Medical device competition announces six winners to share in $250K
Judges award grants for pediatric medical devices that address cardiovascular, NICU, and orthopaedic and spine device innovations.
Orthopaedics
Children’s National ranked a top 10 children’s hospital and No. 1 in newborn care nationally by U.S. News
Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., was ranked No. 7 nationally in the U.S. News & World Report 2020-21 Best Children’s Hospitals annual rankings. This marks the fourth straight year Children’s National has made the list, which ranks the top 10 children’s hospitals nationwide.
In addition, its neonatology program, which provides newborn intensive care, ranked No.1 among all children’s hospitals for the fourth year in a row.
For the tenth straight year, Children’s National also ranked in all 10 specialty services, with seven specialties ranked in the top 10.
“Our number one goal is to provide the best care possible to children. Being recognized by U.S. News as one of the best hospitals reflects the strength that comes from putting children and their families first, and we are truly honored,” says Kurt Newman, M.D., president and CEO of Children’s National Hospital.
“This year, the news is especially meaningful, because our teams — like those at hospitals across the country — faced enormous challenges and worked heroically through a global pandemic to deliver excellent care.”
“Even in the midst of a pandemic, children have healthcare needs ranging from routine vaccinations to life-saving surgery and chemotherapy,” said Ben Harder, managing editor and chief of Health Analysis at U.S. News. “The Best Children’s Hospitals rankings are designed to help parents find quality medical care for a sick child and inform families’ conversations with pediatricians.”
The annual rankings are the most comprehensive source of quality-related information on U.S. pediatric hospitals. The rankings recognize the nation’s top 50 pediatric hospitals based on a scoring system developed by U.S. News. The top 10 scorers are awarded a distinction called the Honor Roll.
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.
Below are links to the seven Children’s National specialty services that U.S. News ranked in the top 10 nationally:
- Neonatology (No. 1), led by Division Chief Billie Lou Short, M.D.
- Neurology and Neurosurgery (No. 3), led by Division Chiefs William D. Gaillard, M.D., and Robert F. Keating, M.D.
- Cancer (No. 6), led by Division Chief Jeffrey S. Dome, M.D., Ph.D.
- Nephrology (No. 7), led by Division Chief Marva Moxey-Mims, M.D., FASN
- Orthopedics (No. 9), led by Division Chief Matthew Oetgen, M.D., MBA
- Pulmonology and Lung Surgery (No.9), led by Division Chief Anastassios Koumbourlis, M.D., MPH
- Diabetes and Endocrinology (No. 10), led by Division Chief Andrew Dauber, M.D., MMSC
The other three specialties ranked among the top 50 were cardiology and heart surgery, gastroenterology and gastro-intestinal surgery, and urology.
Periop procedures improve scoliosis surgery infection rates
Matthew Oetgen, M.D., MBA, chief of orthopaedics and sports medicine at Children’s National Hospital, presented findings from a study aimed at improving quality and safety for pediatric spinal fusion procedures by reducing surgical site infection rates.
Pediatric orthopaedic surgery as a field is focused on improving quality and value in pediatric spine surgery, especially when it comes to eliminating surgical site infections (SSI). Many studies have documented how and why surgical site infections occur in pediatric spinal fusion patients, however, there is very little data about what approaches are most effective at reducing SSIs for these patients in a sustainable way.
At the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America’s 2020 Annual Meeting, Matthew Oetgen, M.D., MBA, chief of orthopaedic surgery and sports medicine at Children’s National Hospital, presented findings from a long-term single institution study of acute SSI prevention measures.
“These findings give us specific insight into the tactics that are truly preventing, and in our case sometimes even eliminating, SSIs for pediatric scoliosis surgery,” says Dr. Oetgen, who also served on the annual meeting program committee. “By analyzing patient records across more than a decade, we were able to see that some strategies are quite effective, and others, that we thought would move the needle, just don’t.”
The team reviewed medical records and radiographs dating back to 2008 for 1,195 patients who had spinal fusion for scoliosis, including idiopathic scoliosis as well as other forms such as neuromuscular or syndromic scoliosis. Over that period of time, the division of orthopaedics and sports medicine at Children’s National was collaborating with the hospital’s infection control team to achieve several programmatic implementation milestones, including:
- January 2012: Standardized infection surveillance program
- July 2013: Standardized perioperative infection control protocols including those for pre-operative surgical site wash, surgical site preparation and administration of antibiotics before and after surgery
- March 2015: Standardized comprehensive spinal care pathway including protocols for patient temperature control, fluid and blood management, and drain and catheter management
Over the study time period, the team found that SSIs did decrease, but interestingly, the rate did not progressively decrease with each subsequent intervention.
“Instead, we found that the rate went down and was even eliminated for some subgroups when the perioperative infection control protocols were implemented in 2013 and sustained through the study period end,” says Dr. Oetgen. “The other programmatic efforts that started in 2012 and 2015 had no impact on infection rates.”
He also notes that the study’s findings have identified a crucial component in the process for infection control in pediatric spinal surgery—perioperative protocols. “A relatively uncomplicated perioperative infection control protocol did the best job decreasing SSI in spinal fusion. Future efforts to optimize this particular protocol may help improve the rates even further.”
POSNA’s Annual Meeting content, including Dr. Oetgen’s presentation, is available from May 13, 2020 through December 31, 2020.
Children’s National Research Institute releases annual report
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.
