Hear, smell, taste. These senses impact and shape children’s everyday lives. Diego Preciado, MD, PhD, chief of Otolaryngology and Joseph E. Robert, Jr. Professor of Pediatric Otolaryngology, aims to set the gold standard for care of a child’s ear, nose and throat (ENT) — pathways to the senses. “We treat the senses that drive an individual’s personality,” he says. “ENT care has seen wonderful advances in the last 30 years, but there is still more work to do. That’s why I entered the field.”
Dr. Preciado is an innovator. His team, at the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation, helped to advance early detection and treatment of otolaryngology disorders, such as hearing loss, the most common sensory impairment in children. Four in every 1,000 infants are born with it.
In the laboratory, the team uncovered fundamental molecular aspects of chronic ear disease. This led to the development of new medications aimed at reducing the need for surgery. The team and collaborators are developing a drug delivery method, using liposomal nanoparticles — spherical vesicles that are insoluble in water — to carry treatments directly into the ear canal. It could potentially eliminate the need for oral antibiotics and surgery in children with recurrent ear infections. The team also developed an app to guide patients through critical aspects of ENT care. It will help kids with hearing impairments in language development after cochlear implantation.
“At Children’s National,” says Dr. Preciado, “the future is all about helping children get better faster.”
Dr. Preciado’s team works across the hospital and with parent groups in our community to remove barriers to ENT care. “All care is not equal,” he says. “Sadly, families with public or no health insurance typically only receive care at a much later date. This delay often permanently impacts their children’s hearing, speech and social skills.”
Currently in development is a medical and educational intervention model for patients with complex ENT needs. It includes expanding critical wraparound services and creating new care solutions. The focus is precision medicine and personalized therapies. Continuing refinement of our fellowship program to train pediatric otolaryngologists is helping to build a strong workforce for the future.
“Real change can happen only by adopting a team approach to care. An effective leader must be an equal member of the team and lead by example. Children’s National is committed to this approach and ensuring that everyone receives expert care in the same manner.”
https://innovationdistrict.childrensnational.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Preciado-examnies-Jorge-feature.jpg300400Innovation Districthttps://innovationdistrict.childrensnational.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/innovationdistrict_logo-1-1030x165.pngInnovation District2025-07-02 15:51:172025-07-02 15:52:16Caring for the senses to support children’s development
“This project is exciting as it targets more precise surgery with improved safety in terms of decreased radiation,” says Matthew Oetgen, MD, division chief of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine at Children’s National.
What if surgeons could fix a child’s hip with pinpoint accuracy – using fewer X-rays and cutting-edge robotics? That’s the promise of a new National Institutes of Health funded project combining 3D imaging and robotic technology to improve the treatment of slipped capital femoral epiphysis (SCFE), a condition that affects the hip joint in growing children.
What’s been the hold-up in the field?
Right now, orthopedic surgeons place screws by hand using 2D X-ray images to guide them. To see the screw from different angles, they have to move the X-ray machine around. “The screw must be placed near the center of the femoral head, but not penetrate it,” says Kevin Cleary, PhD, associate director of engineering at the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation (SZI). This process takes time and can increase the amount of radiation the patient receives.
Even though better tools like 3D imaging and surgical robots exist, they aren’t used together in current surgical practice. “Individual procedures have nuances that require their own validated workflows,” says Tyler Salvador, a research engineer at Children’s National Hospital. In other words, each type of surgery is different, and doctors need proven steps before using new technology in the operating room.
How does this work move the field forward?
This project brings together low-dose 3D X-rays from nView with a small surgical robot called Micromate™ to help place screws more precisely during SCFE surgeries. “Our research group has been developing robotics, imaging, and related technologies to improve surgical procedures,” says Dr. Cleary. While these tools exist separately, putting them together in one system focused on bone surgery is new. Tyler Salvador adds, “This will provide a complete solution for precision SCFE implant placement and verification.”
“This project is exciting as it targets more precise surgery with improved safety in terms of decreased radiation,” says Matthew Oetgen, MD, division chief of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine at Children’s National. “This is a paradigm-shifting effort that will improve outcomes while improving safety which is the holy grail of translational clinical research. It embodies the goal of the SZI — combining technical expertise with surgical leadership to improve outcomes in pediatric surgery.”
Children’s National leads the way
Children’s National is unique because the Sheikh Zayed Institute combines research and clinical care in one place. “Having the labs right inside the hospital helps us work closely with doctors,” says Salvador.
Together, this work is paving the way for safer, faster and more precise surgeries for children with hip problems. By combining advanced imaging and robotics, the team at Children’s National is helping shape the future of pediatric orthopedic care. In addition to this robotic hip pinning project, the Children’s National team is also behind two additional groundbreaking projects including robotic gallbladder removal and a kidney surgery initiative.
This project has been funded in whole with federal funds from the National Institutes of Health under Contract No.R01EB035559.
https://innovationdistrict.childrensnational.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Oetgen-hip-pinning-feature.jpg300400Innovation Districthttps://innovationdistrict.childrensnational.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/innovationdistrict_logo-1-1030x165.pngInnovation District2025-06-09 14:36:072025-06-09 14:37:42Transforming pediatric hip surgery with robotics and 3D imaging
Pediatric solid tumors like neuroblastoma remain a major cause of illness and death, because traditional treatments effective for other tumor types have had only limited success.
A novel immunotherapy approach that involves training autologous T cells derived from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) has shown early signs of safety and efficacy in a small pre-clinical model. The approach, pioneered by researchers within the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at Children’s National Hospital, may have future implications for the treatment of intractable pediatric solid tumors such as neuroblastoma.
What it means
Pediatric solid tumors like neuroblastoma remain a major cause of illness and death, because traditional treatments effective for other tumor types have had only limited success. There is an urgent need for innovative strategies to effectively target these tumors.
This study presents another approach to cell therapy that collects peripheral blood mononuclear cells from the patient and teaches them to target and eliminate solid tumor cells through exposure to similar tumor cells in a controlled laboratory setting. The cells are then primed to find and attack the solid tumor cells when reintroduced, an approach known as adoptive immunotherapy.
