Clinical Futures Blog

While 2022 has come to a close, we’re reflecting on what has been a transformative year for the Center. We continue to celebrate our Center’s renaming, which was finalized in October. The journey to becoming Clinical Futures was profound and significant, stemming from the 2020 strategic planning initiative. After an extraordinary year, we reflect on this journey and share 22 achievements illustrating the many successes and critical work our faculty, principal investigators, and research staff achieved this year. 

About Clinical Futures: 

1. As a Research Institute Center of Emphasis, we celebrate 15 years of innovative pediatric clinical effectiveness research and collaboration. 

2. With our new name, we announced our refreshed mission statement to utilize innovative methods to create, translate, and disseminate epidemiological, health services, and clinical research-based evidence and interventions that improve children’s health and family wellbeing. 

3. We also shared our newly established vision for the Center to be the thriving research home for clinical investigators to improve child health. You can read more about the Center’s history here. 

4. We launched our newly redesigned website. 

5. Over 180 faculty members, researchers, and staff now call our Center home.  

6. In 2022, we added five new faculty members to the Center and hired 23 clinical research staff members. 

7. We hosted 23 seminars led by core faculty, fellows, or collaborators. 

8. These included 13 works-in-progress sessions, which allowed presenters to receive feedback from fellows and faculty at all levels for projects in all stages of development.  

9. We also hosted eight visiting speakers who presented on topics aligned with our methodological pillars and overall mission. 

10. Four fellows are currently participating in the Pediatric Hospital Epidemiology and Outcomes Research Training (PHEOT) Fellowship co-directed by Clinical Futures faculty. 

Awards and Funding 

11. Our Pilot Grants Program funded three projects in 2022. 

• Mary Kate Claiborne, MD, Aaron Chen, MD, Keith Baldwin, MD, and Mike McWay, MD 
  Project title: Feasibility of Recruitment of Families for the use of Hematoma Blocks for Reduction of Distal Radius and/or Ulna Fractures in Pediatric Patients 

• Evan Dalton, MD, Stephanie Doupnik, MD, MSHP, Chris Feudtner, MD, PhD, MPH, Judy Shea, PhD
  Project title: Staff Perception of Physical Restraint Use at a Children’s Hospital 

• Sara King-Dowling, PhD, Lisa A. Schwartz, PhD, Alexandra Psihogios, PhD, Jonathan Mitchell, PhD, Allison Barz Leahy, MD, MSCE, Tracey Jubelirer, MD, Kristen DeVirgilio PT, DPT 
  Project title: Piloting an Innovative Methodology for Measuring and Reporting Physical Activity Among Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer 

12. Clinical Futures faculty members were awarded over $52.6M in new grant funding in the past year.  

13. This brings total grant funding obtained by Clinical Futures faculty members since inception to approximately $310M. We share this figure to show our gratitude and appreciation to our funding partners and highlight what these awards allow us to do as a Center. These funds represent the vital work and research of our faculty, principal investigators, and staff as we continue to discover best practices and improve the standard of care delivered to our patients. 

14. Our grant funding effort was greatly aided by the Clinical Futures/PolicyLab Grant Writing unit, which was involved in the submission of over 50 grant proposals in the past academic year. 

Publications and Press  

15. Clinical Futures had over 30 print media features and dozens of interviews with major media outlets like WHYY, The New York Times, The Hill, CBS News, STAT, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Visit our Press Room here.  

16. Clinical Futures faculty and staff members published over 500 peer-reviewed publications in a wide variety of journals. See more Recent Publications here. 

17. CHOP Neonatologist and Clinical Futures Core Faculty member Karen M. Puopolo, MD, PhD, received the PA Pediatrician of the Year Award at the 2022 AAP Conference. 

18. Clinical Futures Core Faculty members, Pamela F. Weiss, MD, MSCE, and Gregory Tasian, MD, MSCE, were recognized on Main Line Today’s list of Top Doctors. 

19. The American Pediatric Society named Clinical Futures Core Faculty member Chris Feudtner, MD, PhD, MPH, as the recipient of the 2023 Norman J. Siegel Outstanding Science Award. 

20. Julia Szymczak, PhD, Associate Director for Social Science Methods in Healthcare Delivery at Clinical Futures, was nominated by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to serve on the Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (PACCARB) and sworn in on March 2, 2022. 

21. Clinical Futures Core Faculty member Kate Yun, MD, MHS, won the 2022 Greater Philadelphia Social Innovations Award in “Innovations in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” under the category of “Racial Justice.” 

22. Clinical Futures Core Faculty member George Dalembert, MD, MSHP,  co-authored a study with Penn researchers in the New England Journal of Medicine outlining the role hospitals can play in helping to build Black wealth, including how to help people connect to key services. Read the original article here. Read the commentary from Penn Medicine News here. 

Now that you know more about Clinical Futures, we hope you’ll stay engaged with us. Follow us here on the blog and our LinkedIn and Twitter pages to hear the latest news and research from the Center. We look forward to what 2023 will bring as we continue to power progress in pediatric care.