. “Leveraging the strength of this hub-and-spoke model, we anticipate delivering transformative solutions to enhance the health and well-being of the patients and families we serve.”

Children’s National joins a dynamic nationwide network of organizations aligned to ARPA-H’s overarching mission to improve health outcomes through the following research focus areas: health science futures, proactive health, scalable solutions and resilient systems. Investor Catalyst Hub spokes represent a broad spectrum of expertise, geographic diversity and community perspectives.

“Our spoke network embodies a rich and representative range of perspectives and expertise,” said Mark Marino, vice president of Growth Strategy and Development for VentureWell and project director for the Investor Catalyst Hub. “Our spokes comprise a richly diverse network that will be instrumental in ensuring that equitable health solutions reach communities across every state and tribal nation.”

As an Investor Catalyst Hub spoke, Children’s National gains access to potential funding and flexible contracting for faster award execution compared to traditional government contracts. Spoke membership also offers opportunities to provide input on ARPA-H challenge areas and priorities, along with access to valuable networking opportunities and a robust resource library.

boy in hospital bed

Local context, health system integrations key to sustainable interventions after RHD diagnosis

boy in hospital bed

Although entirely preventable, RHD, a disease of poverty and social disadvantage resulting in high morbidity and mortality, remains an ever-present burden in low- and middle-income countries, as well as rural, remote, marginalized and disenfranchised populations within high-income countries.

A rheumatic heart disease (RHD) work group convened by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) concludes that any priority intervention strategies to slow or stop late complications of RHD need to consider local contexts and should be integrated into health systems to meet the affected community’s needs in a sustainable way.

The group outlined priorities based on current available evidence to support the development and implementation of accessible, affordable and sustainable interventions in low-resource settings to manage RHD and its related complications.

Craig Sable, M.D., associate chief of Cardiology at Children’s National Hospital, served as a senior author on the recommendations, based on the work group findings.

Why it matters

Although entirely preventable, RHD, a disease of poverty and social disadvantage resulting in high morbidity and mortality, remains an ever-present burden in low- and middle-income countries, as well as rural, remote, marginalized and disenfranchised populations within high-income countries.

The NHLBI workshop sought to support RHD eradication efforts worldwide by:

  • Analyzing the current state of science
  • Identifying basic science and clinical research priorities

Each work group was assigned to review existing guidelines and research for different stages of the disease’s progression, which is now being published together as a set of five companion articles to raise the prioritization of RHD research and funding.

Moving the field forward

Due to the high prevalence of RHD in low- and middle-income countries, Dr. Sable’s work group focused on gaining a better understanding of the needs in the field from the five perspectives: people living with RHD, the community, healthcare providers, health systems and policymakers.

They identified several priorities and strategies, and they stressed that any interventional strategy, now or in the future, must be culturally safe and community-driven to ensure the creation of a locally and culturally relevant, sustainable continuum of care for people from historically marginalized populations.

What’s next

The authors emphasize that that over 300,000 deaths per year are the result of inadequate, underfunded and poorly integrated care. “Global vision and leadership to enact and implement available policies are needed to close large research gaps in all aspects at patient, health system and policy levels. Robust research and development are urgently needed to improve comprehensive tertiary care and ensure implementation of evidence-based interventions, while developing new innovations, technologies and interventions.”

You can read all the working group manuscripts, including this one: Tertiary Prevention and Treatment of Rheumatic Heart Disease: A National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Working Group Summary, in BMJ Global Health.

Learn more about the challenges of rheumatic heart disease in sub-Saharan Africa and other developing parts of the world through the Rheumatic Heart Disease microdocumentary series:

healthcare workers putting on PPE

“Mask up!” Soon, AI may be prompting healthcare workers

Researchers at Children’s National Hospital are embarking on an effort to deploy computer vision and artificial intelligence (AI) to ensure medical professionals appropriately use personal protective equipment (PPE). This strikingly common problem touches almost every medical specialty and setting.

With nearly $2.2 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health, the team is combining their expertise with information scientists at Drexel University and engineers at Rutgers University to build a system that will alert doctors, nurses and other medical professionals of mistakes in how they are wearing their PPE. The goal is to better protect healthcare workers (HCWs) from dangerous viruses and bacteria that they may encounter — an issue laid bare with the COVID-19 pandemic and PPE shortages.

“If any kind of healthcare setting says they don’t have a problem with PPE non-adherence, it’s because they’re not monitoring it,” said Randall Burd, M.D., Ph.D., division chief of Trauma and Burn Surgery at Children’s National and the principal investigator on the project. “We need to solve this problem, so the medical community will be prepared for the next potential disaster that we might face.”

The big picture

The World Health Organization has estimated that between 80,000 and 180,000 HCWs died globally from COVID-19 between January 2020 and May 2021 — an irreplaceable loss of life that created significant gaps in the pandemic response. Research has shown that HCWs had an 11-fold greater infection risk than the workers in other professions, and those who were not wearing appropriate PPE had a 1/3 higher infection risk, compared to peers who followed best practices.

Burd said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that hospitals task observers to stand in the corner with a clipboard to watch clinicians work and confirm that they are being mindful of their PPE. However, “that’s just not scalable,” he said. “You can’t always have someone watching, especially when you may have 50 people in and out of an operating room on a challenging case. On top of that, the observers are generally trained clinicians who could be filling other roles.”

What’s ahead

Bringing together the engineering talents at Drexel and Rutgers with the clinical and machine-learning expertise at Children’s National, the researchers plan to build a computer-vision system that will watch whether HCWs are properly wearing PPE such as gloves, masks, eyewear, gowns and shoe covers.

The team is contemplating how the system will alert HCWs to any errors and is considering haptic watch alerts and other types of immediate feedback. The emerging power of AI brings tremendous advantages over the current, human-driven systems, said Marius George Linguraru, D.Phil., M.A., M.Sc., the Connor Family Professor in Research and Innovation at Children’s National and principal investigator in the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation.

“Human observers only have one pair of eyes and may fatigue or get distracted,” Linguraru said. “Yet artificial intelligence, and computers in general, work without getting tired. We are excited to figure out how a computer can do this work – without ever blinking.”

Children’s National Hospital leads the way

Linguraru says that Children’s National and its partners make up the ideal team to tackle this vexing challenge because of their ability to assemble a multidisciplinary team of scientists and engineers who can work together with clinicians. “This is a dialogue,” he said. “A computer scientist, like myself, needs to understand the intricacies of complicated clinical realities, while a clinician needs to understand how AI can impact the practice of medicine. The team we are bringing together is intentional and poised to fix this problem.”