What’s new
The authors note that more well-established modalities such as CAR-T and TCR-T therapies have also made significant advances and demonstrate clinical promise at battling cancers such as neuroblastoma. However, the approach presented in the paper offers early promise of an additional potential strategy, especially in a context “where simplicity, speed and safety are priorities.”
By using small molecule treatments, the authors induce an immunogenic response in neuroblastoma tumor cells, making them more recognizable and attackable by immune cells. Ex vivo training of PBMCs with treated neuroblastoma cells exhibited strong tumor-killing activity.
The authors highlight a few key differences of this approach versus existing adoptive cellular therapies. The method “is technically straightforward, requiring only small tumor samples and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), and avoids the need for the complex genetic engineering intrinsic to CAR-T and TCR-T manufacturing,” the authors write. This method leverages ex vivo tumor cell modification, which may mitigate systemic toxicities. “Additionally, because our approach is not limited to a few surface antigens, it may expand the repertoire of actionable tumor-associated targets.”
Children’s National leads the way
Children’s National is a leader in the development of cell therapies for a wide range of pediatric conditions, including pediatric cancer, HIV/AIDS, sickle cell disease and others.
This research is the latest development in a decade-plus of focused research in adoptive immunotherapy within the Center for Cancer and Immunology Research and the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation.
What’s next
The authors write that there are several critical areas for future research to advance this approach, including a need to understand the specific T cell component and receptors involved in recognizing tumor antigens. They will also need to explore the longevity of the trained T cell response including studies of the memory and persistence of trained PBMCs to ensure lasting anti-tumor effects. Finally, the team will explore the risk of T cell exhaustion, which could reduce the effectiveness of the therapy over time.
Though work remains, the authors note, “Our findings lay the groundwork for developing this approach into a viable therapy for neuroblastoma and possibly other solid tumors as well.”
https://innovationdistrict.childrensnational.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/cancer-cells-feature.png300400Innovation Districthttps://innovationdistrict.childrensnational.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/innovationdistrict_logo-1-1030x165.pngInnovation District2025-06-09 10:03:082025-06-09 10:05:08Preliminary study points to efficacy of PBMC-based immunotherapy for neuroblastoma
Julia Finkel, MD, is a pediatric anesthesiologist and the director of Pain Medicine Research at the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation.
What if doctors could measure pain as precisely as they measure blood pressure? That’s the vision driving Julia Finkel, MD, a pediatric anesthesiologist and director of Pain Medicine Research at the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation. Recently featured in The Washington Post, Dr. Finkel is pioneering the Nociometer, a new device that could transform how we understand and treat pain.
This new innovation uses a painless electrical current on a finger or toe to gently stimulate the body’s three main sensory nerve fibers. It then measures pupil response — linked to the brain’s pain centers — to identify the type and intensity of pain.
Now heading into clinical trials, the Nociometer shows how federal funding fuels innovation for patients. Here, Dr. Finkel shares the inspiration behind her work and the vital role of federal support in pediatric research.
Q: What started you on the path to developing this device?
A: My father is a theoretical physicist. He often talked in lay terms about everything he was thinking. When I was a child, we’d go for walks at night and look at the stars, and he’d explain the universe. My mother was an artist, but she struggled with constant pain from rheumatoid arthritis. There weren’t very good therapeutics at the time. Pain impacted her quality of life.
As an undergraduate, I was a chemistry major and interested in the mechanisms of how things worked. I planned to be a rheumatologist, but switching to anesthesia was transformative.
Q: What did you love about anesthesiology?
A: I love how it profoundly impacts patients. You induce unconsciousness, you induce wakefulness and you eliminate pain. When pain stops for a child, it also lessens the suffering of the parents. Our research is all about gaining a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of pain.
The Nociometer helps identify the mechanism behind the pain symptom so we can treat it appropriately. Research shows us that pain has a recognizable signature in the body. Because we can recognize it, we can treat it better. It’s like having an X-ray to look at before treating a broken leg.
Q: What is it like to work with children experiencing chronic pain? Why is measuring pain this way more effective than the typical scale?
A: Families become desperate. Often, they have seen many doctors before coming to a specialist. But pain is a single word for many different disease states. Not everyone has the right expertise. We often see children with chronic abdominal pain. Perhaps they struggle in school or can’t go at all. They don’t eat well, they have trouble engaging in regular activities. The Nociometer helps us determine the cause of the pain to better treat the problem. The device also gives us a way to validate pain while the pain scale tells us perception. The Nociometer provides objective data, very similar to a blood pressure reading.
Q: How has federal funding, and support from Children’s National, shaped your work?
A: Federal funding has been absolutely critical. Initially, we had grants from multiple agencies within the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This shows how ubiquitous and problematic pain is across the board. It’s the underpinning of many disease states and an upstream driver of the opioid epidemic.
We have grants from the Small Business Innovation Research program within the National Cancer Institute. We have funding from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases and an award from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health. This federal funding comes with scientific rigor and the ecosystem at Children’s National has allowed me to accomplish so much.
Q: What makes Children’s National the right place for this kind of innovation?
A: Children’s National has given me the space to think creatively and pursue unconventional ideas. In 2011, I became a founding member of the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation. With early institutional support, I was able to explore questions that led to the discovery of a physiological biomarker for pain — the basis of the Nociometer.
“Creative” isn’t a word you often hear in medicine, but here, it’s part of the process. I was able to spin out a company, secure funding and build a prototype — steps that wouldn’t have been possible elsewhere. The culture at Children’s National embraces discovery and fuels real impact.
Julia Finkel, MD, is a pediatric anesthesiologist and Director of Pain Medicine Research and Development, The Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation and Professor of Anesthesiology, Pediatrics and Critical Care Medicine at The George Washington University.
https://innovationdistrict.childrensnational.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Julia-Finkel-CNRI.jpg385685Innovation Districthttps://innovationdistrict.childrensnational.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/innovationdistrict_logo-1-1030x165.pngInnovation District2025-06-04 16:47:312025-06-05 12:42:51Behind the Nociometer: Q&A with Julia Finkel, MD
“Healthcare is moving very fast. And what often happens in adults, also happens in children. Unfortunately, most of the research is directed initially at adults, and then whittles down to children. At Children’s National, we’re trying to turn that around. We’re trying to do research for children that will expand its way up to adults, turning it on its head.”
