PEDIATRIC RESEARCH GROUPS
The University of Wisconsin (UW) Department of Pediatrics shall promote the health of children and adolescents with a balanced program that seeks knowledge through research, provides outstanding educational opportunities, delivers high quality comprehensive clinical care and service, advocates vigorously for children and adolescents, and is responsible to the changing needs of our community and society.
The UW Department of Pediatrics is committed to enhancing and facilitating research in pediatric science and fostering the successful development of investigators dedicated to the generation of new knowledge, through research. The goal is to advance science that can be rapidly applied to the understanding, treatment and prevention of pediatric disease. The goals of this integrated program are:
Fostering research within the Department of Pediatrics and Children's Hospital requires creation of an environment and culture that emphasizes the importance, prioritization and visibility of research in all aspects of daily activities. This includes promoting research, acknowledging successful research efforts and rewarding research at all levels within the Department.
The UW School of Medicine and Public Health Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research (WIMR) is designed to encourage unique gatherings of scientists from different disciplines to address urgent health problems of common concern. Close proximity to the UW Hospital and Clinics will allow scientific discoveries to move rapidly from research laboratories to clinical care settings.
A coordinated effort is being created to increase the number of trainees that successfully direct their careers towards pediatric research. This includes components involving medical students, residents, fellows, instructors and other junior faculty. A formal structure for the orientation and mentoring of faculty provides guidance and critical evaluation of research performance and productivity.
Several Department Faculty are pursuing basic science research, aimed at identifying biological mechanisms underlying pediatric health and disease. These include, but are not limited to: analyses of gene transfer mechanisms, the biology of microbial-fungal virulence, the molecules controlling cell motility, the biochemistry of insulin production, the activation of NK cells and macrophages, the physiology of pulmonary blood flow during exercise, and the impact of viruses on the microbiome of the nasopharynx.
Translational and clinical projects are underway in every pediatric subspecialty, and also in general pediatrics. These, like the basic science projects are better detailed in the information provided by individual faculty members. A few examples include: analyses of vaccination practices in a community setting, the causes of asthma, the vaccination against fungal disease, the multiagent treatment of leukemia, the application of genetically engineered monoclonal antibodies against neuroblastoma, and the genetics of diabetes.