Technology bridges knowledge gaps in rare bone disease care
Dr. Tosi and colleagues presented on the NIH Rare Disease Day 2020 panel, Nontraditional Approaches to Improving Access for Rare Diseases.
As part of the global observance of Rare Disease Day in February, the NCATS and NIH Clinical Center hosted a special event to raise awareness about rare diseases, the people they affect and NIH research collaborations under way to address scientific challenges and advance new treatments.
This year, Children’s National Hospital orthopaedic surgeon Laura Tosi, M.D., took part in an afternoon panel, Nontraditional Approaches to Improving Access for Rare Diseases, where she outlined her work as the faculty chair of the Rare Bone Disease TeleECHO, a virtual meeting that allows care providers and experts to come together via the Zoom platform, discuss diagnosis of specific disorders and present cases for group input.
Dr. Tosi and the Rare Bone Disease Alliance have called Project ECHO Rare Bone Disease a game changer for care of these complex conditions. Rare bone disorders are only about 5% of all birth defects but include 461 skeletal disorders caused by 437 genes – making it difficult for any physician to see enough cases of any one disorder to correctly diagnose and treat it.
“Most doctors are like me, a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon. I need to know a lot of different rare diseases and it’s hard to keep everybody on the cutting edge,” Dr. Tosi says. “Even though we have found the genes for most of the disorders, the phenotypic overlaps, shortage of specialists and the multi-disciplinary needs of so many of the patients add to the challenges.”
So 7 months ago, Dr. Tosi joined together with colleagues at the Rare Bone Disease Alliance and the Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation to launch Project ECHO Rare Bone Disease. The now monthly telehealth meeting engages a distinguished faculty of experts from around the world and from across the spectrum of care for these rare bone disorders, including specialists in genetics, endocrinology, orthopaedics and others.
Project ECHO is a specific model for bridging distance and creating a network of professionals, with the goal of leveling the playing field for all by making vital information accessible to everyone, regardless of their location. In healthcare the model transcends traditional “telemedicine,” however. The program, launched from the University of New Mexico, self-describes itself as “telementoring, a guided practice where the participating clinician retains responsibility for the patient” but is able to discuss diagnosis and therapeutic recommendations with a set of esteemed faculty via a regular virtual meeting series.
In the case of the Rare Bone Disease TeleECHO, the ECHO’s faculty decided on two major foci for the curriculum. Half of the content is about how to make the right diagnosis and the other half shares the latest information about specific diseases. The sessions also offer free CME to attendees.
Dr. Tosi says that while finding cases to discuss can sometimes be challenging when it comes to rare bone diseases, she takes responsibility on herself to make sure the content is robust each month. So far the meetings have attracted between 40 and 90 participants per session – a great engagement rate for such a young teleECHO program.
“I believe ECHO advances knowledge of healthcare and democratizes it by offering universal accessibility across the globe,” Tosi notes.
The Rare Bone Disease Alliance, which consists of 12 organizations, experts and patient families working together, is now deciding what’s next for the Rare Bone Disease TeleECHO. They may develop disorder-specific ECHOs, are studying the frequency of the sessions and how best to improve participation for all sessions. The idea is to increase access to this expertise even further, as it could have critical impacts on patients worldwide living with these rare diseases.
In terms of key take-aways from the panel of experts at Rare Disease Day, the hope is that more disease groups might leverage this type of technology to connect people in nontraditional ways. Doing so has the potential to ensure that everyone with a rare disease receives the best support and care possible because their doctors have the knowledge they need when they need it.
Watch more sessions from the NIH’s Rare Disease Day 2020.
Pediatric medical device pitch competition deadline extended
Pediatric innovators pitch for up to $250,000 in FDA-funded grant awards.
The National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation (NCC-PDI) announced today that the application deadline for its annual “Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids!” competition is extended one week to Feb. 22 at midnight EST. Innovators and startup companies with devices in the pediatric cardiovascular, orthopedic and spine, or NICU sectors are invited to apply for a share of up to $250,000 in FDA-funded awards and access to a newly created NCC-PDI pediatric device accelerator program led by MedTech Innovator. Submissions are being accepted now.
Up to 30 companies will be selected for the first round of competition scheduled for March 23, 2020 at the University of Maryland, College Park. Up to 10 finalists chosen from that event will compete for up to $250,000 in grant awards in Toronto, Canada on October 4. Finalists also receive a spot in the MedTech Innovator 2020 Accelerator – Pediatric Track, which provides a customized curriculum and in-depth mentorship. Finalists will be announced in May, 2020.
This is the ninth competition in seven years hosted by NCC-PDI, one of five FDA Pediatric Device Consortia Grant Program members supporting the development and commercialization of pediatric 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. Additional consortium members include accelerators Medtech Innovator, BioHealth Innovation and design firm partner Archimedic.
“This year’s competition focuses on three medical device areas of critical need for pediatric patients, so we want to give innovators as much time as possible to prepare their submissions,” said Kolaleh Eskandanian, Ph.D., MBA, PMP, vice president and chief innovation officer at Children’s National Hospital and principal investigator of NCC-PDI . “Our goal is to support devices that will improve care for children by helping them advance on the pathway to commercialization. We have seen how this competition can provide significant momentum for pediatric innovations, so we want to encourage as much participation as possible.”