Anthony Sandler, MD, senior vice president and surgeon-in-chief, Joseph E. Robert Jr. Center for Surgical Care, and director of the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation highlighted the exciting research and innovation happening at Children’s National – including demonstrating a technology, led by Raj Shekhar, PhD, that uses real-time imaging with augmented reality to project live ultrasound visualization of a patient within the surgeon’s field of view. This enhances surgical precision and ultimately supports positive patient outcomes.
This conversation was a part of Axios’ inaugural Future of Health Summit – an event bringing together the top voices in healthcare, policy and technology to explore the biggest challenges and innovations shaping the future of medicine.
https://innovationdistrict.childrensnational.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Sandler-Axios-CNRI.jpg385685Innovation Districthttps://innovationdistrict.childrensnational.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/innovationdistrict_logo-1-1030x165.pngInnovation District2025-05-15 15:55:332025-05-15 16:13:36In the news: Axios’ Future of Health Summit
Children’s National Hospital hosted its fifteenth annual Research, Education and Innovation Week from March 31–April 4, 2025, bringing together clinicians, scientists, educators and innovators from across the institution to celebrate discovery and collaboration. This year’s theme, “Empowering the Future in Pediatric Research and Innovation with Equity, Technology and a Global Reach,” served as a call to action for advancing science that improves child health both locally and around the world.
Each day of the week-long event featured thought-provoking lectures — now available to watch — dynamic panel discussions, interactive workshops and vibrant poster sessions, all highlighting the diverse and interdisciplinary work taking place across Children’s National.
Centering the patient and the planet
REI Week began on Monday with a powerful keynote lecture from Lynn R. Goldman, MD, MS, MPH, Michael and Lori Milken dean of the Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University. In her talk, “Children: Uniquely vulnerable to climate-related threats,” Dr. Goldman underscored the urgent need to protect children from the environmental hazards of a changing climate and to integrate climate science into pediatric care and advocacy.
At mid-morning, Mary-Anne “Annie” Hartley, MD, PhD, MPH, director of the LiGHT Laboratory at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, introduced the “MOOVE” platform — Massive Open Online Validation and Evaluation of clinical LLMs. Her talk demonstrated how artificial intelligence, when rigorously validated, has the potential to transform clinical decision-making and global health equity.
Monday’s final keynote, “Zinc and childhood diarrhea,” was presented by Christopher Duggan, MD, MPH, director of the Division of Nutrition at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Duggan highlighted the global health impact of zinc supplementation in reducing childhood mortality — a reminder that simple, evidence-based interventions can save millions of lives.
In that first day, the first poster session of the week showcased projects in adolescent medicine, global health, infectious diseases, oncology and more. The session reflected the full breadth of research taking place across Children’s National.
Ambroise Wonkam, MD, PhD, professor of genetic medicine at Johns Hopkins University, then delivered Tuesday’s Global Health Keynote Lecture, “Harnessing our common African genomes to improve health and equity globally.” His work affirmed that inclusive genomics is key to building a healthier world.
Later, the Global Health Initiative event and GCAF Faculty Seminar encouraged attendees to pursue collaborative opportunities at home and abroad, reflecting the growing global footprint of Children’s National research programs.
Transforming education and care delivery
On Wednesday, Larrie Greenberg, MD, professor emeritus of pediatrics, kicked off the day with a Grand Rounds keynote on educational transformation: “Shouldn’t teachers be more collaborative with their learners?” He followed with a CAPE workshop exploring the effectiveness of case-based learning.
In the Jill Joseph Grand Rounds Lecture, Deena J. Chisolm, PhD, director of the Center for Child Health Equity at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, challenged attendees to move beyond dialogue into action in her talk, “Health equity: A scream to a whisper?,” reminding researchers and clinicians that advocacy and equity must be foundational to care.
The day continued with a poster session spotlighting medical education, neonatology, urology and neuroscience, among other fields.
Posters and pathways to progress
Throughout the week, poster sessions highlighted cutting-edge work across dozens of pediatric disciplines. These sessions gave attendees the opportunity to engage directly with investigators and reflect on the shared mission of discovery across multiple disciplines, including:
The REI Week 2025 Awards Ceremony celebrated outstanding contributions in research, mentorship, education and innovation. The winners in each category were:
POSTER SESSION AWARDS
Basic & Translational Research
Faculty: Benjamin Liu, PhD
“Genetic Conservation and Diversity of SARS-CoV-2 Envelope Gene Across Variants of Concern”
Faculty: Steve Hui, PhD
“Brain Metabolites in Neonates of Mothers with COVID-19 Infection During Pregnancy”
Faculty: Raj Shekhar, PhD
“StrepApp: Deep Learning-Based Identification of Group A Streptococcal (GAS) Pharyngitis”
Post docs/Fellows/Residents: Dae-young Kim, PhD
“mhGPT: A Lightweight Domain-Specific Language Model for Mental Health Analysis”
Post docs/Fellows/Residents: Leandros Boukas, MD, PhD
“De Novo Variant Identification From Duo Long-Read Sequencing: Improving Equitable Variant Interpretation for Diverse Family Structures”
Staff: Naseem Maghzian
“Adoptive T Lymphocyte Administration for Chronic Norovirus Treatment in Immunocompromised Hosts (ATLANTIC)”
Graduate Students: Abigail Haffey
“Synergistic Integration of TCR and CAR T Cell Platforms for Enhanced Adoptive Immunotherapy in Brain Tumors”
High School/Undergraduate Students: Medha Pappula
“An ADHD Diagnostic Interface Based on EEG Spectrograms and Deep Learning Techniques”
Clinical Research
Faculty: Folasade Ogunlesi, MD
“Poor Air Quality in Sub-Saharan Africa is Associated with Increase Health Care Utilization for Pain in Sickle Cell Disease Patients”
Faculty: Ayman Saleh, MD
“Growth Parameters and Treatment Approaches in Pediatric ADHD: Examining Differences Across Race”
Post docs/Fellows/Residents: Nicholas Dimenstein, MD, MPH
“Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Eligibility in the Pediatric Emergency Department”
Staff: Tayla Smith, MPH
“The Public Health Impact of State-Level Abortion and Firearm Laws on Health Outcomes”
Graduate Students: Natalie Ewing
“Patterns of Bacteriuria and Antimicrobial Resistance in Patients Presenting for Primary Cloacal Repair: Is Assisted Bladder Emptying Associated with Bacteriuria?”
