Programs & Centers

Programs

The West Virginia University Department of Pediatrics hosts several sustained surveillance and research programs throughout the state which are multidisciplinary in nature and respond to the needs of the entire state and surrounding Appalachian region.

• Birth Score Program
• CARDIAC Project

IDeA State Pediatric Clinical Trials Network

The IDeA State Pediatric Clinical Trials Network (ISPCTN) will provide access for underserved and rural populations to state-of-the-art clinical trials creating a unique opportunity to expand pediatric research in West Virginia (WV). The ISPCTN project will connect pediatric investigators with experience in multi-center clinical trials with pediatric providers interested in developing experience in pediatric research and expanding access to trials and research for their patients. This project will establish pediatric clinical trials teams at the WV sites, enabling pediatric clinical trials throughout the state.

Teams will receive professional development and support to establish needed infrastructure to participate in future ISPCTN clinical trials. The ISPCTN leadership team will provide oversight, mentoring and additional clinical trial support for the developing research teams, through a combination of in-person training and a central Virtual Clinical Trials Office utilizing resources available through the WV Clinical & Translational Science Institute (WVCTSI) and the WVU Health Sciences Center.

The WV ISPCTN project will integrate with the Data Coordinating and Operations Center to maximize training and research capability in WV through learning state-of-the-art techniques in clinical trials for rural and underserved populations. Sites will establish registries of families interested in being contacted for research, in order to both consolidate their training, as well as to prepare and accelerate recruitment into ISPCTN and Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program studies. This core will also provide access for researchers developing protocols, to better understand the needs of children in rural and underserved location.

Public Health Relevance

WV ISPCTN will connect pediatric investigators experienced in multi-center clinical trials with pediatric providers interested in developing their research knowledge and expertise, in order to establish pediatric clinical trials teams to engage rural and medically underserved populations in state-of-the-art trials and research. The program will provide these teams the professional development, support and infrastructure to participate in future ISPCTN trials and accelerate the success of the ECHO program and other NIH priority areas.

Centers of Excellence

Pediatrics faculty, staff, and students provide expert treatments and consulting that leads to innovating therapies for individuals with disabilities and their families. Collaborations with the WVU Center for Excellence in Disabilities (WVU CED) www.cedwvu.org provide opportunities for multidisciplinary training, research, and service to WV including adaptive technologies, traumatic brain injury, and autism.

• Feeding & Swallowing Clinic
• Mental Health Clinic
  
  

Pediatric Clinical Trials

WVU Pediatrics coordinates, and/or contributes to, several multi-site clinical trials. Currently, there are over 80 trials in progress within the areas of Cystic Fibrosis, Neonatal Intensive Care, and Hematology/Oncology. Go to https://clinicaltrials.gov to find a clinical trial.

WVU Medicine Children’s belongs to the Children’s Oncology Group (COG), a global network of more than 200 leading children’s hospitals, universities, and cancer centers. Pediatric cancer research has resulted in improved survival rates from only about 50% in the 1975 to better than 80% today.  Our collaboration with COG makes expertise in childhood cancer care available closer to home. 

WVU’s Pediatric oncology team offers COG protocols for various types of leukemias and lymphomas, brain, bone, and soft tissue tumors.  Through our COG affiliation, our patients have access to the treatments that are used at the most prominent cancer treatment centers in the world.

West Virginia Clinical and Translational Science Institute (WVCTSI)

The West Virginia Clinical and Translational Science Institute (WVCTSI) is an academic home and a catalyst for clinical and translational research that targets priority health areas including addiction and resulting emerging epidemics (such as hepatitis C), cancer, cardiovascular disease, and chronic lung disease.

Funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences Clinical and Translational Research IDeA (CTR) Award, we have established crosscutting research partnerships among the WVCTSI partner institutions and our collaborating Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) institutions to increase research capacity to improve the health of West Virginians and Appalachians. We are driving real solutions for better health.

Participating faculty and clinicians across the state are provided with research resources that include biostatistics support, clinical data resources, pre-award support and access to a range of funding mechanisms, and community networks.

The WVCTSI has developed a strong infrastructure to increase the number of extramural funded clinical and translational researchers and has grown capacity while developing new ideas and research opportunities to find real health solutions for West Virginians.

The WVCTSI offers a variety of strong services to clinical researchers throughout the state. For more information about these services, go to: http://www.wvctsi.org/programs/. These and other services have significantly increased the research capacity within WV, and thus, the innovation of programs and services to those who live here. For more information about how to sign up to receive these services, please go to: http://www.wvctsi.org/about-us/request-wvctsi-services/.