To date, NCC-PDI has mentored over 100 medical device sponsors to help advance their pediatric innovations, notes Eskandanian, with six devices having received either their FDA market clearance or CE marking. Along with the positive exposure of presenting at this competition, she notes that the success of NCC-PDI’s portfolio companies is attributed to funding, mentorship, support from partners and facilitated interactions between device innovators and potential investors.
Eskandanian notes that enhancing access to resources for pediatric innovators is one aim of the Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus, a first-of-its-kind campus focused on pediatric healthcare innovation, currently under development 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 accelerator Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS, the campus will create a rich ecosystem of public and private partners which, like the NCC-PDI network, will help bolster pediatric innovation and commercialization. Opening is scheduled for December 2020.
A holistic and proactive approach to the management of the patients with cerebral palsy
The cerebral palsy program at Children’s National Hospital takes a comprehensive approach to meet children’s needs from infancy through young adulthood.
Though children with cerebral palsy (CP) often require significant rehabilitative and surgical support, most often each service is provided in the individual specialty itself. Patients and their families frequently experience a great deal of stress coordinating care, getting to appointments, keeping track of medications and managing treatments on their own.
However, the CP program at Children’s National Hospital, co-led by an orthopaedic surgeon, Sean Tabaie, M.D., and a pediatric rehabilitation specialist, Olga Morozova, M.D., working together and in collaboration with Shannon Kelly, M.D., (Orthopaedics) and Jeff Rabin, D.O., (Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation) has evolved into a truly comprehensive approach. The program is designed to meet the needs of these children from infancy through young adulthood with the goal of improving function and preventing musculoskeletal deformities and complications.
Providing children and their families with a single point of care coordination allows the care team to track and anticipate a multitude of potential challenges for each child as early as possible and intervene in smaller ways before they bring pain and long-term complications or require major surgical interventions. Key highlights of this collaborative program include:
- Hip surveillance: Patients with CP are followed closely to identify hip pathology prior to serious subluxation or dislocation. Early identification allows for the use of medical or surgical interventions to prevent a minor issue from becoming a major one.
- Serial casting for children with early signs of muscle contractures: Dr. Morozova uses agents to relax the muscles and Dr. Tabaie applies the cast in the operating room followed by continued weekly serial casting in the clinic. “Proper medical management and bracing at regular intervals can improve muscle function and prevent the need for larger surgeries and more intense rehabilitation later,” says Dr. Morozova.
- Advanced coordination between physical therapy in the hospital and outpatient services in the region, building on the hospital’s partner agreement with the HSC Health Care System.
- Single event multi-level surgeries (SEMLS): Ensuring that surgical procedures capture all surgical needs at one time by assessing the entire anatomy and scheduling multiple surgical or pharmaceutical interventions to occur in a single session.
The doctors point out that offering these services in one cohesive location and combining treatments into the same appointment or procedure date is something that many patients with CP and their families truly appreciate.
“I think families of children with CP will travel great distances if the care they receive is comprehensive and eliminates some of the back and forth travel they do now,” says Dr. Tabaie.
Today, the team sees close to 100 patients with CP per month and hopes to expand to reach as many families in the region and beyond who need them.
Dr. Tabaie says, “Our goal is to identify patients early and start managing them to help their quality of life today, prepare them to grow as healthily and in as little pain as possible and set them up to be as healthy as they can possibly be as adults, too.”
Building patient-centered outcomes research in osteogenesis imperfecta
Children’s orthpaedic surgeon Laura Tosi, M.D., is the co-lead on a program to improve patient-centered outcomes research and education in osteogenesis imperfecta that recently received a Eugene Washington Engagement Award of $250,000 from the Patient-Centered Outcomes and Research Institute (PCORI).
Children’s orthpaedic surgeon Laura Tosi, M.D., is the co-lead on a program to improve patient-centered outcomes research and education in osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) that recently received a Eugene Washington Engagement Award of $250,000 from the Patient-Centered Outcomes and Research Institute (PCORI). Dr. Tosi serves as project co-lead alongside colleagues Tracy Hart, project lead, from the Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation (OIF) and Bryce Reeve, Ph.D., co-project lead, director of the Center for Health Measurement at Duke University.
The project, which will be housed at the Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation, will run for two years and seeks to:
- Create a community of stakeholders (patients/caregivers/clinicians/researchers) who are trained or training in patient-centered outcomes research, with specific attention to priority topics identified by the OI community.
- Expand communications and education strategies related to patient-centered outcomes research to enhance the care of the OI community.
- Establish and extend the capacity among patients, caregivers, clinicians and researchers in OI to participate in both patient-centered outcomes research and comparative effectiveness activities.
- Develop an OI-specific toolkit focused on disseminating evidence-based clinical care recommendations to stakeholders and care providers, based on sustainable input from the OI community.
- Extended the reach of these activities to support other rate bone disease communities.
Osteogenesis imperfecta is a group of genetic disorders causing connective tissue dysfunction and bone fragility. It is the most common of nearly 450 rare skeletal disorders and affects an estimated 25,000 to 50,000 people in the U.S. Collecting the patient’s perspective about natural history, clinical best practices, quality of life and research priorities is challenging because, like so many rare diseases, the affected population is relatively small and geographically dispersed.
“We hope this project will give us the ability to develop a set of best practices for care and research based on research that incorporates the patient’s point-of-view,” says Dr. Tosi. “I’m excited to work with this team and begin to change how we think about and care for OI patients and their families.”
