Brittney Snyder, PHD, is one of nine early investigators selected to receive an Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Opportunities and Infrastructure Fund (OIF) award funded by the NIH. Dr. Snyder’s project is titled: Leveraging Existing Newborn Screening Metabolic Data to Understand Childhood Health and Disease.
The OIF is an NIH-funded grants mechanism for early investigators to support projects for the introduction of new research, tools, and technologies in the ECHO Program. The ECHO program is a seven-year research initiative aimed to determine what factors give children the highest probability of achieving the best health outcomes over their lifetimes. ECHO is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
This OIF project will leverage existing newborn screening (NBS) metabolic data, in combination with extant data from participating ECHO birth cohorts, to identify molecular targets and pathways underlying childhood disease and positive health. Specific aims of the project include:
- Determine the relationship between NBS metabolites, environmental exposures, and childhood diseases and positive health through creation of a linked database.
- Leverage this database to test the hypothesis that targeted NBS metabolites act as mediators in the pathway between prenatal smoking and childhood asthma and obesity.
Using an established protocol, investigators will work with five ECHO cohorts from three different states to link extant data with existing, targeted NBS metabolic data from their respective state’s health department. This project has the potential to impact future ECHO studies through the creation of an innovative research platform for further exploration into mechanisms of childhood diseases and positive health.
Tina Hartert, MD, MPH, Vice President for Translational Research, Director of the Center for Asthma Research and the Lulu H. Owen Professor of Medicine, leads the Human Epidemiology and Response to SARS-CoV-2 (HEROS) study, designed to help determine the rate of novel coronavirus infection in children and their family members in the United States. "It’s not known whether children are more resistant to the virus or whether they are infected by the virus just as frequently as adults but don’t get symptoms. One consistent trend recognized early in the pandemic was that children weren’t as often becoming critically ill compared with adults, but this doesn’t equate to children not getting infected,” said Dr. Hartert. HEROS is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH): National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
Kedir Turi Ph.D. featured in Clinical Infectious Diseases. Dr. Turi's research on the risk of childhood asthma with antibiotic use during pregnancy has been published in a Clinical Infectious Diseases article, "Dose, Timing, and Spectrum of Prenatal Antibiotic Exposure and Risk of Childhood Asthma"
Brittney M. Snyder Ph.D. receives abstract scholarship. Dr. Snyder received an abstract scholarship from the American Thoracic Society Conference in 2019.
Kedir Turi Ph.D. featured in MIMS Pharmacy. Dr. Turi's work on the risk of childhood asthma with antibiotic use during pregnancy, which he presented at the ATS 2018 conference, contributed to Pearl Toh's article "Antibiotic use during pregnancy may up risk of childhood asthma."
Andrew Abreo M.D. wins Sam Marney Award for Excellence in Allergy & Immunology Training. The award is given to an outstanding fellow in Allergy/Immunology and was awarded to Dr. Abreo at the Department of Medicine State of the Department Teaching Awards Ceremony on June 7.
Kedir Turi Ph.D. wins Abstract Scholarship. Dr. Turi has been awarded a scholarship by the Assembling on Allergy, Immunology, and Inflammation (AII) to present his abstract at the 2018 ATS International Conference in San Diego, CA.
Christian Rosas-Salazar M.D. M.P.H. is awarded a grant by Francis Family Foundation. Dr. Rosas-Salazar was chosen to receive the Parker B. Francis Fellowship Program grant for his work "Infant RSV Infection, the Airway Microbiome, and Childhood Respiratory Outcomes."
Andrew Abreo M.D. featured in Highlights from the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Annual Meeting. Dr. Abreo's presentation on bronchiolitis in infancy at the AAAAI Annual Meeting contributed to Katherine Bortz's article "Bronchiolitis in infancy tied to ear infections, pneumonia, antibiotic use."
Cosby Stone Jr. M.D. M.P.H. is interviewed by National Geographic. Dr. Stone discussed alpha-gal allergy with National Geographic in June 2017. His interview contributed to Sarah Gibbens' article "A Tick Bite could Make You Allergic to Meat - and It's Spreading."
Niek Achten M.D. presents at RSV Vaccines For The World 2017 conference. Dr. Achten, a Center for Asthma Research collaborator and previous research fellow, presented his poster, Derivation of a Clinical Prediction Model at Birth for Severe Infant Bronchiolitis Outcomes” at the RSV Vaccines For The World 2017 conference, organized by the Respiratory Syncytial Virus Network (ReSViNET) in Malaga, Spain.
