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In 2007, the Richard King Mellon Foundation made a generous financial contribution to create the Richard King Mellon Institute for Pediatric Research (RKMI), some of which was spent constructing the Rangos Research Center. Since that time, additional financial support was obtained from a generous gift from the Tull Family Foundation to support pediatric research initiatives within the RKMI.
The RKMI began as a small group of investigators (termed “Mellon Scholars”) housed in the Rangos Research Center and functioned as a small, independent division within the Department of Pediatrics. In 2018, the RKMI expanded its mission with the objective to support talented scientists in the early stages of their careers performing cutting-edge pediatric research.
The overarching goal of the RKMI is to become the cornerstone of basic and clinical research within UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, encompassing a wide reach to facilitate synergy, communication, and mentorship across all research disciplines under the UPMC Children's umbrella, regardless of department or division. We believe that the diversity surrounding the professional experiences and scientific interests of the Mellon Scholars will accelerate collaboration across divisions and departments at UPMC Children's for the continual pursuit of excellence in pediatric healthcare.
Leadership:
George K. Gittes, MD - Director
Timothy W. Hand, PhD - Associate Director
Kristin N. Ray, MD. MS. FAAP - Associate Director
John F. Alcorn - Associate Director
Current Mellon Scholars:
Sameer “Sam” Agnihotri, PhD – Personalized treatment for brain cancer
Rannar Airik, PhD – New strategies to treat kidney failure
Kelly M. Baily, MD, PhD – The Ewing sarcoma microenvironment and immune responses to pediatric sarcomas
Thiago Bruder do Nascimento, MSc, PhD – Vascular biology and metabolic diseases
Brian Campfield, MD – Fending off foreign attacks on the lung
Shaun Carlson, PhD - The identification of therapeutic apporaches to promote recovery after brain injury.
Alison Culyba, MD, PhD, MPH - Community-engaged violence prevention
Will DePas, PhD – Biogeography of bacterial infections
Catherine Forster, MD – Urobiome in UTIs
Lina Ghaloul Gonzalez, MD – Plain people (Amish/Mennonites) translational medicine
Radha Gopal, PhD - Cardiovascular diseases assocaited with viral infection
Katherine Guyon-Harris, PhD - Interventions to support positive parent-child relationships across the perinatal period
Tom Hooven, MD – Mechanisms and prevention of perinatal infections
Baoli Hu, PhD – Brain tumor cell behavior
Jessica Jarvis, PhD, MT-BC - Improving the efficacy and equity of pediatric rehabilitation services for children with chronic and serious illnesses
Melissa Kane, PhD – Viruses and the immune system
Dwi U. Kemaladewi, PhD – Interventional genomics in rare diseases
Laura Kirkpatrick, MD - Reproductive health and epilepsy
Gary Kohanbash, PhD – Brain tumor vaccines
Marcus Malek, MD – Precision-guided surgery to find cancers
Christine March, MD, MS - Optimizing health care delivery and outcomes for youth with diabetes
Anita McElroy, MD, PhD – Virus effects throughout the body
Amanda Poholek, PhD – Transcriptional and Epigenetic Regulation of Immune Cell Function
Maya Indira Ragavan, MD, MPH, MS - Supporting IPV surviviors in pediatric healthcare settings
Anne-Marie Rick, MD, MPH, PhD - Pretection against newborn infections through maternal immunity
Franziska Rosser, MD, MPH, FAAP – Epidemiological effects of outdoor air pollution on children with asthma
Anita Pradeep Saraf, MD, PhD – Developing a better understanding the role of genetic mutations, chronic inflammation and mechanical strain on cardiomyocytes
Laurie Silva, PhD – Viral and host determinants of virus replication and pathogenesis
Amery Treble-Barna, PhD – Neurologic function after brain injury
Mary Ellen Vajravelu, MD, MSHP - Improving outcomes and achieving health equity for youth with type 2 diabetes
Xiangwei Xiao, MD, PhD – Insulin cell function and preservation
Megan Culler Freeman, MD, PhD - Understanding how viruses cause paralysis
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