NIAID and Children's National partner to advance pediatric clinical research

WASHINGTON –The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, and Children’s National Health System, a pediatric academic medical center in Washington, have launched a clinical research partnership devoted to treating and preventing allergic, immunologic and infectious diseases in children. An inaugural symposium will take place at Children’s National on Sept. 17, 2018, to highlight the partnership and discuss current and future directions for its research activities.

Children’s National and NIAID formed the partnership in 2017 to develop and conduct collaborative clinical research studies focused on young children with allergic, immunologic, infectious and autoinflammatory diseases. The two institutions also offer joint training opportunities for physician-scientists interested in caring for these children while developing their expertise in pediatric immunology and infectious diseases. The Inaugural Children’s National-NIAID Symposium 2018 will review the research being conducted under the auspices of this unique partnership and provide the opportunity for attendees to raise new research questions and propose novel areas of scientific collaboration.

“Collaborating with a renowned pediatric hospital in our community promises to advance clinical research efforts, ensure the best possible care for children participating in research studies and aid the development of medical innovations to improve the lives of children worldwide,” says NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. “The partnership also expands and enhances the ability of both institutions to provide medical and research training opportunities for the next generation of clinicians and scientists specializing in pediatric allergy, immunology and infectious diseases.” 

“This is an exciting collaboration between Children’s National and NIAID,” says Kurt Newman, M.D., Children’s President and CEO. “This important pediatric effort has the potential to improve individual children’s health, as well as overall public heath, by pairing unique NIH resources with our investigators’ strengths in clinical and translational research.”

The partnership is co-led by H. Clifford Lane, M.D., Deputy Director for Clinical Research and Special Projects at NIAID, and Mark Batshaw, M.D., Children’s Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer.

In the partnership, investigators from the two institutions work together to design and conduct clinical studies to advance prevention strategies, diagnoses, treatments and cures for a diverse range of pediatric diseases that involve the immune system. Many of these collaborative studies will include children at high risk for complications related to their underlying disease or to experimental therapeutics and diagnostic tests they receive. Study participants will have the opportunity to be seen at both Children’s National and the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Together, the two institutions provide comprehensive, state-of-the-art pediatric clinical support, infrastructure and research capacity.  These resources protect the safety of children, ensure that they receive the highest quality of care and offer them the opportunity to participate in cutting-edge clinical research.

“This collaboration between an NIH institute and a specialized pediatric medical center ensures that the youngest research participants receive the gold standard of medical care. My hope is that this partnership between NIAID and Children’s National, focused on allergic, immunologic and infectious diseases, will serve as a model for future collaborations to address additional diseases and health conditions,” says James K. Gilman, M.D., CEO of the NIH Clinical Center. 

Dr. Gilman will deliver remarks on the importance of the partnership at the Sept. 17 symposium. Health officials from Children’s National and NIAID will discuss the specific aims of the partnership and present updates on a variety of research topics, including diagnoses of primary immune deficiency diseases—rare genetic disorders that impair the immune system—and new approaches to manage food allergy. Symposium participants also will reflect on challenges and lessons learned to pave the way for delivering care to clinical research participants with complex health and social needs. Drs. Newman, Fauci and Batshaw will deliver concluding remarks. A complete agenda is available online. 

The collaboration is supported through an NIAID supplement to the Clinical and Translational Science Institute at Children’s National, which is funded by a Clinical and Translational Science Award from NIH’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences to Children’s National Health System and The George Washington University. 

Children’s National media contact: Diedtra Henderson | 443-610-9826 | 202-476-4500

NIAID media contact: Hillary Hoffman | 301-402-1663

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.