Lots to Cheer About in Bench to Bedside

Yippee! Hooray! Woo-hoo! We’d like to take a few moments to celebrate the recent accolades given to scientists and physician researchers at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute who are featured in the latest issue of Bench to Bedside, our monthly newsmagazine.

Mitochondrial Medicine Pioneer Inducted to Italian Academy of Sciences

Douglas Wallace, PhD, founder of the field of mitochondrial medicine and director of the Center for Mitochondrial and Epigenomic Medicine at CHOP, was inducted into the exclusive Italian Academy of Sciences that includes such luminary names as Pasteur, Franklin, and Einstein.

This international scientific society, founded in 1782, limits its membership to 40 Italian scientists and 25 foreign members. Dr. Emilia Chiancone, as president of the Academy, conducted the ceremony during its 234th annual meeting May 5 in Rome. During the event, Dr. Wallace presented a lecture on the role of mitochondria in metabolic and degenerative diseases.

“We are deeply honored that this very elite international scientific organization has recognized Dr. Wallace’s accomplishments,” said Bryan Wolf, MD, PhD, chief scientific officer and director of the Research Institute.

Tool to Provide Emerging Disease Updates Wins National Data Sharing Challenge

Marc Tobias, MD, and Naveen Muthu, MD, of CHOP’s Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics (DBHi) were inspired by what they had learned during their clinical informatics fellowships about clinical decision support and the challenge of knowledge maintenance. Realizing that public health officials and agencies have poor channels of communicating rapidly and efficiently with clinicians, they began in the fall to conceptualize a way to bridge that gap.

Their idea quickly evolved into a prototype: The Population Health Risk Assessment Support Engine (PHRASE Health). PHRASE is an electronic health record (EHR)-agnostic system designed to identify at-risk populations and provide clinical decision support to healthcare providers at the point of care. In May, the project won the national “Closing the Data Divide” Virtual Challenge.

"Dr. Tobias and Dr. Muthu are leading the way in this new medical subspecialty," stated Anthony Luberti, MD, medical director for Informatics Education in DBHi and director of CHOP’s Clinical Informatics Fellowship Program, in a press release. "PHRASE Health is an example of the kind of innovative technology solutions that can impact health outcomes for patients. We are extremely proud of their efforts."

What It Takes to Become a Vaccine Champion: A Q&A With Paul Offit

How could well-known vaccine expert Paul Offit, MD, director of the Vaccine Education Center at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, top his long list of achievements, which include being inducted into the American Academy for Arts and Sciences along with the likes of journalist and novelist Tom Wolfe and singer-songwriter Judy Collins? By becoming a Vax Pack Hero, of course. Dr. Offit is one of about 50 central figures who played roles in the history of vaccines and are featured in a new educational program created by the Vaccine Education Center.

Along with a talented team at CHOP, Dr. Offit invented a rotavirus vaccine that dramatically reduced the incidence of the disease in the U.S., following its approval and inclusion in the recommended vaccine schedule for babies in 2006. Back then, CHOP had about 400 admissions for rotavirus-induced dehydration in the hospital every year, Dr. Offit said, but now it is a rare event. In a Q&A interview, Dr. Offit explains how difficult it is to make a vaccine, encourages young investigators to pursue infectious disease research, suggests what’s on the horizon for vaccine research, and shares other personal insights.