Children with chronic health conditions are the most vulnerable to poor outcomes without appropriate outpatient care. Delivery of pediatric cardiac care via the traditional in-person method through which care is typically delivered was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meet Dr. Stephanie Deutsch, Co-Medical Director of the Children At Risk Evaluation (C.A.R.E) Program and Section Chief of Child Abuse Pediatric Medicine (within the Division of General Pediatrics) at Nemours Children’s Hospital. Dr. Deutsch, along with her partner Dr. Allan De Jong, MD have been conducting an ACCEL-supported project researching child welfare involvement among prenatally substance exposed infants.
Meet Dr. Shabbir Merchant, ACCEL Researcher of the Quarter and recipient of a 2019
Mentored Research Development Award (MRDA). Dr. Merchant is a movement disorder
neurologist and assistant professor of neurology at the Medical University of South
Carolina. His clinical work involves treating patients with Parkinson’s disease, tremors,
and other movement disorders. He uses therapies such as deep brain stimulation and
precision tools like ultrasound guided botulinum toxin injections for treatment of a wide
variety of neurological disorders such as dystonia, spasticity, etc.
Meet Sue Giancola, PhD, ACCEL’s Core Lead for Tracking and Evaluation. Dr. Giancola has over twenty years of experience in the field of evaluation. Beginning in July 2018, she joined the ACCEL team and has been working to restructure and refocus the evaluation. The ACCEL evaluation uses a theory-based approach, and is both stakeholder-driven and results-focused. Evaluation is built into the logic of the ACCEL Program, and is outcomes-oriented within a continuous improvement framework.
Dr. Meg Sions, PhD, DPT, PT of the University of Delaware is an ACCEL Pilot Project Grant Awardee studying sensory impairment manifestations among adults with chronic limb pain following an amputation. Dr. Sions is conducting a cross-sectional study of 50 adults with a unilateral, below-the-knee amputation (25 with long-standing pain in the amputated limb and 25 without), who are compared to 25 controls. The purpose of the study is to (a) explore differences in sensory thresholds, including vibration and light touch detection, among adults with and without chronic limb pain following amputation, as compared to controls and (b) how these differences relate to prosthetic use and physical function. Knowledge gained from this study may result in shifting of post-amputation rehabilitation to include novel interventions to address sensory impairments and pain, and also inform future prosthetic design, particularly if such impairments can be linked with clinically important outcomes, such as prosthesis fit and function.
Dr. Allison Karpyn, PhD., is Senior Associate Director of the Center for Research and Education and Social Policy (CRESP) and Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Sciences at the University of Delaware. She is also an ACCEL Community Engaged (ACE) Research Awardee and member of the CEO Core. With the help of the ACE Pilot funding, Dr. Karpyn and her team were able to kick start their research on the impact of animal zoo characters on healthy food sales at a zoo concession stand.
Let me introduce myself, Dayna Littleton, the new Program Coordinator supporting the ACCEL Program at Delaware State University. I am originally from Connecticut and grew up in a “science education” household where my mother was a high school Biology teacher and my stepfather was a professor of Biology; his research focused on birds of prey worldwide and he published articles on avian ecology and authored some books, “The Great Horned Owl” being just one. I have a bachelor’s degree in Political Science. I am a mother to two teenage girls. My one daughter is a senior interested in studying biology in college. Their father is also a high school Biology teacher, so it must be in her blood. We have resided in Smyrna, DE for the past 17 years.
Dr. Neera Goyal, a pediatrician at Nemours Children’s Health System and Year 5 MRDA recipient and NIH Opioid Supplement Awardee, is researching the effects of intrauterine opioid exposure (IOE) in children and how the well child care (WCC) can improve medical, developmental, and psychosocial outcomes. This research study is supplemented by the Mentored Research Development Award (MRDA) and is a retrospective cohort study used PEDSnet data from a pediatric primary care network spanning three states (DE,PA,and FL), from 2011-2016. Among 11,334 children, 236 had a diagnosis of IOE. Children with IOE had a lower likelihood of adequate WCC compared with non-exposed children, adjusting for clinical and demographic risk factors . The conclusions from the study are that further research is needed on optimizing access to care and the role of WCC visits to support the complex needs of this population.
When we asked Dr. Goyal how the DE-CTR ACCEL Program has helped her in laying down the groundwork for her research, she said, “ It has not only provided support for my time, but also provided some helpful connections to researchers at Nemours and at the University of Delaware to help with analysis and grant writing.” Dr. Goyal participated in a mini workshop for grant writing geared towards the MRDA recipients, and has also utilized the mock review mechanism coordinated by the ACCEL Professional Development Core.
Dr. Iva Obrusnikova, PhD. from University of Delaware, was granted a pilot study to research the advantages of physical activity (PA) among adults with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities (ID). The study was funded in part by ACCEL, Delaware Clinical and Translational Research (DE-CTR). During the course of the study, Dr. Obrusnikova created a video-enhanced prompting system which focused on improving muscular strength and physical function for adults with ID. This program is called Progressive Resistance Training for EmPOWERment (PRT-POWER). Dr. Obrusnikova found that studies using only progressive resistance training (PRT) did not focus on the promotion of self-determined behaviors, which is a determinant of physical activity (PA) and a possible facilitator of improved quality of life among adults with ID. PRT-POWER was developed using the Wehmeyer’s Self- Determination Theory, which helped participants learn to exercise independently and exert energy on their own.
Assistant Professor of Surgery
Division of Vascular Surgery
Associate Program Director, Vascular Integrated Residency
Medical University of South Carolina
Congratulations to Dr. Jean Marie Ruddy! Dr. Ruddy was recently awarded an NIH K08 grant to continue her research, in part, thanks to ACCEL! Dr. Ruddy began her research career studying the biomedical link between hypertension and the occurrence of aortic aneurysms, as part of ACCEL’s Junior Investigator Network (JIN). In 2015, she was awarded a Mentored Research-Development Award (MRDA). This award granted Dr. Ruddy with 6 months of increased research time which enabled her to receive personal assistance in grant writing and spend more time in her lab, productively advancing her research. Based on the data acquired, it established the groundwork for a National presentation and a publication in the Journal of Vascular Surgery.