To remain at the forefront of pediatric liver transplant research, we collaborate with other centers across the country and around the world to further our efforts and expand our understanding of pediatric liver disease. We are involved in:

• Childhood Liver Disease Research and Education Network (ChiLDREN)—a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-sponsored collaborative network organized to study rare childhood liver diseases
• iWith—a clinical trial for the immunosuppression withdraw for pediatric liver transplant recipients
• Nonalcohoic Steatohepatitis (NASH) Clinical Research Network—an NIH and National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)-sponsored collaborative network that focuses on the etiology, contributing factors, history, complications and therapy of NASH
• Pediatric Acute Liver Failure (PALF)—a multicenter, national collaborative effort to help identify, characterize and develop management strategies for children who present with acute liver failure
• Study of Pediatric Liver Transplantation (SPLIT)—a cooperative effort among leading pediatric transplant centers in the U.S. and Canada to advance the science of pediatric liver transplants

Our areas of interest include:

• Acute liver failure
• Adolescent nonadherence and transition to adult care
• Biliary atresia
• Cystic fibrosis
• Fatty liver disease
• Medical issues post-transplant
• Neonatal alloimmune liver disease
• Neonatal cholestatic liver disease
• Noninvasive diagnosis of liver disease using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
• Nutritional outcomes of liver transplant
• Portal hypertension
• Transplant rejection and immunologic tolerance

We are developing better preventive and diagnostic treatments for cardiac conditions. To further our efforts, we are involved in:

• Pediatric Heart Transplant Study (PHTS)—a multi-center study about heart pediatric heart transplant patients. The goal is to review outcomes and learn more about heart transplantation.
• Pediatric Cardiomyopathy Registry (PCMR)—a National Heart Lung and Blood Institute funded multi-center observational study of children diagnosed with cardiomyopathy. The purpose is to describe the epidemiologic features and clinical course of selected cardiomyopathies in patients ages 0 to 18 years and to promote the development of etiology-specific treatments.
• Pediatric Heart Network (PHN)—funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the PHN is a group of hospitals in the U.S. and Canada that conducts research studies in children with congenital or acquired heart disease.

• Surgical techniques, including Fontan flow and surgical ventricular restoration (SVR)
• Mechanical support of the failing heart
• Heart failure management
• Blood group incompatible transplants
• Effect of race on transplantation
• Re-transplantation

Our team is active in advanced clinical research for pediatric kidney transplant, giving children better options for transplants and innovative therapies. We are involved in:

• Chronic Kidney Disease in Children (CKiD)—a study of the effects of chronic kidney disease on children sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
• Clinical Trials in Organ Transplantation in Children (CTOT-C)—an investigative consortium sponsored by the NIH that conducts multi-institutional clinical studies that will lead to improved outcomes for pediatric transplant recipients.
• Nephrotic Syndrome Study Network (NEPTUNE)—a study of patients with nephrotic syndrome seeking to understand the cause and find better treatments for this challenging disease.

• Adolescent nonadherence and transition to adult care
• Behavioral consequences of solid organ transplant
• Cystinosis
• Effects of chronic kidney disease in children
• Hypertension
• Immunosuppressive strategies
• Nephrotic syndrome and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis
• New medications to prevent transplant rejection
• Noninvasive strategies to monitor kidney transplant recipients

Children's is also at the forefront of atypical HUS research, our physicians successfully provided a kidney transplant combined with an experimental drug therapy to treat the condition, only the third patient of this kind in the U.S.