Premier annual pediatric medical device competition now accepting submissions
Pediatric innovators pitch for grant awards and participation in a special accelerator program.
The official call for submissions is underway for the premiere annual pediatric medical device competition, sponsored by National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation (NCC-PDI). The competition is led by Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at Children’s National Hospital, the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland and non-profit accelerator MedTech Innovator. The three organizations are all an integral part of the FDA-funded NCC-PDI, which aims to facilitate the development, production and distribution of pediatric medical devices. Additional NCC-PDI members include accelerator BioHealth Innovation and design firm Archimedic.
The competition focuses on pediatric devices in three areas of critical need: cardiovascular, orthopedic and spine, and neonatal intensive care (NICU) and is now accepting applications. Contestants will pitch for a share of up to $250K in grant awards and the opportunity to participate in the MedTech Innovator 2020 Accelerator – Pediatric Track.
The first stage of competition will be held on March 23 at the University of Maryland and will include up to 30 companies selected from all submissions received. Up to 10 finalists selected from that event will move on to the “Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids!” finals on October 4, 2020 in Toronto, Canada. Finalists from the March qualifying round will be notified in May, 2020.
“While there is a great need for pediatric devices in many specialty areas, the development and commercialization process is very challenging because of the small market size and dynamic characteristics of the patient population,” says Kolaleh Eskandanian, Ph.D., MBA, PMP, vice president and chief innovation officer at Children’s National Hospital and principal investigator of NCC-PDI. “To provide pediatric innovators with greater support in meeting these unique challenges, we must go beyond grant funding, which is why we are collaborating with MedTech Innovator to offer an accelerator program with a pediatric track.”
To date, NCC-PDI has mentored over 100 medical device sponsors to help advance their pediatric innovations, notes Eskandanian, with six devices having received either their FDA market clearance or CE marking. She says the success of NCC-PDI’s portfolio companies is attributed to funding, mentorship, support from partners, facilitated interactions between device innovators and potential investors, and being discovered during their presentations at the signature “Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids!” competitions.
While advancements have been made in some pediatric specialties, there is still a critical need for novel devices in cardiovascular, orthopedic and spine, and NICU areas. On average over the past decade, only 24 percent of life-saving medical devices approved by FDA – those that go through PMA and HDE regulatory pathways – have an indication for pediatric use. Of those, most are designated for children age 12 or older. “Devices designed specifically for the younger pediatric population are vitally needed and, at this early stage of the intervention, can significantly improve developmental outcomes for a child,” Eskandanian said.
For more information and to apply for the upcoming NCC-PDI pitch competition, visit https://medtechinnovator.org/pediatricapply/.
Enhancing access to resources for pediatric innovators is also one of the aims of the Children’s National Research and Innovation Campus, a first-of-its-kind focused on pediatric healthcare innovation, currently under development on the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center campus in Washington, D.C. and opening in December, 2020. With its proximity to federal research institutions and agencies, universities, academic research centers, as well as on site accelerator Johnson and Johnson Innovation – JLABS, the campus will create a rich ecosystem of public and private partners which, like the NCC-PDI network, will help bolster pediatric innovation and commercialization.
NOTE: The deadline for submissions has been extended to February 22 at midnight EST.
Offering more options for children with hand and upper extremity ailments
The Children’s National Hand and Upper Extremities Program is one of few dedicated pediatric programs in the country, and it just added another hand surgeon to the team of extensively trained and experienced specialists.
Joseph Letzelter III, M.D., joined Children’s National Hospital and Pediatric Specialists of Virginia in September 2019 following comprehensive medical training in orthopaedic surgery with a focus on pediatric hand and upper extremity surgery. Dr. Letzelter received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Georgetown University, and also completed his internship and orthopaedic surgery residency there. He then completed a fellowship in hand and upper extremity surgery at New York University before continuing his studies with Dr. Michael Boland at the prestigious Hand Institute of New Zealand in Auckland. To round out his fellowship training, Dr. Letzelter focused purely on pediatric hand and upper extremity surgery at Shriner’s Hospital in Sacramento.
With the addition of Dr. Letzelter, the combined Hand and Upper Extremities Program expands its capacity to treat children with pediatric hand disorders. The joint orthopaedic surgery and plastic surgery program, led by Emily Hattwick, M.D., and Gary Rogers, M.D., uses pediatric-specific surgical methods to treat children without affecting their growth. Partnering with the world-class researchers at the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Surgical Innovation at Children’s National, the team is part of new discoveries that change the way we care for rare conditions. Learn more about the Hand and Upper Extremities Program here.
Making healthcare innovation for children a priority
Recently, Kurt Newman, M.D., president and CEO of Children’s National Hospital, authored an opinion piece for the popular political website, The Hill. In the article, he called upon stakeholders from across the landscape to address the significant innovation gap in children’s healthcare versus adults.
As Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Children’s Hospital Association, Dr. Newman knows the importance of raising awareness among policy makers at the federal and state level about the healthcare needs of children. Dr. Newman believes that children’s health should be a national priority that is addressed comprehensively. With years of experience as a pediatric surgeon, he is concerned by the major inequities in the advancements of children’s medical devices and technologies versus those for adults. That’s why Children’s National is working to create collaborations, influence policies and facilitate changes that will accelerate the pace of pediatric healthcare innovation for the benefit of children everywhere. One way that the hospital is tackling this challenge is by developing the Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus, which will be the nation’s first innovation campus focused on pediatric research.
