The Atlanta Pediatric Scholars Program, (K12HD072245; PI, Shari Barkin, MD), is funded by The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and is administered and supported by Emory University Department of Pediatrics and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. This program is a mentored institutional career development program for senior fellows and junior faculty who have recently completed postgraduate clinical training in pediatrics and are committed to launching an independent basic science research career. This program provides a dedicated period of career development that includes didactic coursework, mentored research training and 75% protected research time towards the pursuit of independent extramural research funding. Application requirements and guidelines are the same as those for an NIH K08 application.
Research Topics Supported
This program supports research career development for pediatricians who are commencing basic science research relevant to the field of pediatrics. Please note that projects proposing patient-oriented research are not eligible for this opportunity.
Examples of responsive projects are listed below. This list is not meant to be inclusive, but rather provides some general examples of the types of scope that are appropriate for this program.
- Laboratory-based projects to understand the basic mechanisms of diseases affecting children
- Basic investigation into novel therapies or diagnostics at the bench or in animal models
- Laboratory-based investigation into genetic and epigenetic origins of childhood diseases
Projects in the following areas are not responsive to this particular funding opportunity:
- Clinical trials of any kind, including those performing laboratory assays from patient samples
- Descriptive projects linked to human specimens that lack a basic, mechanistic focus
- Outcomes research or epidemiologic studies
Previous & Current Scholars
| Scholar Name | Mentor(s) | Project Title | Dates in Program |
|---|---|---|---|
| Justin Yoo, MD | Viveen Sheehan, MD, PhD | Impact of GBT021601 on the bone marrow niche and hematopoietic stem cell fitness in the sickle cell disease (SCD) mouse model | 12/1/2024- |
| Christina Caruso, MD | Wilbur Lam, MD, PhD | Leveraging Microfluidics and Murine Systems to Investigate Erythrocyte Rigidity and Endothelial Dysfunction in Sickle Cell Disease | 12/1/2023-11/30/2024 |
| Dailia Francis, MD, PhD | Christopher Porter, MD | Using Proteomic Profiling to Identify Mechanisms of Tumor Microenvironment modulation by Siglec-15 in Pediatric Lymphomas | 12/1/2023- |
| Karen Zimowski, MD | Shannon Meeks, MD, Christopher Doering, PhD | Increasing FV-short Expression using F5 Exon 13 Specific snRNAs | 12/1/2023- |
| Maria (Stefi) Barbian, MD | Rheinallt Jones, PhD, Ravi Patel, MD & Patricia Denning, MD | The functional consequences of maternal gut microbial metabolites on the developing fetus | 12/1/2021-11/30/2023 |
| Shubin W Shahab, MD, PhD | Anna Kenney, MD & Tobey MacDonald, MD | Targeting the LIN28B-let-7-PBK axis in Group 3 medulloblastoma | 12/1/2021-11/30/2023 |
| Jenny Shim, MD | Kelly Goldsmith, MD | Investigating and Targeting YAP-mediated Therapy Resistance in Neuroblastoma | 12/1/2021-11/30/2023 |
| Holly Bauser-Heaton, MD, PhD | Wilbur Lam, MD, PhD and Wiliam Mahle, MD | 3D Printed In Vitro Model for Investigation of Mechanisms of Pulmonary Artery Conduit Stenosis | 12/1/2019-11/30/2021 |
| Satheesh Chonat, MD | Sean Stowell, MD, PhD and Clint Joiner, MD, PhD and Michael Koval, PhD | Modeling Acute Lung Injury in Sickle Cell Mice | 12/1/2019-11/30/2021 |
| Loretta Reyes, MD | Claudia Morris, MD and Roy Sutliff, PhD | Role of Increased Arginase Activity in the Development of Cardiovascular Disease in a Murine Model of Chronic Kidney Disease | 12/1/2019-11/30/2021 |
| Patricia E. Zerra, MD | Sean Stowell, MD, PhD and Shannon Meeks, MD | The Role of Type I Interferons in Factor VIII Inhibitor Formation | 12/1/2019-11/30/2021 |
| Shanmuganathan (Shan) Chandrakasan, MD | H. Trent Spencer, PhD, Kevin Bunting, PhD, Edmund K. Waller, MD, PhD, FACP, and Chris P. Larsen, MD, DPhil | Targeted non-genotoxic hematopoietic stem cell transplant conditioning approach | 2/1/2018-8/31/2019 |
| Jocelyn Grunwell, MD, PhD | Anne Fitzpatrick, PhD, RN, CPNP, MSCR and Rabin Tirouvanziam, PhD | Targeting Neutrophilic Inflammation in Pediatric Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome | 2/1/2018-1/31/2020 |
| Sunil Raikar, MD | H. Trent Spencer, PhD and Doug Graham, MD, PhD | Targeting T-cell malignancies with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) gamma delta T cells | 2/1/2018-11/30/2020 |
| Glaivy Batsuli, MD | John "Pete" Lollar, MD and Shannon Meeks, MD | Characterizing the Immune Response to the C1 Domain of Factor VIII | 12/1/2015-11/30/2017 |
| Katherine Minson, MD | Doug Graham, MD, PhD | Combination MERTK and FLT3 inhibition in acute myeloid leukemia | 12/1/2015-11/30/2017 |
| Christina Rostad, MD | Martin Moore, PhD and Paul Spearman, MD | The development of an RSV live attenuated vaccine with enhanced immunogenicity and thermostability | 7/1/2015-6/30/2017 |
| Benjamin Watkins, MD | Leslie Kean, MD, PhD (Seattle), Mandy Ford, PhD (Surgery) | Utilizing Gene Microarray Expression Profiles and Flow Cytometric Analysis in the Identification of the Unique Molecular Signature of Acute Graft-Versus-Host Disease | 12/1/2014-11/30/2016 |
