On April 12th, the Institute for Infection, Inflammation, and Immunity in Children (i4Kids) held its annual research symposium and poster presentation at the Rangos Research Center at the UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. This would be the second in-person symposium for the i4Kids group since 2020, which doubled as the organization’s official launch.
Since 2020, i4Kids has awarded scholarship grants to over 30 medical students, formed a mentorship relationship with the Neighborhood Academy middle and high school in Garfield, and attracted over $4 million in philanthropic donations. These funds have provided support for medical students, cross-disciplinary collaborations designed to advance research in infection, inflammation, and immunity in pediatric medicine, and community engagement in the next generation of Pittsburgh physicians, researchers, and scientists.
Worldwide, infection, inflammation, and immunity, contribute to approximately 64% of all deaths in children under 5 years of age. The i4Kids group has made it its mission to combat this trend by working to harness the strengths of UPMC Children’s Hospital, the University of Pittsburgh, and partner institutions to develop a unique organization focused on kids and kids’ health. The ultimately goal of i4Kids is to become a world leader in research on these conditions, discover new tools to treat and prevent these diseases, and train the next generation of pediatric physicians and scientists.
This year’s research symposium featured keynote speaker Heather Stapleton, PhD, the Ronie-Richele Garcia-Johnson Distinguished Professor at Duke University’s School of the Environment. Her research focuses on the long-term affects of human exposure to harmful chemical additives in consumer products, such as flame retardants and PFASs (“forever chemicals”).
Other presenters focused on a broad variety of topics including improving home environments in order to improve childrens’ health, antimicrobial resistance, determinate factors in viruses, and recovery in specific stem cell transplantation procedures. Presenters represented a broad swath of disciplines across the University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences departments. Following oral presentations was a robust poster presentation and informal discussions.
Future i4Kids events include the 2023 Acute Flaccid Myelitis Symposium in November, which will feature Peter L. Salk, MD, President of The Jonas Salk Legacy Foundation and Professor of Infectious Disease and Microbiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, as the keynote speaker.
Follow Pitt Pediatrics on Twitter and Instagram, and i4Kids on Twitter for more updates on this ongoing work in infection, inflammation, and immunity research in pediatrics. And look us up on YouTube to see a few clips from this year's seminar, as well as many other talks and presentations.