Kedir Turi Ph.D. presents at RSV Vaccines For The World 2017 conference. Dr. Turi, a postdoctoral fellow in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, presented his work entitled “Identification of Two Novel Acute Respiratory Illness Cytokine-Response Subgroups Associated with Wheezing Phenotype” at the RSV Vaccines For The World 2017 conference, organized by the Respiratory Syncytial Virus Network (ReSViNET) in Malaga, Spain. Dr. Turi was awarded a travel grant for presenting his poster at the conference.
Cosby Stone Jr. M.D. M.P.H. receives award for excellence. Dr. Stone was awarded the Sam Marney Award for Excellence in Allergy/Immunology Fellowship at Vanderbilt in June 2017.
Dr. Christian Rosas-Salazar M.D. M.P.H. receives ATS Assembly on Pediatrics Scientific Abstract Award. Dr. Rosas-Salazar's abstract "Risk or Protective Factor? Mild Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection in Infancy and the Development of Recurrent Childhood Wheeze" was selected by the Pediatric Program Committee in recognition of Young Investigator for his exceptional contribution to Research Submitted to the Assembly on Pediatrics.
Kedir Turi Ph.D. receives AII abstract scholarship. Dr. Turi's abstract was chosen by the Assembly on Allergy, Immunology and Inflammation (AII) to receive a scholarship for the 2017 American Thoracic Society (ATS) International Conference.
Niek Achten M.D. receives an ATS travel award. Dr. Achten, a former research fellow for the Asthma research Group, was granted a travel fund to visit the American Thoracic Society Conference and present two abstracts.
Cosby Stone Jr. M.D. M.P.H. discusses seasonal allergies on WTVF Channel 5. Dr. Stone, Vanderbilt allergist, appeared on Channel 5's MorningLine to talk about prevention, causes and possible treatments for seasonal allergies. http://www.newschannel5.com/plus/morningline/morningline-seasonal-allergies
Christian Rosas-Salazar M.D. M.P.H. recently received the prestigious Parker B. Francis Fellowship Program award for his project titled “Infant RSV Infection, the Airway Microbiome, and Childhood Respiratory Outcomes ”. The Parker B. Francis Fellowship Program is a national award given to promising young investigators who demonstrate strong research skills in the field of pulmonary, sleep, and critical care.
Tina Hartert M.D. M.P.H. and Cosby Stone Jr. M.D. M.P.H. recently developed a tool to determine who needs to be vaccinated. Who to Vax is an interactive tool developed by Dr. Hartert and Dr. Stone to determine whether an adult should receive the adult pneumococcal vaccination. https://medicine.mc.vanderbilt.edu/whotovax/#node/1
Cosby Stone Jr. M.D. M.P.H.,was featured in an interview with WSMV Channel 4. In light of the recent spring-like weather, Dr. Stone discussed the fast-approaching pollen season and what the end of winter means for Nashville residents. http://www.wsmv.com/story/34579455/midstate-takes-the-good-and-bad-of-unsesonably-warm-february
Childhood health influences focus of new NIH initiative. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently announced it will award $157 million to launch a multi-center, seven-year initiative that will investigate how exposure to environmental factors in early development — from conception through early childhood — influences the health of children and adolescents.
Dr. R. Stokes Peebles M.D. was recently interviewed by WZTV Fox 17 News and WKRN News 2. Dr. Stokes Peebles discussed the warm weather's effect on this year's allergy season. http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/webapps/MyVUMC/myvumc/index.html?article=19263&utm_source=February+28%2C+2017&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=MyVUMC
Kedir Turi Ph.D. presented at the Keystone Symposia on Molecular and Cellular Biology in Keystone, CO. Dr. Turi spoke about Identification of Infant Acute Respiratory Illness Cytokine-Response Subgroups Associated with Recurrent Wheezing Phenotype.
Cosby Stone Jr. M.D. M.P.H. was featured in an interview with WSMV Channel 4. In light of the recent spring-like weather, Dr. Stone discussed the fast-approaching pollen season and what the end of winter means for Nashville residents. http://www.wsmv.com/story/34579455/midstate-takes-the-good-and-bad-of-unsesonably-warm-february
Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO). Vanderbilt is among a consortium of study centers involved in the initiative known as ECHO, which will focus on four major health areas: asthma, neuro-development, obesity and perinatal outcomes.
Developmental Impact of NICU Exposures (DINE). Paul Moore, M.D., is the Vanderbilt principal investigator for the DINE cohort. Vanderbilt’s cohort is the largest group of premature infants of the 15 DINE sites.
Patty Russell R.N., B.S.N. was named a finalist for the Tennessean 13th Annual Salute to Nurses Awards.