Research

Overview

The Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine is engaged in a wide range of clinical, translational, and basic science research spanning a number of diverse topics. Specific areas of research interest include respiratory mechanics to optimize mechanical ventilation; mechanisms of inflammatory and oxidant-mediated lung injury; extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and ventricular assist devices (VAD); the pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and safety profiles of understudied medications; and using various methodologies to improve education, hand-offs, communication, and overall patient safety.

Research Faculty

Alexandre Tellechea Rotta, MD, Chief
Areas of interest: Pediatric acute respiratory failure and its various respiratory support modalities, outcomes research in pediatric critical care, critical bronchiolitis, and in-flight medical emergencies involving children

Veerajalandhar Allareddy, MBBS
Areas of interest: Outcomes research, big data analytics

Christoph Hornik, MD
Areas of interest: Study of pharmacokinetics, efficacy and safety of drugs in critically ill children including those with congenital heart disease through pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic modeling and simulation, clinical trials, and real-world data analyses

Kimberly Jackson, MD
Areas of interest: Patient quality and safety (decreased hospital acquired harm); cardiac arrest risk factors, warning signs, and prevention; improvements in resuscitation efforts (quality CPR, post-arrest care, post-arrest outcomes)

Sameer Shantaram Kamath, MBBS
Areas of interest: Outcomes research, healthcare resource utilization, quality/performance improvement in healthcare

Karan Ravindra Kumar, MD
Areas of interest: Acute kidney injury and fluid overload in critically ill children, implementation of electronic health record (EHR)-based advanced risk prediction or learning health models in order to accurately detect and prevent pediatric deterioration

Palen Powelson Mallory, MD
Areas of interest: Clinical research related to respiratory failure, ARDS, ECMO

Caroline Ozment, MD
Areas of interest: Transfusion medicine, acute lung injury, coagulation and transfusion medicine with a focus (but not limited to) ECMO

Kyle Jason Rehder, MD
Areas of interest: Mechanical ventilation, ECMO, patient safety and quality, communication, education

Jennifer Sherwin, MD
Areas of interest: Pharmacokinetics and safety of drugs in critically ill children, mechanical circulatory support (ECMO and VADs), and outcomes in critically ill children

Jennifer Lilly Turi, MD
Areas of interest: Iron transport, inflammatory lung disease, oxidant stress, cardiopulmonary bypass, cystic fibrosis

David Ashley Turner, MD
Areas of interest: ECMO, education, communication and professionalism; patient safety and quality

Travis Prentiss Vesel, MD
Areas of interest: Medical device innovation, oxygen delivery devices, ventricular assist devices, cardiac arrest prevention

Kanecia Zimmerman, MD
Areas of interest: Improving the safety of drugs administered to critically ill children

Clinical Research​

  • Outcomes research and optimization of patient quality and safety
  • Use of medical simulation and other methodologies to improve trainee education and patient safety
  • Multicenter trial to determine the PK and safety of selected anti-epileptics in obese children & adolescents
  • Multicenter trial to characterize the PK, safety, and identify impact of pharmacogenomics on PK of anesthetics and analgesics
  • Multicenter trial evaluating the PK profile, safety of anti-infectives
  • Multicenter trial evaluating PK, safety, and preliminary efficacy of enteral digoxin in infants with single ventricle congenital heart disease
  • Multicenter trial characterizing the opioid-sparing effect, exposure-response relationships, and safety profile of dexmedetomidine when co-administered with fentanyl in children receiving mechanical ventilation
  • Multicenter trial evaluating the association between nutrient adequacy and functional outcomes as well as the association between quadriceps muscle changes & functional outcomes in children on ECMO
  • Multicenter, international trial of pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and safety profile of understudied drugs administered to children per standard of care as prescribed by their treating caregiver
  • Multicenter trial characterizing the effects of prone positioning with supine positioning and effects of High-Frequency Oscillator Ventilation with Conventional Mechanical Ventilation on ventilator-free days
  • Multicenter trial defining sepsis-induced biochemical & biophysical alterations to RBCs that influence O2 delivery

Translational Research

  • Use of CO2 elimination to measure the efficacy of conventional mechanical ventilation
  • Role of CO2 elimination in optimizing lung recruitment in a model of acute lung injury
  • Use of heliox gas mixture during conventional and high frequency oscillatory ventilation
  • Role of inhaled nitric oxide during cardiopulmonary bypass

Basic Research

  • The role of iron in inflammatory lung disease in children
  • Activation of anion exchange protein 2 and AP-1 by oxidative stress in airway epithelial cells
  • Superoxide-dependent iron uptake by anion exchange protein 2.
  • The role of duodenal cytochrome b as a ferri-reductase in airway epithelial cells
  • Effect of red blood cell storage age on iron release and immune function
  • Mechanisms of oxidant lung injury after cardiopulmonary bypass in children

Clinical Trials

The Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine has team members dedicated to clinical research with extensive experience conducting research studies in children.

For information about current clinical trials in the Division of Critical Care Medicine, please contact Dr. Chi Hornik, Director of Clinical Research, Division of Pediatric Critical Care medicine or visit dukechildrens.org.

chi hornik

Chi Hornik, PhD
Director of Clinical Research
chi.hornik@duke.edu

melissa harward

Melissa Harward, MS
Lead Clinical Research Coordinator
melissa.harward@duke.edu

 

Bethany Kistler, RN

Bethany Kistler, RN
Clinical Research Coordinator
bethany.kistler@duke.edu

 

Natasha Cunningham

Natasha Cunningham
Clinical Research Coordinator
natasha.l.cunningham@duke.edu