Internal Funding
Center for Clinical and Translational Science and Training (CCTST) Program Awards
Cincinnati Children’s partners with the University of Cincinnati and other institutions to support programs funded through the Center for Clinical and Translational Science and Training (CCTST). This list shows faculty who received grants to support translational research, build core capabilities, develop innovative research methods, or collaborate with community partners.
| PI | PI Division | Co-I | Co-I Division | Title |
| June Goto Nakamura, PhD | Neurosurgery | Francesco Mangano,DO, FACS, FAAP, FACOS | Neurosurgery | Targeted gene therapy for the prevention and treatment of X-linked hydrocephalus |
| Hee Kim, MD | Radiology | Cuixia Tian, MD | Neurology | Imaging biomarker of acute muscle damage in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) |
| Theodosia Kalfa, MD, PhD | Hematology | Mary Risinger, PhD Charles Quinn, MD, MS |
College of Nursing Hematology |
Targeted Treatment in Sickle Cell Disease |
| Nicholas Ollberding, PhD | Biostatistics and Epidemiology | David Haslam, MD Michael Wagner, PhD Mekibib Altaye, PhD |
Infectious Disease Biomedical Informatics Biostatistics and Epidemiology |
Microbial Metagenomics Analysis Core |
| Nicolas Nassar, PhD | Pharmacological Inhibition of Vav3 in TKI-Resistant Ph+ B-ALL | |||
| Yan Xu, PhD | Pulmonary Biology | Apply single cell ATAC-Seq to determine chromatin accessibility of LAM lung | ||
| Emily Miraldi, PhD | Immunobiology and Biomedical Informatics | Stephen Waggoner, PhD | CAGE | Engineering innate lymphoid cells in health and disease |
| Elaine Urbina, MD, MS | Cardiology | Lisa Martin, PhD | Human Genetics | Epigenetics, Diet & Vascular Dysfunction in T1DM |
| Md Nasimuzzaman, PhD | Experimental Hematology and Cancer Biology | Generation of a PAR-4flox/flox Mouse | ||
| Gang Huang | Pharmaceutical Sciences | Exploring the Metabolic Reprogramming in Leukemic Transformation in Mouse Models | ||
| Vivian Hwa, PhD | Endocrinology | Insulin-induced Enhancer RNA Regulation of IGF1 Expression in Patient-based iPSC models | ||
| Daniel Prows, PhD | Human Genetics | Nives Zimmermann, MD | Pediatrics | Cardiac imaging the mutant mouse line: eosinophilic myocarditis to heart disease |
| H. Leighton "Lee" Grimes, PhD | Pediatrics/Immunobiology | Gut microbiome regulation of hematopoietic progenitor biology | ||
| Rana Herro, PhD | Pediatrics/Immunobiology | Shedding LIGHT and TL1A on Neutrophilic Asthma | ||
| Ian Lewkowich, PhD | Pediatrics/Immunobiology | Phosphoproteomic characterization of IL-13 signaling | ||
| Bin Huang, PhD | Biostatistics and Epidemiology | Michal Kouril, PhD | Biomedical Informatics | 2nd year funding- Advance Casual Inference Methods for Data-powered Health |
| Xueheng Zhao | Pathology | Liang Niu | Bioinformatics and Biostatistics | Developing machine learning method for longitudinal metabolomics data analysis |
| Rick Ittenbach, PhD | Biostatistics and Epidemiology | Jeremy Corsmo | Research Compliance | uConsent: Participant Understanding in Clinical Research |
| Sang Hoon Lee, MD, MEd | Emergency Medicine | Gary Geis, MD | Emergency Medicine | Evaluating Remote Training and Assessment via Video |
| Mina Busch | Single IRB Presentation | |||
| Tanya Froehlich, MD, MS, and Nichole Nidey, MS, PhD | Professor of Pediatrics & Research Fellow, Epi/Pediatrics, CCHMC | Pam Born, Donna Collier-Strepp, and Susan Ford + Patient Partners | OhioHealth Physician Group, Adena Baby-Centered Recovery, Ohio Perinatal Quality Collaborative | |
| Laura Olexa, RN, BSN, and Linda Helms | Veggies via Vespa/North Fairmount Community Center | Lisa Vaughn, PhD, and Stacey Gomes, MS | ||
| Dena Cranley, MA, and Barbara Lynch | Chairs, First Ladies for Health | Monica Mitchell, PhD |
Children’s Health Research Career Development Award (CHRCDA)
This NICHD-funded program provides grants to support training physician-scientists to stimulate pediatric research across a variety of disciplines. This year’s awardees are:
| Name | Division | Title of Research |
| Sonya Tang Girdwood, MD | Hospital Medicine | Optimizing Piperacillin Therapy in Pediatric Patients |
