The Department of Surgery at Texas Children's Hospital awards more than $270,000 in grants to launch new research investigations

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Jan 29, 2014, 08:00 ET

HOUSTON, Jan. 29, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Department of Surgery at Texas Children's Hospital is excited to announce the 2014 Surgical Seed Grant Award recipients. These grants, of up to $50,000 per project, will allow surgery researchers to generate the preliminary data necessary for National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant applications and other extramural funding. For more information please visit:

Established in 2011, these awards were designed primarily to support researchers in the early stages of their data collection necessary to submit successful grant applications to the NIH. The Surgical Seed Grant Committee, chaired by Dr. Jed Nuchtern, chief of pediatric surgery at Texas Children's, and Matt Girotto, assistant vice president in the Department of Surgery at Texas Children's, encourages both junior and senior faculty to submit applications for new areas of research.

In total, more than $270,000 in grants will be awarded to eight researches representing various surgical subspecialties including: general surgery, otolaryngology, pediatric and adolescent gynecology, plastic surgery and urology. The recipients, along with the titles of their projects are:

Dr. Jennifer Dietrich: The Relationship Between Paratubal Cysts, Hyperandrogenism and Obesity
Dr. David Khechoyan: Evaluation of Outcomes in Craniosynostosis Surgery
Dr. Bindi Naik-Mathuria: Utility of Near Infrared Spectroscopy in Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury
Dr. Julina Ongkasuwan: Evaluation of Pediatric Vocal Fold Nodules Using Ultrasound
Dr. Abhishek Seth: Identification of Urinary Inflammation-Specific DNA Methylation Markers to Aid in Early Prediction of Severe Hemorrhagic Cystitis
Dr. Sanjeev Vasudevan: MDM4- A Potential Therapeutic Target for Hepatoblastoma
Dr. Ashley Wenaas: Utility of Accelerometers in Cochlear Implant Surgery
Dr. Nicolette Janzen: Minimizing VCUG Discomfort with Neuromodulation

"This was a banner year for seed grant applicants as we not only had a record number of requests but we also saw a distinctive increase in outcomes related research desires," says Nuchtern, who is also professor of surgery at Baylor College of Medicine. "In recognition and support of the clinical outcomes related submissions, we are working closely with Texas Children's Outcomes and Impact Service to develop a mechanism to provide support to those important and worthy submissions."

About Texas Children's Hospital
Texas Children's Hospital, a not-for-profit organization, is committed to creating a community of healthy children through excellence in patient care, education and research. Consistently ranked among the top children's hospitals in the nation, Texas Children's has recognized Centers of Excellence in multiple pediatric subspecialties including the Cancer and Heart Centers, and operates the largest primary pediatric care network in the country. Texas Children's has completed a $1.5 billion expansion, which includes the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute; Texas Children's Pavilion for Women, a comprehensive obstetrics/gynecology facility focusing on high-risk births; and Texas Children's Hospital West Campus, a community hospital in suburban West Houston. For more information on Texas Children's, go to www.texaschildrens.org. Get the latest news from Texas Children's by visiting the online newsroom and on Twitter at twitter.com/texaschildrens.

Contact:
Elizabeth Shackouls
832-824-2108
[email protected]

SOURCE Texas Children's Hospital