Dr. Davis-Rodriguez’s project is titled, " Outcomes in Febrile Infants and Young Children with Bacteriuria without Pyuria”, mentored by Patrick Brady, MD, MSc, Division of Hospital Medicine, Cincinnati Children's. Through this project, the team will evaluate clinical outcomes in febrile infants and young children evaluated for urinary tract infection (UTI) who have positive urine cultures but no evidence of inflammation on urinalysis. This subpopulation of children constitutes an important area of clinical uncertainty. Although these findings are often dismissed as contamination or asymptomatic bacteriuria, we hypothesize that many of these children have true UTI and experience adverse outcomes when untreated. The study will also examine urine neutrophil gelatinase associated lipocalin (NGAL) as a potentially more sensitive screening tool for UTI compared to standard urinalysis in this population. Ultimately, this work aims to refine diagnostic strategies, reduce unnecessary antibiotic exposure, and improve evidence based care for febrile children.

Dr. El Rouby’s project is titled, “Unlocking the risk of Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) post antipsychotics in pediatrics”, mentored by Melissa DelBello, MD, Jeffrey Strawn, MD, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Cincinnati, and Lisa Martin, PhD, Division of Human Genetics, Cincinnati Children’s. Second-generation antipsychotics are widely used in pediatrics and youth posing a significant risk of metabolic syndrome in approximately 40-60% of the pediatric population, which can lead to type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular complications. In the KL2 project, I will utilize the rich and diverse electronic health records such as the electronics medical records and genomics network (eMERGE) to define the prevalence of second-generation antipsychotics-induced Metabolic Syndrome (SGA-MetS) in pediatric and youth populations. Further, I will investigate the ability of polygenic risk scores (PRS) to predict SGA-MetS. The long-term aim of this project is to integrate clinical and polygenic risk scores in the clinic to identify high-risk patients at the outset of treatment, enabling early interventions.

Dr. Gollamudi’s project is titled, “The role of bone resorption in musculoskeletal pain in sickle cell disease Individuals with sickle cell disease”, mentored by Hyacinth Hyacinth, MD, PhD, MPH, Neurology & Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Cincinnati, and Michael Jankowski, PhD, Division of Anesthesiology, Cincinnati Children's. Individuals with sickle cell disease experience bone complications and chronic musculoskeletal (MSK) pain which markedly diminishes their quality of life. There are unfortunately no targeted therapies, and current treatments with opioids have limited efficacy. The goal of this project is to identify drivers for musculoskeletal pain and test if already approved FDA treatments may be leveraged to treat chronic MSK pain in SCD.

Dr. Hartwell's project is titled, "Rural and Urban Implementation for Seizure Excellence in Emergency Medical Services (RISE-EMS): Determinants of Evidence-Based Pediatric Seizure EMS Care", mentored by Lynn Babcock, MD, MS, Division of Emergency Medicine, Cincinnati Children's, Lori Crosby, PsyD, Division of Behavioral Medicine and Psychology, Cincinnati Children's, and Manish I. Shah, MD, MS, Department of Emergency Medicine, Stanford University. Seizures are among the most common pediatric neurologic emergencies requiring Emergency Medical Services (EMS), yet timely, guideline-adherent treatment varies widely, particularly in rural systems with longer transport times and limited pediatric resources. This project aims to improve emergency medical services (EMS) care for children experiencing seizures, with a focus on reducing gaps in timely, guideline-adherent treatment, particularly in rural settings. Using a mixed-methods approach, we will analyze national EMS–hospital data to identify treatment patterns linked to better outcomes and conduct interviews with EMS clinicians to understand contextual barriers and facilitators to high-quality care. Findings will inform scalable, flexible implementation strategies to support equitable, evidence-based pediatric seizure care across diverse EMS systems, regardless of geography.

Dr. Morin's project is titled, "Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) PET/CT in pediatric liver tumors". Liver tumors are rare in children, but those with advanced, unresectable, or relapsed disease face limited treatment options and poor outcomes. Current diagnostic tools cannot reliably predict treatment response or risk of recurrence. This study will investigate a novel diagnostic—and potential therapeutic—approach for pediatric liver tumors using a prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) imaging agent. By repurposing PSMA-targeted theranostics, which are already transforming adult oncology, this research aims to improve diagnostic accuracy and prognostication with PSMA-PET and lay the foundation for targeted therapies in children with advanced disease.

