UCSF to Host NIH-CTSA Web Conference on Pediatric Research

UCSF will host a web conference on "Challenges Facing Institutional Review Boards" in pediatric research on Tuesday, Sept. 11. The web conference is slated to run from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time at the UCSF Faculty/Alumni House, 745 Parnassus Ave. Continental breakfast and lunch will be served. Sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA), the web conference will include members from CTSA sites' institutional review boards and committees on human research, who will be pre-assigned to specific scenarios. The conference will be introduced by Jennifer Puck, MD, professor of pediatrics and human genetics and director of the Pediatric Clinical Research Center at UCSF Children's Hospital. Puck is a member of the UCSF Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI). Established last year with a grant from the NIH, the CTSI at UCSF works to create a comprehensive, integrated academic home that promotes research and education in clinical and translational science at UCSF, at affiliated institutions and in participating communities. UCSF is one of the first 12 academic institutions selected to be part of the NIH's national clinical and translational science consortium. The consortium has a charter to transform clinical and translational research to ensure that the best health solutions get to patients as quickly as possible. At UCSF, CTSI is a cross-campus institute, with scientist-leaders at its helm. Representatives of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the Office for Human Research Protections and the Food and Drug Administration also will participate in the web conference. The focus of the conference will be composite protocol examples that highlight challenges in the review of pediatric research. Topics include: * Experimental therapy for systemic lupus erythematosus * Screening children at risk for type 2 diabetes and healthy controls * Following infants from birth to assess risk of autism spectrum disorder * New treatment for children with brain tumors that have a poor prognosis * Emergency intervention in suicidal adolescents with self-inflicted injuries In addition, facilitating inter-institutional studies and feasibility of a central institutional review board will be addressed. UCSF Committee on Human Research and CTSI members, investigators, pediatricians and all interested in human subject research are welcome to attend. More information about the web conference, including the case studies to be discussed, can be found on the UCSF CTSI website here. Those who plan to attend are asked to RSVP as soon as possible to Lynn Goldman at 415/476-2190.