Graduate Students: Manuela Iglesias, MS
“Exploring the Relationship Between Child Opportunity Index and Bayley-III Scores in Young Children”
High School/Undergraduate Students: Nicholas Lohman
“Preliminary Findings: The Efficacy, Feasibility and Acceptability of Group Videoconference Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with Exposure and Response Prevention for Treating Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Among Children and Young People”
Community-Based Research
Faculty: Sharon Shih, PhD “Assessing Pediatric Behavioral Health Access in DC using Secret Shopper Methodology”
Post docs/Fellows/Residents: Georgios Sanidas, MD “Arrested Neuronal Maturation and Development in the Cerebellum of Preterm Infants”
Staff: Sanam Parwani
“Intersectionality of Gender and Sexuality Diversity in Autistic and Non-Autistic Individuals”
Graduate Student: Margaret Dearey “Assessing the Burden of Period Poverty for Youth and Adolescents in Washington, DC: A Pilot Study”
Quality and Performance Improvement
Faculty: Nichole L. McCollum, MD
“A Quality Improvement Study to Increase Nurse Initiated Care from Triage and Improve Timeliness to Care”
Post docs/Fellows/Residents: Hannah Rodriguez, MD
“Reducing Unnecessary Antibiotic Use in a Level IV NICU”
Staff: Amber K. Shojaie, OTD, OTR/L
“Implementing Dynamic Axilla Splints in a Large Burn Patient”
Meleah Boyle, PhD, MPH
“Understanding and Addressing Environmental Sustainability to Protect the Health of the Children’s National and Global Communities”
Eiman Abdulrahman, MD
“Research Capacity Building to Improve Pediatric Emergency and Critical Care in Ethiopia”
Pilot Awards
Alexander Andrews, MD
“EEG as a Diagnostic and Prognostic Marker in Severe Pediatric Malaria, Blantyre Malawi”
Daniel Donoho, MD & Timothy Singer, MD
“Feasibility Study of a Novel Artificial Intelligence-Based Educational Platform to Improve Neurosurgical Operative Skills in Tanzania”
Hasan Syed, MD
“Bridging the Gap an Educational Needs Assessment for Pediatric Neurosurgery Training in Pakistan”
Sofia Perazzo, MD & Lamia Soghier, MD, MEd, MBA
“QI Mentorship to Improve Pediatric Screening and Follow-up in Rural Argentina”
Benjamin Liu, PhD
“AI-Empowered Real-Time Sequencing Assay for Rapid Detection of Schistosomiasis in Senegal”
Rae Mittal, MD
“Assessment and Enhancement of Proficiency in Emergency Child Neurology Topics for Post-Graduate Emergency Medicine Trainees in India”
Innovation Day ignites bold thinking
Thursday, REI Week shifted to the Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus for Innovation Day, a celebration of how bold ideas and collaborative culture can accelerate progress in pediatric medicine.
REI Week 2025 reaffirmed the values that define Children’s National: a commitment to excellence, collaboration and equity in pediatric research and care. As discoveries continue to emerge from our hospital and our research campuses, the connections built and ideas sparked during this week will help shape the future of pediatric health — locally and globally.
By elevating voices from the bedside to the bench, with the support of the executive sponsors Nathan Kuppermann, MD, MBChB, Catherine Bollard, MBChB, MD, Kerstin Hildebrandt, MSHS, Linda Talley, MS, RN, NE-BC and David Wessel, MD, REI Week demonstrated that we must embrace the community in all aspects of our work. Because we know that there are answers we can only get from the patients that we serve—and we need to be their voice.
Research, Education & Innovation Week will be back next year on April 13-17, 2026.
Posters at the REI Week 2025 Monday, March 31 poster session.
Panelists discuss innovation during REI Week 2025.
Global Health Initiative community engagement event during REI Week 2025.
Chris Rees presents his REI Week 2025 lecture.
Nathan Kuppermann listens to a presenter during the REI Week 2025 Tuesday, April 1, poster session.
Michelle Riley-Brown, Nathan Kuppermann, Catherine Bollard and Naomi Luban on stage during the REI Week 2025 awards ceremony.
Brandy Salmon presents on innovation programs at Virginia Tech during the REI Week 2025 Innovation Day.
Catherine Bollard listens to a presenter during the REI Week 2025 Monday, March 21 poster session.
Ambroise Wonkman poses for a picture with Children’s National staff.
Tanzeem Choudhury presenting during REI Week 2025.
https://innovationdistrict.childrensnational.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/REI-Week-2025-Monday-Poster-Session-CNRI.jpg385685Innovation Districthttps://innovationdistrict.childrensnational.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/innovationdistrict_logo-1-1030x165.pngInnovation District2025-04-22 10:31:052025-06-10 12:20:52REI Week 2025 empowers the future in pediatric research and innovation
New technology could revolutionize pain management by offering more accurate diagnoses and treatment.
Measuring pain remains one of the most challenging and imprecise tasks in medicine. However, new groundbreaking research led by Julia Finkel, MD, anesthesiologist, is underway to change that.
Dr. Finkel and scientists are pioneering the development of new tools like the Nociometer to measure pain objectively by analyzing nerve responses. This technology could revolutionize pain management by offering more accurate diagnoses and treatment, especially for those who struggle to express their pain, such as children or those with chronic conditions.