Dr. Myers's project is titled, "The sociomedical and financial context of pediatric intensive care utilization". Through this proposal, her team will investigate how neighborhood-level factors contribute to pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) utilization and outcomes. By examining both markers of community deprivation and resilience, the study aims to inform the development of neighborhood-based and hospital-level interventions to reduce health and economic disparities. Ultimately, this work seeks to improve outcomes for all children and reduce the financial burdens of pediatric critical illness on families and communities.

Dr. Sayson’s project is titled, "Neutrophil Heterogeneity and Lung Injury during Pneumocystis Pneumonia", mentored by George G. Smulian, MD, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Cincinnati. Dr. Sayson’s research focuses on the immunopathology of Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP), a life-threatening fungal lung infection that primarily affects immunocompromised patients. Specifically, it examines how neutrophils, a key innate immune cell type, contribute to both host defense and inflammatory lung injury during infection. Using single-cell RNA sequencing, the work has identified distinct neutrophil subpopulations with opposing functional roles, including a hyperinflammatory subset driven by IFN-gamma signaling. A major goal of this research is to understand how neutrophil heterogeneity is shaped by the immune environment, particularly in the context of corticosteroid immunosuppression, and to identify targetable pathways that could improve patient outcomes.

Dr. Udoko’s project is titled, “Optimizing Collaboration and Coordination to Improve Outcomes in Pediatric Asthma”, mentored by Michael Seid, PhD and Ellen Lipstein, MD, MPH, James M. Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence, Cincinnati Children’s. Pediatric asthma outcomes are driven partly by nonmedical factors, including social drivers of health (SDOH). Despite increased SDOH screening and referrals for supportive resources, barriers to referral enrollment persist, suggesting the need for a deeper understanding of the drivers for both caregiver engagement and care coordination in SDOH processes. Engaging and integrating multiple stakeholder perspectives through co-production is a promising avenue for identifying new strategies to improve caregiver collaboration in SDOH processes. We need a system that connects community and hospital-based care settings to a) identify families' needs, b) co-produce a plan to address them, and c) execute that plan to match resources to families' needs and coordinate care. This project aims to improve collaboration and coordination surrounding SDOH needs and care gaps in asthma by: 1) establishing a framework for caregiver collaboration in SDOH plans. 2) identifying critical facilitators for multi-level community implementation of SDOH plans in the setting of CHWs and school community partnerships. These findings will be the foundation for future design and implementation of system-level interventions to improve the receipt of resources for SDOH needs, facilitate comprehensive asthma care, and improve clinical outcomes for all children with asthma.

Dr. Zandvakili's project is titled, "GLP1 Receptor Agonist Associations with Adverse Endoscopy and Anesthesia Outcomes". Dr. Zandvakili aims to reduce unnecessary burdens for patients who need endoscopies such as screening colonoscopies for colorectal cancer. Recently, there have been concerns that the “GLP-1 receptor agonist” class of medications, now used widely for weight loss and diabetes treatment, may pose risks during endoscopy because these medications are known to slow the gastrointestinal tract. These risks include anesthesia safety risks such as pulmonary aspiration food that remains in stomach despite fasting for procedures, or risk to endoscopy quality such as poor colonoscopy bowel preparation. There has been much uncertainty about whether theoretical risks are founded, causing delays in care and cancellations in procedures due to recommendations to hold these medications before endoscopy. Dr. Zandvakili aims to determine if concerns surrounding anesthesia safety and negative impacts on endoscopy are warranted. This proposal aims to answer these questions in one of two ways: First by analyzing large clinical databases containing de-identified patient data to look for safety risks such as diagnosis of pulmonary aspiration occurring after endoscopy. And second, using computer algorithms to analyze thousands of de-identified patient endoscopy encounters at UC Health to search for instances of adverse anesthesia events or endoscopy outcomes.