Eight Texas Children’s physicians recently received Pediatric Device Faculty Seed Grants to support their work to develop or conduct pilot clinical trials associated with novel pediatric medical devices.
The $25,000 grants are sponsored by the Southwest National Pediatric Device Innovation Consortium (SWPDC), a multi-institutional organization supported by a Federal Drug Administration P50 grant and anchored by Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine. SWPDC is dedicated to improving children’s health by supporting pediatric device innovators to create pediatric medical devices with local, regional, and national institutional and innovation partners.
Help us in congratulating the 2022 – 2023 award recipients:
Dr. Pamela Petersen, Pediatric Critical Care Medicine
Peterson will conduct a clinical study to test the Vitls platform (vitlsinc.com – Houston, TX) against gold standard inpatient monitoring devices in children with congenital heart disease. Vitls Tego is an FDA-cleared device specifically designed for pediatric patients for wireless continuous vital sign monitoring that transmits heart rate, respiratory rate, temperature and oxygen saturation.
Dr. Stanley Spinner, Vice President
Dr. Matthew Wilbur, Pediatrics
Dr. R. Brandon Hunter, Pediatric Critical Care Medicine
This team will conduct a post-market clinical study to evaluate the clinical office workflow impact of the PhotoniCare Otosight device (Champaign, IL), a handheld diagnostic and imaging tool that uses optical coherence tomography / near infrared light to detect the presence of fluid and turbidity behind the ear drum in pediatric patients with suspected ear infections.
Dr. Parag Jain, Pediatric Critical Care Medicine
Dr. Craig Rusin, Pediatric Cardiology
Jain and Rusin will conduct a pilot non-inferiority study in children with pneumonia with the use of the E-Tattoo device, a Bluetooth-enabled wireless patch that monitors heart rate, EKG, respiratory rate, temperature, and oxygen saturation that was developed by Dr. Nanshu Lu at UT Austin.
Dr. Samuel McClugage and Dr. Howard Weiner, Neurosurgery
McClugage and Weiner will conduct a pilot clinical study in pediatric hydrocephalus patients with the Rhaeos FlowSense device (Evanston, IL), a noninvasive wearable device that measures flow through cerebrospinal fluid shunts and can quickly detect obstruction.