| Anna Peters, MD, PhD | Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition | Transcriptional Characterization of Pathogenic B Cells in Pediatric Liver Transplant Rejection |
| Meredith Schuh, MD | Nephrology and Hypertension | Molecular Analysis of Third Trimester Renal Progenitor Cells in the Primate Model |
Fifth Third Bank/Charlotte R. Schmidlapp Women Scholars Awards
This program provides grants to support the academic career development of women faculty who have demonstrated academic potential and leadership skills as they progress toward the ranks of associate and full professor. This year’s awardees are:
| Name | Division | Year |
| Elisa Boscolo, PhD | Experimental Hematology and Cancer Biology | 2020-2021 |
| Megan McGrady, PhD | Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology | 2021-2022 |
Place Outcome Awards
This program, administered by the James M. Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence, provides grants to stimulate the development of health services and quality improvement research at Cincinnati Children’s and to ensure optimal implementation of clinical and operational innovations in the care delivery system. Awardees receiving funding are:
| PI Name | Division | Award Title |
| Robert Ammerman, PhD, ABPP | Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology | Integrated Behavioral Health Prevention in Pediatric Primary Care Improving Self-Regulation and Outcomes for Infants and Parents |
| Meera Kotagal, MD, MPH | Pediatric General and Thoracic Surgery | Co-designing and evaluating neighborhood-based interventions to reduce pediatric injury |
| Vanessa Olbrecht, MD, MBA | Anesthesia | Feasibility and acceptability of a biofeedback-based virtual reality intervention to manage postoperative pain in children and adolescents after surgery |
| Matthew Zackoff, MD, MEd | Critical Care Medicine | Interprofessional VR Training to Impact Recognition and Management of Sepsis |
| Roger Cornwall, MD | Orthopaedic Surgery | Lived Experience of Adults with Brachial Plexus Birth Injury (LEAP) |
Procter Scholar Grant
The Procter Scholar Program supports faculty members from the Departments of Pediatrics, Surgery, Radiology, Patient Services, and Anesthesia who are committed to pursuing academic research careers.
| PI | Division | Grant Title |
| David Smith, MD, PhD | Pediatric Otolaryngology, Pulmonary Medicine | Circadian clock dysregulation in a model of obstructive sleep apnea |
| William Zacharias, MD, PhD | Pulmonary Biology | Combined activity of the PRC2 and BAF complexes define the regenerative capacity of alveolar progenitors |
| Neha Santucci, MD | Gastroenterology | A comprehensive investigation of the role of sleep in adolescents with functional abdominal pain disorders |
| Maria Barnes-Davis, MD, PhD | Neonatology and Pulmonary Biology | Towards biomarkers of resiliency in the extremely preterm child: a multimodal neuroimaging study of brain and environment |
Trustee Grant Awards
This program provides research funds for junior faculty to support rapid achievement of independent, sustained extramural funding for their research. This year’s awardees are:
| PI | Division | Grant Title |
| Ziyuan Guo, PhD | Developmental Biology | Dopaminergic dysregulation in human in vitro circuit models of schizophrenia |
| Tamara Tilburgs, PhD | Immunobiology | Regulation of fetus and virus specific CD8+ T cell responses in human pregnancy |
| Rana Herro, PhD | Immunobiology | The combinatorial targeting of LIGHT and TL1A to treat Pulmonary Fibrosis |
| Jason Tchieu, PhD | Developmental Biology | Investigating the role of nuclear factor I (NFI) genes in modulating cortical neuron timing |
| John Robinson, MD, PhD | Experimental Hematology and Cancer Biology | Dissecting a superior colliculus output circuit for visual processing phenotypes in NF1 |
| Mingxia Gu MD, PhD | Pulmonary Biology | Transcriptional and Epigenetic Basis of the Endothelial Defect in BPD-PH |
| Mattia Quattrocelli, PhD | Molecular Cardiovascular Biology | Pharmacological Mechanisms Enhancing Adiponectin Sensitivity in Dietary Obesity |