Children’s National welcomes Virginia Tech to its new campus
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.
Orthopaedic surgeon shares expertise at Baltimore Limb Deformity Course
Dr. Tabaie oversees a hands-on lab session focused on teaching orthopaedic surgeons and other allied health professionals proper assessment and placement of corrective hardware for limb deformities.
Sean Tabaie served as a lab instructor to guide hands-on applications of the latest devices for treatment of limb deformities.
Earlier this year, Children’s National orthopaedic surgeon Sean Tabaie, M.D., served as a faculty member for one of the most highly regarded courses focused on limb deformities, the 29th Annual Baltimore Limb Deformity Course. The course is presented each year by the International Center for Limb Lengthening.
The event brings together nearly 400 orthpaedic physicians, podiatrists and allied health professionals from 36 countries and 33 states to learn from pre-eminent surgical experts in these conditions. The three-day meeting provides lecture content as well as hands-on opportunities to practice care and treatment of limb deformities in both adults and children.
Dr. Tabaie served as a lab instructor, sharing expertise and in-depth knowledge from the pediatric perspective about how to assess limb alignment and plan corrections for specific deformities. The faculty teams also outlined current best practices for correction of several specific deformities, including Blount’s deformity, using internal and external devices.
“It was an honor to be asked to serve as faculty alongside these pre-eminent leaders in the field of limb deformity,” he says. “It is workshops like these that give us the opportunity to share what we know and also learn from the experience of others. And ultimately, lending expertise to these courses helps everyone more effectively assess and treat limb deformities in children and adults around the world.”
Read more about the course’s esteemed history and its 2020 schedule.
Extracting actionable research data faster, with fewer hassles
Mihailo Kaplarevic, Ph.D., the newly minted Chief Research Information Officer at Children’s National Hospital and Bioinformatics Division Chief at Children’s National Research Institute, will provide computational support, advice, informational guidance, expertise in big data and data analyses for researchers and clinicians.
Kaplarevic’s new job is much like the role he played most recently at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), assembling a team of researchers and scientists skilled in computing and statistical analyses to assist as in-house experts for other researchers and scientists.
NHLBI was the first institute within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) family to set up a scientific information office. During his tenure, a half-dozen other NIH institutions followed, setting up the same entity to help bridge the enormous gap between basic and clinical science and everything related to IT.
“There is a difference compared with traditional IT support at Children’s National – which will remain in place and still do the same sort of things they have been doing so far,” he says of The Bear Institute for Health Innovation. “The difference is this office has experience in research because every single one of us was a researcher at a certain point in our career: We are published. We applied for grants. We lived the life of a typical scientist. On top of that, we’re coming from the computational world. That helps us bridge the gaps between research and clinical worlds and IT.”
Ultimately, he aims to foster groundbreaking science by recognizing the potential to enhance research projects by bringing expertise acquired over his career and powerful computing tools to help teams achieve their goals in a less expensive and more efficient way.
“I have lived the life of a typical scientist. I know exactly how painful and frustrating it can be to want to do something quickly and efficiently but be slowed by technological barriers,” he adds.
As just one example, his office will design the high-performance computing cluster for the hospital to help teams extract more useful clinical and research data with fewer headaches.
Right now, the hospital has three independent clinical systems storing patient data; all serve a different purpose. (And there are also a couple of research information systems, also used for different purposes.) Since databases are his expertise, he will be involved in consolidating data resources, finding the best way to infuse the project with the bigger-picture mission – especially for translational science – and creating meaningful, actionable reports.
“It’s not only about running fewer queries,” he explains. “One needs to know how to design the right question. One needs to know how to design that question in a way that the systems could understand. And, once you get the data back, it’s a big set of things that you need to further filter and carefully shape. Only then will you get the essence that has clinical or scientific value. It’s a long process.”
As he was introduced during a Children’s National Research Institute faculty meeting in late-September 2019, Kaplarevic joked that his move away from pure computer science into a health care and clinical research domain was triggered by his parents: “When my mom would introduce me, she would say ‘My son is a doctor, but not the kind of doctor who helps other people.’ ”
Some of that know-how will play out by applying tools and methodology to analyze big data to pluck out the wheat (useful data) from the chaff in an efficient and useful way. On projects that involve leveraging cloud computing for storing massive amounts of data, it could entail analyzing the data wisely to reduce its size when it comes back from the cloud – when the real storage costs come in. “You can save a lot of money by being smart about how you analyze data,” he says.
While he expects his first few months will be spent getting the lay of the land, understanding research project portfolios, key principal investigators and the pediatric hospital’s biggest users in the computational domain, he has ambitious longer-term goals.
“Three years from now, I would like this institution to say that the researchers are feeling confident that their research is not affected by limitations related to computer science in general. I would like this place to become a very attractive environment for up-and-coming researchers as well as for established researchers because we are offering cutting-edge technological efficiencies; we are following the trends; we are a secure place; and we foster science in the best possible way by making computational services accessible, affordable and reliable.”
Getting to know Lee Beers, M.D., FAAP, future president-elect of AAP
Lee Savio Beers, M.D., FAAP, Medical Director of Community Health and Advocacy at the Child Health Advocacy Institute (CHAI) at Children’s National Hospital carved out a Monday morning in late-September 2019, as she knew the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) would announce the results of its presidential election, first by telephone call, then by an email to all of its members. Her husband blocked off the morning as well to wait with her for the results. She soon got the call that she was elected by her peers to become AAP president-elect, beginning Jan. 1, 2020. Dr. Beers will then serve as AAP president in 2021 for a one-year term.