| Pamela Winterberg, MD | Hanjoong Jo, PhD (BME), Mary Wagner, PhD (DOP), Mandy Ford, PhD (Surgery) | Mechanisms of diastolic dysfunction during experimental chronic kidney disease (CKD) | 12/1/2013-11/30/2015 |
| Anita McElroy, MD, PhD | Stuart Nichol, PhD (CDC), Christina Spiropoulou, PhD (CDC), Jens Wrammert, PhD (DOP) | Characterization of the human monoclonal antibody repertoire in RVFV vaccine recipients and the development of human monoclonal antibodies as a novel therapeutics | 9/1/2013-11/30/2015 |
| Ann Chahroudi, MD, PhD | Paul Spearman, MD and Mirko Paiardini, PhD | Identification of CD4+ T memory stem cells as an HIV/SIV reservoir | 7/1/2013-6/30/2015 |
| Nitika Gupta, MD | Allan Kirk, MD, PhD and Dmitry Shayakhmetov, PhD | Role of GLP-1R agonists in ischemia reperfusion injury of steatotic liver | 3/9/2012-12/8/2012 |
Why is this program limited to pediatric faculty embarking on basic science careers? Why are clinical researchers not supported by this program?
The NICHD-funded Child Health Research Career Development (K12) Awards are specifically designed to prepare pediatricians for careers in basic science investigation relevant to childhood illnesses. While clinical research careers are equally valued by our leadership and institutions, this particular K12 program is not designed to support clinical research careers. Below are specific citations from the RFA that provide evidence of this focus:
Stated Purpose
The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) supports a program of Child Health Research Career Development Awards (CHRCDA) intended to develop resources to speed the transfer of knowledge gained through studies in basic science to clinical applications that will benefit the health of children. The CHRCDA supports research career development of pediatricians who have recently completed subspecialty training and who are commencing basic research training relevant to child health. The goal of this initiative is to advance research in child health and to support educational institutions in their ability to stimulate novel research initiatives and career development experiences for junior investigators. This is accomplished by increasing the number and effectiveness of established pediatric investigators who have a grounding in basic science and research skills that can be applied to the health problems of children, as well as by increasing the number of pediatric medical centers that can stimulate and facilitate the application of research findings to pressing pediatric problems.
APSP Specific Aims: The Specific Aims of the Atlanta Pediatric Scholars Program at Emory University include:
Aim 1. To attract outstanding physician-scientist candidates to the pursuit of basic science research careers in areas relevant to child health.
Aim 2. To prepare physician-scientists for independent careers in child health research through a dynamic career development program involving mentored laboratory research experience, didactic course work, career skills training, and academic participation. This program includes opportunities to work and collaborate with investigators at Emory, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and Georgia Tech.
Aim 3. To monitor the progress of the CHRCDA trainees and assess the overall success of the program through rigorous internal and external review processes. The program will include mechanisms to respond to ongoing reviews in ways that will facilitate programmatic goals.
What other career development opportunities are available to pediatrician physician scientists at Emory University?
The APSP K12 focuses exclusively on training pediatric scientists engaged in basic research. This complements yet does not overlap with the existing Georgia CTSA KL2 Scholars Program, whose focus is expressly on clinical and translational career development for MD clinician scientists and PhD translational scientists and is available for all disciplines, pediatric or adult, across multiple partner institutions. Although separate programs, the APSP successfully leverages the Georgia CTSA career development infrastructure and didactic course offerings such as MSCR 594M - Scientific and Grant Writing, and MSCR 761M - Introduction to Clinical and Translational Research. The K-Club and internal pilot awards programs provide additional career development options for all junior health scientists at Emory.
How is the success of the APSP judged?
It is critical that we recruit new faculty into the Atlanta Pediatric Scholars Program who are pursuing basic science careers and who will be very productive during and after training. The program is judged by the success of its scholars, including by the quality and quantity of their publications and especially by their ability to obtain independent NIH grants. The reviewers for our renewal application will assess specific criteria outlined in the goals of the program. The best scenario is that we will be able to show a number of trainees who have become R01 (potentially K08) funded in their area of research and who are producing high quality publications that demonstrate high productivity and independence.