“In order to be most effective, I need to know why; what are the underpinnings of why you feel this way. Different components impact one’s perception of pain. Depression can exacerbate it. Happiness can mitigate it.”
https://innovationdistrict.childrensnational.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/nerve-cell-synapse-CNRI.jpg385685Innovation Districthttps://innovationdistrict.childrensnational.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/innovationdistrict_logo-1-1030x165.pngInnovation District2025-03-28 10:54:302025-03-28 10:54:30In the news: Researchers in the quest for accurate pain measurement
A pacemaker modified in a novel way to work better for the smallest children, including newborns, is safe and effective to stabilize heart rhythms for at least two years, according to a study published in Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology, a journal of the American Heart Association.
The study includes the findings from 29 infants who received the novel pediatric pacemaker, which is no bigger than a AAA battery, at multiple institutions in the United States. A majority of them (79%) were born premature, weighing less than five pounds (2.3 kg).
The devices remain stable, with effective pacing, normal electrical parameters and battery longevity aligned with projections for up to two years. This design and application provides a viable alternative to standard-size generators and addresses a vital unmet need for these small patients. In fact, though the study includes data from the first 29 cases, the number of children who have received these devices across the United States today has doubled to nearly 60.
The specially modified pediatric-sized implantable pacemaker includes a Medtronic Micra sub-assembly that connects to an epicardial lead. While this makes the leadless pacemaker into one that uses leads, the resulting device is significantly smaller than any commercially available pacemaker previously on the market in the U.S.
The novel pediatric implantable pulse generator is about a quarter of the size of a traditional pacemaker.
Why it matters
“The need for an urgent permanent pacemaker in newborns is quite rare, but when needed, it is often an emergency,” said lead author Charles Berul, MD, a cardiologist and electrophysiologist at Children’s National Hospital in a press release from the American Heart Association. “Babies who were very small often cannot get a permanent pacemaker and must undergo multiple temporary pacing wires or other techniques in the hopes of getting them big enough to undergo a standard pacemaker placement.”
Dr. Berul also notes that a smaller pacemaker may also help frail elderly patients and be a better choice for some children and adults.
What’s next: Better delivery
Innovating smaller devices is a good start. However, when a newborn or young child needs any pacemaker or defibrillator, they face open chest surgery. Their arteries and veins are just too small for even the smallest size transvenous pacemaker catheter.
In December of 2024, a team that included experts from Children’s National Hospital traveled to Uganda to continue work on a pilot program applying artificial intelligence (AI) to the diagnosis of rheumatic heart disease (RHD). Ugandan health care providers have been trained and equipped to acquire echocardiograms for their patients but lack expertise in consistently being able to diagnose RHD by detecting leaky heart valves. The team created a tool that uses AI to predict RHD by identifying leaky heart valves on handheld ultrasound devices, then prompts a referral for a full echocardiogram.
The goal is to find ways to help people in Uganda diagnose RHD early, before a patient is in need of surgery, and initiate antibiotics so their heart can return to normal. The team of researchers, including fellow Kelsey Brown, MD, helped to implement additional steps toward this goal in December. According to Dr. Brown, the results were excellent. After four days of seeing patients, over 450 people were screened. The AI tool has an 86% accuracy rating. After returning from Uganda, the research team plans to work on the AI tool and further improve its accuracy rating. Eventually, the vision is that this tool can roll out on a larger scale for more places around the world to access it.
Craig Sable, MD, Marius Linguraru, DPhil, MA, MSc, and Pooneh Roshanitabrizi, PhD, from our Sheikh Zayed Institute, who developed the AI algorithms, worked in partnership with the Rheumatic Heart Disease Research Collaborative (RRCU) in Uganda. This trip was also made possible thanks to a grant funded through the Children’s National Global Health Initiative. Special thank you to our AI partner, US2.AI, who made the deployment of the AI models onto a tablet that provided real-time results, possible.
https://innovationdistrict.childrensnational.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/RHD-AI-Uganda-CNRI.jpg385685Innovation Districthttps://innovationdistrict.childrensnational.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/innovationdistrict_logo-1-1030x165.pngInnovation District2025-02-26 10:43:202025-05-06 13:49:45Children’s National brings AI into the RHD early diagnosis equation
The guidelines are the first globally acknowledged framework for developing and deploying health care AI applications and gauging whether the information they generate can be trusted or not.
More than 100 international experts in the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in health care published the first set of consensus guidelines that outline criteria for what it means for an AI tool to be considered trustworthy when implemented in health care settings.
The guidelines, published in the journal the BMJ, are the first globally acknowledged framework for developing and deploying health care AI applications and gauging whether the information they generate can be trusted or not.
What this means
Called the FUTURE-AI framework, the consensus guidelines are organized based on six guiding principles:
Fairness
Universality
Traceability
Usability
Robustness
Explainability
The cadre of experts reviewed and agreed upon a set of 30 best practices that fall within the six larger categories. These practices address technical, clinical, socio-ethical and legal aspects of trustworthy AI. The recommendations cover the entire lifecycle of health care AI: design, development and validation, regulation, deployment and monitoring.
The authors encourage researchers and developers to take these recommendations into account in the proof-of-concept phase for AI-driven applications to facilitate future translation to clinical practice.
Why it matters
“Patients, clinicians, health organizations and authorities need to know that information and analysis generated by AI can be trusted, or these tools will never make the leap from theoretical to real world application in a clinical setting,” says Marius George Linguraru, DPhil, MA, MSc, Connor Family Professor for Research and Innovation in the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Surgical Innovation at Children’s National Hospital and co-author of the guidelines. “Bringing so many international and multi-disciplinary perspectives together to outline the characteristics of a trustworthy medical AI application is part of what makes this work unique. It is my hope that finding such broad consensus will shed light on the greater good AI can bring to clinics and help us avoid problems before they ever impact patients.”
The FUTURE-AI consortium was founded by Karim Lekadir, PhD, ICREA Research Professor at the University of Barcelona in 2021 and now comprises 117 interdisciplinary experts from 50 countries representing all continents, including AI scientists, clinical researchers, biomedical ethicists and social scientists. Over a 2-year period, the consortium established these guiding principles and best practices for trustworthy and deployable AI through an iterative process comprising an in-depth literature review, a modified Delphi survey and online consensus meetings. Dr. Linguraru contributed with a unique perspective on AI for pediatric care and rare diseases.
