The National Institutes of Health on Wednesday awarded the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences a $41.8 million grant to oversee a pediatric clinical trial network that will provide underserved and rural children access to clinical studies on environmental influences on early development.
UAMS will be the Data Coordinating and Operations Center for the IDeA States Pediatric Clinical Trial Network. UAMS said it received the award over other competing institutions.
The grant is part of a national seven-year, $157 million NIH initiative called Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes, or ECHO. The program will investigate how exposure to a range of environmental factors in early development affects the health of children and adolescents.
The principal investigators are Dr. Charlotte Hobbs, executive associate dean for research in the UAMS College of Medicine and the Pamela D. Stephens professor of Birth Defects Research; and Dr. Jeannette Lee, professor of biostatistics in the UAMS College of Medicine.
“The UAMS College of Medicine has extensive experience in the management of the ‘big data’ that drives transformational research, as well as in leadership and administration of major clinical trials in rural areas,” said Dr. Pope L. Moseley, the executive vice chancellor of UAMS and dean of the College of Medicine.
“We look forward to working with our faculty colleagues at the Arkansas Children’s Research Institute and the 16 other clinical sites in the IDeA States Pediatric Clinical Trials Network that we will support and lead as the Data Coordinating and Operations Center,” Moseley said.
UAMS said the Arkansas Children’s Research Institute will receive $1.9 million from the NIH to fund one of the program’s 17 clinical sites. The site will be led by Dr. Laura James, UAMS associate vice chancellor for clinical and translational research and director of UAMS’ Translational Research Institute; and ACRI President Dr. Gregory L. Kearns.
“This research will help us gain a better understanding of how genetic and environmental influences in early childhood development interact to impact overall child and adult health,” UAMS Chancellor Dr. Dan Rahn said in a news release. “Dr. Hobbs has extensive experience with genetic and environmental influences in early childhood development and Dr. Lee has expertise with analysis of complex data. Both are recognized nationally and internationally for their leadership in this field.”
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