That day swept by in a rush, and then the next day she was back in clinic, caring for her patients, some of them teenagers whom she had taken care of since birth. Seeing children and families she had known for such a long time, some of whom had complex medical needs, was a perfect reminder of what originally motivated Dr. Beers to be considered as a candidate in the election.
“When we all work together – with our colleagues, other professionals, communities and families – we can make a real difference in the lives of children. So many people have reached out to share their congratulations, and offer their support or help. There is a real sense of collaboration and commitment to child health,” Dr. Beers says.
That sense of excitement ripples through Children’s National.
“Dr. Beers has devoted her career to helping children. She has developed a national advocacy platform for children. I can think of no better selection for the president-elect role of the AAP. She will be of tremendous service to children within AAP national leadership,” says Kurt Newman, M.D., Children’s National Hospital President and CEO.
AAP comprises 67,000 pediatricians, and its mission is to promote and safeguard the health and well-being of all children – from infancy to adulthood.
The daughter of a nuclear engineer and a schoolteacher, Dr. Beers knew by age 5 that she would become a doctor. Trained as a chemist, she entered the Emory University School of Medicine after graduation. After completing residency at the Naval Medical Center, she became the only pediatrician assigned to the Guantanamo Bay Naval Station.
That assignment to Cuba, occurring so early in her career, turned out to be a defining moment that shapes how she partners with families and other members of the team to provide comprehensive care.
“I was a brand-new physician, straight out of residency, and was the only pediatrician there so I was responsible for the health of all of the kids on the base. I didn’t know it would be this way at the time, but it was formative. It taught me to take a comprehensive public health approach to taking care of kids and their families,” she recalls.
On the isolated base, where she also ran the immunization clinic and the nursery, she quickly learned she had to judiciously use resources and work together as a team.
“It meant that I had to learn how to lead a multi-disciplinary team and think about how our health care systems support or get in the way of good care,” she says.
One common thread that unites her past and present is helping families build resiliency to shrug off adversity and stress.
“The base was a difficult and isolated place for some families and individuals, so I thought a lot about how to support them. One way is finding strong relationships where you are, which was important for patients and families miles away from their support systems. Another way is to find things you could do that were meaningful to you.”
Cuba sits where the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico meet. Dr. Beers learned how to scuba dive there – something she never would have done otherwise – finding it restful and restorative to appreciate the underwater beauty.
“I do think these lessons about resilience are universal. There are actually a lot of similarities between the families I take care of now, many of whom are in socioeconomically vulnerable situations, and military families when you think about the level of stress they are exposed to,” she adds.
Back stateside in 2001, Dr. Beers worked as a staff pediatrician at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, and Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. In 2003, Dr. Beers joined Children’s National Hospital as a general pediatrician in the Goldberg Center for Community Pediatric Health. Currently, she oversees the DC Collaborative for Mental Health in Pediatric Primary Care, a public-private coalition that elevates the standards of mental health care for all children, and is Co-Director of the Early Childhood Innovation Network. She received the Academic Pediatric Association’s 2019 Public Policy and Advocacy Award.
As a candidate, Dr. Beers pledged to continue AAP’s advocacy and public policy efforts and to further enhance membership diversity and inclusion. Among her signature issues:
- Partnering with patients, families, communities, mental health providers and pediatricians to co-design systems to bolster children’s resiliency and to alleviate growing pediatric mental health concerns
- Tackling physician burnout by supporting pediatricians through office-based education and systems reforms
- Expanding community-based prevention and treatment
“I am humbled and honored to have the support of my peers in taking on this newest leadership role,” says Dr. Beers. “AAP has been a part of my life since I first became a pediatrician, and my many leadership roles in the DC chapter and national AAP have given me a glimpse of the collective good that pediatricians can accomplish by working together toward common strategic goals.”
AAP isn’t just an integral part of her life, it’s where she met her future husband, Nathaniel Beers, M.D., MPA, FAAP, President of The HSC Health Care System. The couple’s children regularly attended AAP meetings with them when they were young.
Just take a glimpse at Lee Beers’ Twitter news feed. There’s a steady stream of images of her jogging before AAP meetings to amazing sunrises, jogging after AAP meetings to stellar sunsets and always, always, images of the entire family, once collectively costumed as The Incredibles.
“I really do believe that we have to set an example: If we are talking about supporting children and families in our work, we have to set that example in our own lives. That looks different for everyone, but as pediatricians and health professionals, we can model prioritizing our families while still being committed to our work,” she explains.
“Being together in the midst of the craziness is just part of what we do as a family. We travel a lot, and our kids have gone with us to AAP meetings since they were infants. My husband even brought our infant son to a meeting at the mayor’s office when he was on paternity leave. Recognizing that not everyone is in a position to be able to do things like that, it’s important for us to do it – to continue to change the conversation and make it normal to have your family to be part of your whole life, not have a separate work life and a separate family life.”
Children’s National ranked No. 6 overall and No. 1 for newborn care by U.S. News
Children’s National in Washington, D.C., is the nation’s No. 6 children’s hospital and, for the third year in a row, its neonatology program is No.1 among all children’s hospitals providing newborn intensive care, according to the U.S. News Best Children’s Hospitals annual rankings for 2019-20.
