Six researchers representing congenital heart surgery, general surgery, ophthalmology and plastic surgery were recently named the recipients of the 2015 Surgical Seed Grant Awards given by the Department of Surgery at Texas Children’s Hospital. This grant program allows surgery researchers to generate the preliminary data necessary for National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant applications and other extramural funding.
The Surgical Seed Grant Committee, chaired by Chief of Pediatric Surgery Dr. Jed Nuchtern and Vice President Matt Girotto, chose this year’s award recipients based not only on the merit of the proposal but also on the ability of the researcher to complete the grant within the specified timeframe and budget. In total, more than $275,000 in grants will be awarded to the following recipients:
- Ophthalmologist Dr. Lingun Kong Intravitreal Polymer Nanoparticle Drug Delivery System for Treatment of Retinopathy of Prematurity
- Congenital Heart Surgeon Dr. Carlos Mery Development of a Novel Open Fetal Cardiac Surgical Intervention for Creation of an Atrial Septal Defect in Patients with Hypoplastic left Heart Syndrome & an Intact or Highly Restrictive Atrial Septum
- Plastic Surgeon Dr. Edward Buchanan Psychometric Assessment of the Medical Interview in the Pediatric Population
- Congenital Heart Surgeon Dr. Iki Adachi Pediatric Myocardial Alterations in Response to Ventricular Assist Devices
- Ophthalmologist Dr. Mohamed Hussein Exploring the Role of the Choroid and the Autonomic Innervation in the Development of Retinopathy of Prematurity
- Pediatric General Surgeon Dr. Sanjeev Vasudevan A “Pan-Omic” Analysis of Vascular Invasion in Pediatric Solid Tumors
The Department of Surgery is also in the process of developing a similar “seed” mechanism to support longer term neurocognitive research based upon a number of this year’s submissions that were considered very worthwhile by the committee, which is composed of Chief of Pediatric Gynecology Dr. Jennifer Dietrich, Pediatric Urologist Dr. Chester Koh, Neurosurgeon Dr. Sandi Lam, Congenital Heart Surgeon Dr. Carlos Mery and Pediatric General Surgeon Dr. Oluyinka Olutoye with Melinda Mathis from Research Administration, Kathy Carberry from Outcomes and Impact Service, and Melissa Croft, senior project manager in Surgery.
“It is exciting to see the direction our research will be taking us in the future, Surgeon-in-Chief Dr. Charles D. Fraser, Jr. said. “I would like to congratulate the 2015 award recipients and look forward to watching their research projects progress.”