What’s next
The authors note that, “progressive development and adoption of medical AI tools will lead to new requirements, challenges and opportunities. For some of the recommendations, no clear standard on how these should be addressed yet exists.”
To tackle this uncertainty, they propose FUTURE-AI as a dynamic, living framework. This includes a dedicated website to allow the global community to participate in the FUTURE-AI network. Visitors can provide feedback based on their own experiences and perspectives. The input gathered will allow the consortium to refine the FUTURE-AI guidelines and learn from other voices.
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“MICCAI has been a professional home for me throughout my career and I am deeply honored to have a chance to give back to the organization,” said Dr. Linguraru.
We’re pleased to announce that Marius George Linguraru, DPhil, MA, MSc, Connor Family professor and endowed chair in Research and Innovation at Children’s National, has been elected as president of the Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention (MICCAI) Society board of directors. Dr. Linguraru has been involved in the society since he attended his first MICCAI conference in 2001. He was elected to the board of directors in 2021 and chairs the Career Development Working Group. Dr. Linguraru was instrumental in establishing the MICCAI Mentorship Program, the MICCAI Start-up Village and the AFRICAI Special Interest Group. He also served as the program chair of MICCAI 2024, which received and reviewed a record number of paper submissions. He will begin his three-year term as president on February 1, 2025. Watch Dr. Linguraru’s brief inaugural message to members here.
“MICCAI has been a professional home for me throughout my career and I am deeply honored to have a chance to give back to the organization,” said Dr. Linguraru. “I believe the society is poised not just to meet the challenges of the next few years, but to thrive as an essential leadership forum for the growth of medical image computing, computer assisted intervention and artificial intelligence in healthcare.”
Meanwhile, Caroline Essert, PhD, MSc, completes her term as president of the MICCAI Society on January 31, 2025.
“It has been an honor to contribute to the growth and vibrancy of this incredible community,” said Dr. Essert. “I extend my warmest welcome to Dr. Linguraru as the incoming president of the MICCAI Board. I am confident that under his leadership, the MICCAI Society will reach new heights and continue to serve as a beacon of excellence in our field.” Read her full farewell message here.
To learn more about the MICCAI Society, click here.
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Researchers at Children’s National Hospital are developing supervised autonomous robotic surgery to make expert kidney tumor removal accessible in rural areas, combining robotics, AI and surgeon oversight for safer, more precise outcomes.
Imagine a robot capable of planning and executing the intricate removal of a cancerous kidney tumor — a concept that might sound like science fiction. Yet this groundbreaking work is underway at the Sheikh Zayed Institute (SZI) for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at Children’s National Hospital.
Called Supervised Autonomous Robotic Renal Tumor Surgery (SARRTS), the project aims to prove that a supervised autonomous kidney resection is feasible. Its goal is to enable general surgeons in rural hospitals to oversee robots performing complex resections, democratizing access to specialized surgical care. Backed by a $1 million contract from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), the initiative represents new opportunities in medical innovation.
“The hope is that, someday, patients will no longer have to travel to major oncology centers to get the best possible surgical outcome when faced with renal tumors,” said Kevin Cleary, PhD, associate director of engineering at SZI. “We hope to combine the precision of robotics with a surgeon’s clinical expertise to create consistently high outcomes.”
The patient benefit
Surgery is a cornerstone of cancer treatment, but access to skilled surgeons remains unevenly distributed nationwide. Autonomous robotic surgery could address this disparity by increasing access to expert-level care, enhancing the precision and consistency of procedures and unlocking new surgical possibilities beyond human surgeons’ capabilities.
Under the initial concept, the SARRTS system will use a combination of CT imaging and 3D mapping from a robot’s RGB-depth camera. While the robot independently plans and executes the incision and tumor resection, the supervising surgeon retains full control, with the ability to approve, modify or halt the procedure at any time — an interplay between human expertise and robotic precision to help ensure safety.
Testing will be conducted on realistic kidney models, called phantoms, which are designed to train and test surgical outcomes. The project aims to validate the feasibility of supervised autonomous tumor resection while advancing technologies that could pave the way for broader applications.
“Robotics and medicine have finally reached a point where we can consider projects requiring this level of complexity,” said Anthony Sandler, MD, senior vice president and surgeon-in-chief at Children’s National and executive director of SZI. By combining autonomous robotics, artificial intelligence and surgical expertise, we can profoundly impact the lives of patients facing life-altering cancer diagnoses.”
Children’s National leads the way
In addition to the kidney surgery initiative, the Children’s National team is pursuing other groundbreaking projects. These include a second ARPA-H contract focused on robotic gallbladder removal and a National Institutes of Health grant to explore robotic hip-pinning, a procedure used to repair fractured hips with pins, screws and plates.
Axel Krieger, PhD, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Johns Hopkins University, is collaborating closely on the kidney resection and gallbladder projects. The interdisciplinary team believes this state-of-the-art care could be tested and developed within the next decade.
“This particular surgery is complex, and a robot may offer advantages to address difficulties created by patient anatomy and visibility within the surgical field,” said Dr. Sandler. “We can imagine a day – in the not too distant future – when a human and a robotic arm could team up to successfully advance this care.”
This project has been funded in whole with federal funds from ARPA-H under cooperative agreement AY1AX000023.
The Children’s National 2023-2024 Academic Annual Report show on a tablet.
Children’s National Hospital has released its 2023-2024 Academic Annual Report, showcasing a year of transformative progress in pediatric medicine. The report highlights achievements across its research centers, institutes and Innovation Ventures, underscoring the hospital’s role as a leader in advancing child health through innovation and collaboration.
“This year’s report reflects the remarkable progress we have made in advancing the frontiers of pediatric medicine,” said Nathan Kuppermann, MD, MPH, Chief Academic Officer and Chair of Pediatrics. “It highlights groundbreaking work across our research centers, institutes, and Innovation Ventures, showcasing the collaborative spirit that drives our mission forward. These achievements underscore our shared commitment to delivering transformative research and the best possible outcomes for children and families.”