This is also the third year in a row that Children’s National has been in the top 10 of these national rankings. It is the ninth straight year it has ranked in all 10 specialty services, with five specialty service areas ranked among the top 10.
“I’m proud that our rankings continue to cement our standing as among the best children’s hospitals in the nation,” says Kurt Newman, M.D., President and CEO for Children’s National. “In addition to these service lines, today’s recognition honors countless specialists and support staff who provide unparalleled, multidisciplinary patient care. Quality care is a function of every team member performing their role well, so I credit every member of the Children’s National team for this continued high performance.”
The annual rankings recognize the nation’s top 50 pediatric facilities based on a scoring system developed by U.S. News. The top 10 scorers are awarded a distinction called the Honor Roll.
“The top 10 pediatric centers on this year’s Best Children’s Hospitals Honor Roll deliver outstanding care across a range of specialties and deserve to be nationally recognized,” says Ben Harder, chief of health analysis at U.S. News. “According to our analysis, these Honor Roll hospitals provide state-of-the-art medical expertise to children with rare or complex conditions. Their rankings reflect U.S. News’ assessment of their commitment to providing high-quality, compassionate care to young patients and their families day in and day out.”
The bulk of the score for each specialty is based on quality and outcomes data. The process also includes a survey of relevant specialists across the country, who are asked to list hospitals they believe provide the best care for patients with challenging conditions.
Below are links to the five specialty services that U.S. News ranked in the top 10 nationally:
- Neonatology (No. 1), led by Division Chief Billie Lou Short, M.D.
- Neurology and Neurosurgery (No. 5), led by Division Chiefs Roger J. Packer, M.D., and Robert F. Keating, M.D.
- Nephrology (No. 6), led by Division Chief Marva Moxey-Mims, M.D., FASN
- Cancer (No. 9), led by Division Chief Jeffrey S. Dome, M.D., Ph.D., and
- Pulmonology and lung surgery (No.9), led by Division Chief Anastassios Koumbourlis, M.D., MPH
The other five specialties ranked among the top 50 were cardiology and heart surgery, diabetes and endocrinology, gastroenterology and gastro-intestinal surgery, orthopedics, and urology.
Vittorio Gallo, Ph.D., inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha
Vittorio Gallo, Ph.D., Chief Research Officer at Children’s National, was inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha (AΩA), a national medical honor society that since 1902 has recognized excellence, leadership and research in the medical profession.
“I think it’s great to receive this recognition. I was very excited and surprised,” Gallo says of being nominated to join the honor society.
“Traditionally AΩA membership is based on professionalism, academic and clinical excellence, research, and community service – all in the name of ‘being worthy to serve the suffering,’ which is what the Greek letters AΩA stand for,” says Panagiotis Kratimenos, M.D., Ph.D., an ΑΩΑ member and attending neonatologist at Children’s National who conducts neuroscience research under Gallo’s mentorship. Dr. Kratimenos nominated his mentor for induction.
“Being his mentee, I thought Gallo was an excellent choice for AΩΑ faculty member,” Dr. Kratimenos says. “He is an outstanding scientist, an excellent mentor and his research is focused on improving the quality of life of children with brain injury and developmental disabilities – so he serves the suffering. He also has mentored numerous physicians over the course of his career.”
Gallo’s formal induction occurred in late May 2019, just prior to the medical school graduation at the George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences (GWSMHS) and was strongly supported by Jeffrey S. Akman, Vice President for Health Affairs and Dean of the university’s medical school.
“I’ve been part of Children’s National and in the medical field for almost 18 years. That’s what I’m passionate about: being able to enhance translational research in a clinical environment,” Gallo says. “In a way, this recognition from the medical field is a perfect match for what I do. As Chief Research Officer at Children’s National, I am charged with continuing to expand our research program in one of the top U.S. children’s hospitals. And, as Associate Dean for Child Health Research at GWSMHS, I enhance research collaboration between the two institutions.”
Nicotine-like anti-inflammatories may protect limbs, testicles from inflammatory damage after injury
Daniel Casella, M.D., is teaming up with Matthew Oetgen, M.D., MBA, for a POSNA-funded pre-clinical study of the anti-inflammatories varenicline and cytisine.
A new pre-clinical study will explore the use of anti-inflammatory medications to prevent the body’s inflammatory response from further damaging limbs after an injury restricts blood flow. Varenicline and cytisine, anti-inflammatories with similarities to nicotine, have shown early promise in similar pre-clinical laboratory studies of the testicles and will now be tested in arms and legs.
Matthew Oetgen, M.D., MBA, chief of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine at Children’s National and Children’s pediatric urologist Daniel Casella, M.D., will jointly lead the new study entitled, “Modulation of the Injury Associated with Acute Compartment Syndrome,” which builds on Dr. Casella’s previous work with the two anti-inflammatory agents. Drs. Oetgen and Casella recently were awarded the Angela S.M. Kuo Memorial Award Research Grant to fund this research during the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America’s (POSNA) Annual Meeting.
“We are honored that this important research was selected by POSNA for support,” says Dr. Oetgen. “An arm or leg injury can trigger the body’s natural inflammatory response, causing severe swelling that restricts blood flow. Even after blood flow is restored, the inflammatory response can lead to permanent muscle or nerve damage or even loss of limb. This grant will give us the opportunity to truly explore the application of anti-inflammatories after injury and see if this approach can modulate the immune response to protect the limbs.”
