Pediatric Heart Network University of Pittsburgh

PROJECT SUMMARY The purpose of this application is for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Heart Institute (CHP-HI) to demonstrate that it has the patient population, faculty and staff expertise, clinical services, research resources, and enrollment and follow-up successes to become an outstanding and productive member of the NHLBI’s Pediatric Heart Network. UPMC is an extensive, integrated, nonprofit healthcare system with over 40 hospitals and 600 clinical locations that provide healthcare services for patients from Ohio, West Virginia, New York, and Pennsylvania. As such, cohort diversity is inherent in our network, which is in alignment with the future goals of the PHN in this new grant cycle. CHP-HI is the recognized CHD center of excellence in our region which provides care to rural and underserved underrepresented minority (URM) patients with pediatric acquired and pediatric and adult congenital heart disease. CHP-HI PHN Proposal investigator team (Co-PIs Goldstein, Olivieri, Panigrahy) combines significant and complementary clinical research experience, data management and integration experience, and clinical leadership, including the multi-site UPMC Adult Congenital Heart Disease Center. The investigator team includes multiple veteran PHN investigators and federally funded, clinical research thought leaders. Our institution is responsible for more than 500 cardiothoracic surgeries, > 17,000 outpatient visits, and > 19,000 echocardiograms per year. Our internationally recognized excellent outcomes mirror our high clinical volume. Unique features of our program include (a) a large, geographically stable, and diverse population for recruitment and enrollment into clinical studies, (b) strong CTSA supporting the infrastructure for diverse recruitment, (c) excellent and collaborative clinical research coordinator teams, and (d) established and robust bioinformatics infrastructures to leverage electronic health records and registry-based data. We also demonstrate impactful integration of clinical cardiology, basic science, and surgical services. Overall Impact: Our team is uniquely well-poised to undertake this proposal given our multidisciplinary areas of research, clinical, and brain-cardiac imaging biomarker expertise, as well as leadership roles within CCRC, CNOC, CNU, and the PHN. We will propose scientifically sound, statistically robust research protocols that can be performed within the PHN, leverage existing CHD registries to gain efficiencies where possible, enroll eligible children across the UPMC CHP-HI, collect complete data, and readily communicate results within the PHN to facilitate rapid dissemination of research findings. Investigators agree to enthusiastically participate and diligently adhere to any protocol the PHN selects. The applicant organization agrees to the per-patient capitation of operational costs for the study protocols selected by the PHN.