Summer 2003 - Arkansas Children's Hospital

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RESEARCH CDC Awards Grant to Charlotte A. Hobbs, M.D., Ph.D. and the ACH/UAMS Center for Birth Defects Research $4.5 Million Grant Awarded Dr. Charlotte Hobbs is director of the Arkansas Center for Birth Defects Research and Prevention, one of seven such centers in the country. Birth defects are the leading cause of infant mortality in the United States. Nationwide, three to five percent of all live births are affected with birth defects. Each year, there are approximately 37,000 live births in Arkansas and 1,500 infants born with birth defects. The Arkansas Center for Birth Defects Research and Prevention, established in 1997 with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is affiliated with Arkansas Children’s Hospital, Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute, UAMS and the Arkansas Department of Health. Charlotte A. Hobbs, M.D., Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics at UAMS, is the Center’s director. The Center recently received a five-year, $4.5 million research grant from CDC. This grant was awarded through a competitive renewal for CDC-funded Centers for Birth Defects Research. For the next five years, the Arkansas Center and six other centers will receive approximately $900,000 annually from the CDC to continue research on the causes and prevention of birth defects. The other six funded centers are located in California, Iowa, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Texas and Utah. With this funding, the Center will continue to participate in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study. The purpose of the study is to discover environmental and genetic factors that might increase understanding of the causes of birth defects with the goal of preventing many birth defects in the future. Each year, the Center researchers will conduct interviews with 300 mothers of Arkansas children born with birth defects and 100 mothers of children without birth defects. All the Centers for Birth Defects Research and Prevention will conduct similar interviews. To date, the Center has interviewed 1,283 mothers of Arkansas children born with birth defects and 423 mothers of children born without birth defects. The CDC funding has allowed the Center to compete successfully for additional funding from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the March of Dimes. In 2000, the Arkansas Center was awarded a five-year grant totaling $3.7 million from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development titled “Genes, Micronutrients, and Homeobox-related Malformations.” This study focuses on the roles of diet and genetic factors and the association between diet- and folate-dependent metabolic pathways and the risk of having a pregnancy affected by congenital heart defects or neural tube defects such as spina bifida. Other research activities and educational interventions at the center include: • Establishment of a laboratory for genetic studies of birth defects, with a special emphasis on the development of limb reduction defects. • Work to unravel the complex relationship between maternal nutrient intake and environmental exposures, genetic risks, and the occurrence of neural tube defects such as spina bifida, heart defects and Down syndrome. • Development of new approaches to understanding the role of diabetes in birth defects. The risk of having a baby with a birth defect is three to five times greater for women with diabetes than for women without diabetes. • Investigation of the healthcare utilization and medical costs for children with birth defects. • Intensive intervention efforts targeted at Arkansas women who have had pregnancies affected by a neural tube defect with the goal of preventing a subsequent pregnancy affected by a neural tube defect. The Center continues to evolve as a collaborative organization pursuing its mission of surveillance, research and public health programs designed to lessen the burden of birth defects in the state and the nation. 6
HOSPITAL NEWS Newly Elected... ACH Foundation Board ACH, Washington Regional and UAMS Announce Neonatal Intensive Care Agreement Scott Mason Little Rock ACH Auxiliary President-elect Julie Bull Little Rock Committee for the Future President Tami Underwood Magnolia Circle of Friends State Board President Washington Regional Medical Center (WRMC), Arkansas Children’s Hospital (ACH) and the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) have signed a joint agreement to make the WRMC Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) an extension/satellite of ACH. This association is the first of its kind for ACH and promises to improve healthcare for critically ill newborns in northwest Arkansas. The care provided at the two hospitals will be similar due to the collaborative efforts of the medical staff. Having an ACH neonatologist on site at WRMC who is familiar with neonatal care delivery at ACH optimizes not only on-going care but also the stabilization and ACH neonatologist and UAMS faculty member Dr. Gregory Franklin is providing on-site neonatology coverage at Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville as part of a new program to improve healthcare for critically ill newborns in northwest Arkansas. transfer of the most critically ill infants to ACH. Extremely low birth weight babies and babies requiring additional services and/or surgery will continue to be transferred to ACH. With the new alliance, ACH will transport these infants back to WRMC as soon as possible to expedite growth and development through increased family interaction. Additionally, the Department of Pediatrics at UAMS will provide consultative assistance and ACH will provide training for nurses, lab staff, respiratory therapists and nursery professionals. “This coordination of talent is a significant achievement in enhancing the availability of neonatal care in northwest Arkansas,” says Dr. Phillip Duncan, Washington Regional vice-president of Medical Affairs. “The daily interaction with ACH and UAMS specialists, combined with the on-site daily coverage of an ACH neonatologist, will give parents and family members a level of comfort with expert care available locally.” “This association is very exciting,” says neonatologist Dr. Gregory Franklin, “because in conjunction with the new state-of-the-art, 16-bed NICU, it enhances Washington Regional’s 20-year history of newborn intensive care by providing physician support, nursing education and additional transport services. The major emphasis of this endeavor is improved outcomes for all seriously ill infants in an environment close to home.” Dr. Franklin is on staff at ACH and is an adjunct assistant professor of pediatrics at UAMS, in addition to being on staff at Washington Regional. “ACH and the UAMS Department of Pediatrics look forward to this affiliation. It allows our institutions to have stronger ties and a true sense of teamwork,” says Dr. Bonnie Taylor, medical director for ACH. “We can learn from each other and we will work to support the staff and patients in the NICU at WRMC in a more meaningful and personal way than previously.” 7
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Page 4 and 5: PATIENTS AND FAMILIES WE HAVE KNOWN
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Page 14 and 15: AUXILIARY GROUPS Small Miracles Cel
Page 16: Legends in the Rock The playroom at

Summer 2003 - Arkansas Children's Hospital

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