The Baylor College of Medicine Department of Pediatrics and Texas Children’s Hospital hosted the 2017 Pediatric Fellows’ Research Symposium on March 21 at the Pavilion for Women Conference Center.
Dr. Huda Zoghbi, director of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute, provided the keynote research presentation, “Protein Levels and Neurological Diseases: Insights and Opportunities.” Besides advancing our understanding of the genetic causes of spinocerebellar ataxia and Rett syndrome, she has been instrumental in other important neurological medical breakthroughs including her recent discovery of how lowering toxic levels of tau in the brain could potentially lead to new therapies to reverse or prevent Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr. Will Parsons, director for the Center for Precision Oncology at Texas Children’s Cancer Center, followed with the keynote scholarship presentation, “Precision Oncology: Deconvoluting One Trainee’s Path from the Bench to the Clinic.”
This year’s research symposium included more than 135 poster presentations from pediatric fellows and included an awards presentation featuring the top four abstracts submitted this year:
- Bile duct ligation induces ATZ globule clearance in a mouse model Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency
Dr. Zahida Khan
- Respiratory severity score on day of life 15 is higher in premature infants requiring mechanical ventilation at day of life 60
Dr. Matthew Maruna
- Pharmacogenomic association with neurotoxicity in Hispanic children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)
Dr. Claire McClain
- Inflammatory regulation promotes angiogenesis in chronic renal diseases models
Dr. Xinyi Wang
A fellows’ workshop session was offered as well. Dr. Eric Williams, associate professor of Critical Care at Baylor and Texas Children’s chief medical information officer, led the session on Innovation.
The symposium is an important forum for sharing research results and achievements, as well as for networking and establishing new collaborations. The symposium provides a venue to address topics that may be relevant to the trainee’s career development as they transition to more advanced or faculty positions.