Delivering across centers
The report captures the contributions of each of Children’s National’s research centers, each pushing the boundaries of pediatric healthcare:
Center for Cancer & Immunology Research (CCIR): Delivering on the promise of cell and gene therapies, offering innovative treatments for pediatric cancers and immune disorders.
Center for Genetic Medicine Research (CGMR): Advancing pediatric genetic medicine through interdisciplinary efforts, addressing complex genetic conditions with cutting-edge science.
Center for Neuroscience Research (CNR): A year of growth in scientific excellence, advancing the understanding of brain development and neurological conditions.
Center for Prenatal, Neonatal & Maternal Health Research (CPHNMR): Revolutionizing neonatal care with its pioneering infant brain health neuromonitoring program.
Center for Translational Research (CTR): Facilitating groundbreaking work by new K awardees and driving translational research to bridge the gap between discovery and clinical care.
Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation (SZI): Leading the way in advanced research projects in pediatric surgery, pushing technological boundaries to improve outcomes for children worldwide.
Taking the lead in innovation through collaboration
Innovation Ventures at Children’s National is advancing pediatric health security, addressing unique challenges with transformative solutions. Meanwhile, the Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus (CNRIC) continues to thrive as a hub for discovery and collaboration, hosting conferences on topics like artificial intelligence in healthcare, cell and gene therapy, and pediatric epilepsy research.
A vision for the future
The report also highlights Children’s National’s focus on integrating cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence into its research and clinical practices, as well as addressing global health challenges such as the effects of climate change on children’s health. These efforts reflect the hospital’s commitment to improving outcomes for children everywhere through innovation, teamwork, and forward-thinking leadership.
The 2023-2024 Academic Annual Report serves as a testament to the dedication and expertise of the Children’s National community, showcasing how collaboration and innovation are shaping the future of pediatric healthcare.
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Meet the winners (left to right): Syed M. Anwar, Ph.D., M.S., principal investigator at Children’s National; Daniel Capellan Martin, M.Sc., Polytechnic University of Madrid; Abhijeet Parida, data scientist at Children’s National; and Austin Tapp, Ph.D., postdoctoral research fellow at Children’s National.
Using an award-winning artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm developed at Children’s National Hospital, researchers ranked first in the world in the Brain Tumor Segmentation-Africa (BraTS-Africa) challenge for their approach to identifying different parts of deadly gliomas. The details of their innovative method were recently published on arXiv, a curated research-sharing platform.
“Technology can bridge the gap in healthcare between high- and low-resource countries,” said 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). “By tailoring methods we created at our hospital to fit the needs of specific regions, such as sub-Saharan Africa, our research helps improve medical imaging and diagnosis in challenging environments.”
Dr. Linguraru was the program chair of the International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention (MICCAI) 2024 in Marrakesh, Morocco, the leading global meeting on AI in medical imaging.
Children’s National leads the way
Gliomas are a type of brain tumor with a high death rate and are especially difficult to diagnose in low- and middle-income countries. Given the increased need in Africa, researchers worldwide came together in Morocco to compete over the best way to accurately detect and measure tumors using MRI data and AI.
By applying advanced machine-learning techniques, the researchers adapted tools initially designed for well-resourced settings to work in countries with far fewer.
The study focused on transfer learning, a process in which an AI model is trained in advance on a large number of brain tumor images and then adjusted to work with smaller sets of new data. In this case, the models were adapted to work with local sub-Saharan African data using a strategy to combine different models’ strengths.
When tested, the approach achieved impressive accuracy scores. The Children’s National team, which included a colleague from the Polytechnic University of Madrid, ranked first in the BraTS-Africa 2024 challenge for identifying different parts of gliomas.
“To make the method widely available, the winning algorithm is shared online for others to use and improve upon,” Dr. Linguraru said. “My favorite part of these competitions is how they highlight the way innovation and collaboration can reduce global healthcare inequalities.”
The big picture
Children’s National researchers consistently lead global events using AI and advanced imaging to tackle complex healthcare challenges. In 2023, the team won a global contest to measure pediatric brain tumors at the MICCAI 2023 Conference. This year’s success in the BraTS-Africa challenge builds on this knowledge base and expands its use to adult gliomas.
At the Radiological Society of North America 2024 annual meeting, which drew 50,000 attendees, Zhifan Jiang, Ph.D., a staff scientist in the Precision Medical Imaging Lab at SZI, also won the Cum Laude Award for his scientific poster on applying AI to radiological images to predict severe outcomes for children with brain tumors caused by neurofibromatosis type 1.
“These achievements show how our science is leading the world in using AI for good,” Dr. Linguraru said. “Every day, we’re building on our knowledge of advanced imaging, brain tumors and AI to improve the diagnosis, measurement and treatment of deadly tumors — on a global scale.”
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This research, published today in JAMA Network Open, marks a significant step forward in making better information available for the 1.5 million adults in the United States who were born with CHD.
For the first time, adults living with congenital heart disease (CHD) now have valuable insights into their long-term quality of life through data from the Congenital Heart Initiative (CHI). CHI is the nation’s first and largest patient-focused registry for adults with CHD and released its first study involving over 4,500 participants from all 50 states.
This research, published today in JAMA Network Open, marks a significant step forward in making better information available for the 1.5 million adults in the United States who were born with CHD.
“Studies like this that leverage actual patient voices and experiences help us get a better sense of how to advise, support and treat people with CHD as they age,” says Anitha John, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Washington Adult Congenital Heart program at Children’s National Hospital and senior author of the study. “Also, researchers get a clearer picture of the questions that need to be answered to make sure they have the best quality of life possible.”
The study also demonstrates two of the most successful models of current promising trends in clinical research:
The power of patient engagement throughout the research process, including design and implementation.
The impact of team science, highlighting the benefits of partnerships between patients, researchers and clinicians.
Key highlights include:
Many participants (88%) reported having one or more additional health issues (comorbidities).
33% had arrhythmias (irregular heartbeat).
35% had mood disorders, including depression or anxiety.
Quality of life is good or better for 84% of people who completed quality of life reporting measures, regardless of the type of congenital heart condition.
People with more complex congenital conditions were less likely to meet physical activity recommendations — an important finding with immediate impact.