If successful in the laboratory, the team hopes to expand this work to human clinical trials.
“We are honored that this important research was selected by POSNA for support,” says Dr. Oetgen. “This grant will give us the opportunity to truly explore the application of anti-inflammatories after injury and see if this approach can modulate the immune response to protect the limbs.”
The Angela S.M. Kuo Memorial Award Research Grant is given each year to an outstanding investigator aged 45 or younger based on criteria including the study’s potential significance, impact, originality/innovation, the investigator’s track record and study feasibility. The award totals $30,000.
While at POSNA’s 2019 Annual Meeting, Dr. Oetgen and Children’s pediatric orthopaedic surgery colleagues also participated in podium presentations and poster sessions, including:
- “Achieving Consensus on the Treatment of Pediatric Femoral Shaft Fractures,” Matthew Oetgen, M.D., MBA
- “A Prospective, Multi-centered Comparative Study of Non-operative and Operative Containment Treatments in Children Presenting with Late-stage Legg-Calve-Perthes Disease,” Benjamin Martin, M.D.
The Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America is an organization of 1,400 surgeons, physicians, and allied health members dedicated to advancing musculoskeletal care for children and adolescents. The annual meeting presents the latest research and expert clinical opinion in pediatric orthopaedics through presentations, posters, and symposia. It was held May 15-18, 2019, in Charlotte, North Carolina.
NCC-PDI announces medical device pitch winners
Five pediatric medical device innovators each captured $50K in funding and access to a new pediatric device accelerator program in a competition hosted April 30, 2019 by National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation that focused on orthopedic and spine devices. Clockwise from front left: Kolaleh Eskandanian, Children’s National Health System; Cristian Atria, nView Medical; John Barrett, Auctus Surgical Inc.; Paul Mraz, ApiFix; Dan Sands, AMB Surgical II; Anuradha Dayal, BabySteps, Children’s National Health System; Paul Grand, MedTech Innovator; (center) Bill Bentley, Robert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices, University of Maryland.
The National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation (NCC-PDI) announced five winners of its “Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids!” competition held on April 30 at the University of Maryland. Each winner receives $50,000 in grant funding and gains access to the consortium’s first-of-its-kind “Pediatric Device Innovator Accelerator Program” led by MedTech Innovator.
NCC-PDI, one of five FDA Pediatric Device Consortia grant programs that support the development and commercialization of pediatric medical devices, is led by the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at Children’s National Health System and the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland. The consortium recently added new accelerators BioHealth Innovation and MedTech Innovator and design firm partner, Smithwise.
A panel of 32 expert judges from business, healthcare, regulatory and legal sectors selected the winners based on the clinical significance and commercial feasibility of their medical devices for children. The competition focused solely on advancing care in the pediatric orthopedics and spine sector which the FDA identified as an emerging underserved specialty lacking innovation.
The competition winners are:
- AMB Surgical, LLC, Dayton, Ohio – FLYTE, a device designed to reduce invasive and repetitive surgery in children and teens with orthopedic illnesses such as scoliosis and limb abnormalities
- Auctus Surgical, Inc., San Francisco, Calif. – Auctus Surgical Dynamic Spinal Tethering System, a mechanism used to correct the scoliotic spine in pediatric patients through a tethering procedure
- ApiFix Ltd, Boston, Mass. – ApiFix’s Minimally Invasive Deformity Correction (MID-C) System, a posterior dynamic deformity correction system for surgical treatment to provide permanent spinal curve correction while retaining flexibility
- Children’s National Health System, Washington, D.C.– Babysteps platform to improve initial assessment of clubfoot deformity and predict the magnitude of correction
- nView Medical, Salt Lake City, Utah – Surgical scanner using AI-based image creation to provide instant 3D imaging during surgery to improve imagery speed and accuracy
“All finalists are winners and we believe that, with NCC-PDI’s support, some of the awarded devices will be available to orthopedic and spine clinicians in the near future. That is vitally important since innovation has been stagnant in this area,” says Kolaleh Eskandanian, Ph.D., MBA, PMP, vice president and chief innovation officer at Children’s National and principal investigator of NCC-PDI. “This competition aims to increase the profile of companies by exposing them to a panel of industry leaders who may become future investors or strategic partners.”
Through the inaugural NCC-PDI “Pediatric Device Innovator Accelerator Program,” MedTech Innovator is providing winners with virtual in-depth, customized mentorship from some of the industry’s leading executives and investors. MedTech Innovator has a proven track record of identifying early-stage medical device companies with the key characteristics required for commercial success and accelerating their growth through its vast ecosystem of resources.
“As a pediatric orthopedic surgeon, I am encouraged by the innovations presented at this competition,” says Matthew Oetgen, M.D., division chief of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine at Children’s National, who served on the judging panel. “We need more devices that compensate for the smaller size of children compared to adults and that can adapt as children’s bones continue to grow and develop. The finalists who competed fully embraced that challenge.”
This was NCC-PDI’s eighth competition in six years and a ninth competition is planned for fall 2019 that focuses on NICU. Including this recent round of winners, the consortium has supported 94 pediatric medical devices and helped five companies receive FDA or CE mark regulatory clearance.
To learn more about the winners and the fall 2019 pitch competition, visit the National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation website.
