Research in the Division of Emergency Medicine is helping set new standards of care, both for first responders who transport infants and children in life-threatening situations and for the emergency department medical teams that treat them.
The division has a robust clinical research infrastructure including a dedicated research office adjacent to the Emergency Department. Our clinical researchers are led by Robert W. Hickey, MD and supported by five registered nurses and three research assistants. In recent years, the division’s clinical research team has annually enrolled, on average, about 2,400 children in various studies, a full list of which can be found here.
Our key studies are funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the division is a member of the prestigious Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network, a consortium of 18 children’s hospitals performing large-scale pediatric emergency medicine research studies funded by the federal government.
Recent clinical research programs by the division have examined treatment of urinary tract infections, treatment of concussion, management of young febrile infants, diagnosis of pneumonia, identification of cervical spine injuries, non-invasive diagnosis of strep throat, and prevalence of influenza, to name a few.
With NIH support, basic and translational research by the Division of Emergency Medicine is led by Mioara Manole, MD, FAAP, and includes investigations into pediatric asphyxial cardiac arrest, adult cardiac arrest, and pediatric and adult traumatic brain injury. Our state-of-the-art translational laboratory is also part of the internationally recognized Safar Center for Resuscitation Research.
We are also a part of the Pedi Lyme Net which is a multi-center Pediatric Lyme disease research collaborative of hospitals in Lyme endemic areas that collects clinical data and biological samples from children. It serves as a critical resource to help accelerate research that improves early detection and treatment for kids.
More resources and information can be found here and here.
Find a list of our current research studies here.
Access our other Clinical Studies at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh here »
PEM Research Staff
Shanon Young, MSN, RN, Clinical Research Manager
Annmarie Coppola, BSN, Clinical Research Nurse Coordinator
Stephanie Lorence, BSN, CPEN, Clinical Research Nurse Coordinator
Melanie Dean, BSN, Clinical Research Nurse Coordinator
Alexander Zimmerman, BSN, Clinical Research Nurse Coordinator
Ben Vais, BS, Clinical Research Assistant
Recent Publications
A Longitudinal Cohort Study of Children with Peripheral Facial Nerve Palsy in Lyme Disease Endemic Areas. Lederer SR, Neville DN, Balamuth F, Chapman LL, Thompson AD, Ladell MM, Kharbanda AB, Monuteaux MC, Nigrovic LE; for Pedi Lyme Net. J Pediatr. 2025 Nov 1;289:114879. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2025.114879. Online ahead of print. PMID: 41177400
The Current State of Pediatric Emergency Care Coordinators- A Role Essential for High Quality Pediatric Care, Christine Aspiotes, Hilary Hewes, Rachel Crady, Katherine Remick, Stephen Janofsky, Joyce Li, Academic Pediatrics,2025,102821,ISSN 1876-2859
Pediatric blunt abdominal trauma: Initial evaluation and stabilization. Saladino RA, Conti K. In: UpToDate, Wiley JF (Ed), UpToDate, Waltham, MA 2019. Updated annually; last update January 7 2025.
Association of race and ethnicity with emergency room Kellier D, Anto MM, Hall M, Marin JR, Nash K, Wells EM, Abend NS, Hutchinson ML, Moharir M, Messer RD, Palaganas JL, Piantino J, Szperka C, Press C. rate of migraine diagnosis, testing, and management in children with headache. Neurology 2025;104:e213351.
Standards for point-of-care ultrasound research reporting (SPUR): A modified Delphi to develop a framework for reporting point-of-care ultrasound research Schnittke N, Russell F, Gottlieb M, Lam S, Kessler D, Roppolo L, Demasi S, Henwood P, Liu Y, Marin JR, Nomura J, Pare J, Acuna J, Baloescu C, ,Boulger C, Cohen A, Duggan N, Ehrman R, Gaspari R, Kim D, Lin J, Lin-Martore M, Ma I, Melniker L, Nti B, Parri N, Prager R, Rathbun KM, Sivitz A, Snelling P, Stolz L, Theodoro D. . Acad Emerg Med (in press).
International COVID-19 Parental Attitude Study (COVIPAS) Group. Adverse events among early caregivers' COVID-19 vaccination correlated inversely with intention to vaccinate their children. Goldman RD, Hart RJ, Bone JN, Seiler M, Olson PG, Keitel K, Manzano S, Gualco G, Krupik D, Schroter S, Weigert RM, Chung S, Thompson GC, Muhammad N, Shah P, Gaucher NO, Lunoe MM, Evers M, Pharisa Rochat C, Nelson CE, Gal M, Baumer-Mouradian SH; Vaccine. 2025 Mar 22;55:127001. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2025.127001. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40121734.