Treatments for children born with congenital heart disease have improved so significantly in the last two decades that life expectancy continues to increase as well.
“There are now more adults living with congenital heart disease than there are children with CHD,” says Scott Leezer, patient co-principal investigator for the Congenital Heart Initiative registry and co-author of the study. “However, a significant gap remains in what we know about the adult CHD population. As an adult CHD patient, I was excited to contribute to creating this registry, bringing more answers to people like me who want to know how our unique hearts impact our bodies and quality of life over time.”
The authors note that the study’s findings and the registry data currently have a few limitations. First, the registry only contains patient-reported outcomes and no clinical data. The first sub-study of the CHI, the CHI-RON study, addresses this challenge by incorporating additional data sources for a subset of consenting CHI participants.
Additionally, recall bias, underlying neurocognitive challenges and survey fatigue, may have limited participation in the CHI to a smaller subset of adults with CHD. Efforts are underway to develop methods for people with congenital heart disease who have neurodevelopmental deficits or other disabilities to engage in the registry. The CHI is temporarily closed to new registrants as the study team redesigns the study to better align with the needs of the community.
“We are grateful for everyone who joined this registry, answered survey questions and shared their experiences,” says Thomas Carton, Ph.D., chief data officer at Louisiana Public Health Institute and study co-author. “The CHI registry is a big step forward for adults with CHD, but also can serve as a model for how to bring together physicians, researchers and patients as active participants in care, research and advocacy.”
As the registry grows in the future, it will focus on increasing diversity of participants, developing additional partnerships with other organizations, continued innovation in data usage and improved community engagement, all with the goal of guiding future research that will ultimately improve quality of life for all adults with CHD.
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Children’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:
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“It is a market failure that we are dealing with – a lack of incentives leading to a stagnation in innovation with respect to small markets, such as pediatrics. Children’s National Hospital and our partners in other children’s hospitals in the country play a critical role in making noise and sending a message that children should not be an afterthought.”
Hear more from Kolaleh Eskandanian, Ph.D., M.B.A., during her recent appearance at POLITICO. As vice president and chief innovation officer at Children’s National and Alliance for Pediatric Device Innovation principal investigator, Dr. Eskandanian shared her approach to engaging with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to advance artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies for pediatric healthcare. To date, she noted, the FDA has authorized 950 healthcare-related technologies enabled with AI and machine learning.
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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.
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.”
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The future of healthcare is unfolding before scientists and clinicians: Doctors are assisted by virtual scribes trained by artificial intelligence. Algorithms are reading MRIs. Smartphones are helping to detect strep throat. Machines diagnose children without access to care.
These and dozens of other artificial intelligence (AI) applications are being tested to enhance pediatric healthcare, and many were on display at the 2nd annual Children’s National Hospital-Virginia Tech Symposium on AI for Pediatric Health at the Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus.
Some highlights from the daylong conversation about the future of pediatric medicine, augmented by AI and generative AI models capable of producing new and critical content:
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: “Children are just not mini-adults. In pediatric care, we train pediatric specialists because kids die from different diseases than those that kill adults. Children also suffer from very impactful and rare conditions. If we train pediatric specialists well, we have to train AI algorithms in the same fashion.”
Rowland Illing, M.D., Ph.D., chief medical officer and director of global healthcare and nonprofits at Amazon Web Services: “In a short period of time, the complexity of the models available is astounding. Generative AI, just like AI, can impact outcomes at every step of the patient pathway, including the clinical workflow, care management and patient engagement. By creating a specific use case with generative AI, every step can be optimized to be smarter, which ultimately leads to improved patient care and outcomes.”
Children’s National Chief Academic Officer Nathan Kuppermann, M.D., M.P.H.: “AI in pediatric health is not just about identifying rare diseases. Its potential includes all aspects of clinical care, clinical operations, education and research. It has the potential to help educators enhance the novelty and impact of their methods and advance research with powerful tools to gather and analyze data.”
Alda Mizaku, vice president and chief data and artificial intelligence officer at Children’s National: “What excites me most about our future is the endless possibilities. We can use AI and data to uncover many things: rare diseases, operational efficiencies, time-saving and cost-saving solutions. This has to be done in a responsible way, and we must look at what some of the guardrails need to be.”
Throughout the day, expert panels offered insights into regulatory pathways to deploy AI in pediatric drugs and devices. The Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Science and Engineering Laboratories also provided guidance on collaborative tools for improving the representation of children and perinatal patients in AI-powered medical devices.
Moving the field forward
Early adopters of AI at Children’s National shared applications already under investigation, including efforts to segment and measure brain tumors on imaging, weigh the risk of strep throat with a smartphone camera and detect rheumatic heart disease with portable technology and an algorithm.
Dr. Linguraru, an expert in healthcare AI, said that artificial intelligence is no longer a hypothetical technology but is already remaking the healthcare system. “AI is here. What matters now is how we use it and how we train doctors to use it well,” he said.
The big picture
Through growing partnerships, Children’s National experts are teaming up with researchers at Virginia Tech on a series of AI-driven projects aimed at advancing pediatric health, including programs to rethink privacy in federated learning, forecast emergency department surges, extract clinical variables from documents to predict sepsis risks, identify rare genetic syndromes in children, and predict single-cell responses to genetic perturbations in pediatric developmental disorders.
Naren Ramakrishnan, Ph.D., director of the Sanghani Center at Virginia Tech and the Thomas L. Phillips Professor in the College of Engineering, said the partnership between the two academic centers is changing healthcare already and will continue to as the organizations offer future seed grants to support innovation in cardiology, neuroscience and oncology. “The roots have borne fruit,” he said.
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Clinicians 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.
https://innovationdistrict.childrensnational.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/child-in-emergency-shelter-CNRI-feature.jpg385685Innovation Districthttps://innovationdistrict.childrensnational.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/innovationdistrict_logo-1-1030x165.pngInnovation District2024-09-19 13:34:422025-03-10 14:02:16New federally supported hub to advance solutions for pediatric health emergencies
Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., was ranked as a top hospital in the nation by the 
Clinicians 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.