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NIH consolidates funding support to advance pediatric research
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To coordinate pediatric research programs, the NIH announced the formation of the Trans-NIH Pediatric Research Consortium.
“The main purpose is to identify opportunities for collaborative research, identify gaps that need to be addressed and try to harmonize the overall research effort at the NIH directed toward child health,” Diana W. Bianchi, MD, director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, told Infectious Diseases in Children.
In the 2017 fiscal year, child health research funding received more than $4 billion from nearly all 27 NIH institutes and centers. According to an NIH spokeswoman, the new consortium will not undertake any of its own research. Instead, as an umbrella organization, it will review and prioritize child health research at the NIH. The consortium also aims to improve training for the incoming generation of pediatricians.
In 2017, programs funded by NIH have researched asthma, cancer, autism, obesity and intellectual and developmental disabilities in children and infants, including the development of a blood test that identifies the likelihood of bleeding in the brain in infants. NIH-funded research also supported a study that found a potential link between parental obesity and developmental delays in children. The consortium hopes to enable conversations across scientific disciplines to better explore diseases and conditions that affect the health and well-being of children.
Bianchi will lead the Trans-NIH Pediatric Research Consortium, which will meet several times each year to explore new scientific opportunities and areas of collaboration.
“The Consortium allows us to take a global and strategic view of what’s being done regarding child health research at the NIH,” Bianchi said.
References:
NIH. Spotlight: Selected NICHD Research Advances of 2017. https://www.nichd.nih.gov/news/resources/spotlight/122117-research-advances-2017. Accessed June 14, 2018.
NIH. New trans-NIH consortium aims to advance pediatric research on a global level. https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/new-trans-nih-consortium-aims-advance-pediatric-research-global-level. Accessed June 14, 2018.
Disclosure: Bianchi reports no relevant financial disclosures.