The 2025 Research Retreat commemorating Dr. Samuel L. Katz was celebrated from April 7-9 and focused on the theme “From Research to Real World Practice: Implementation Science as a Tool to Improve Child Health Outcomes and Equity”.
The retreat initiated with a Poster Session and Platform Presentations (Abstract Book). This year, we witnessed a broad selection of Pediatric Research from Duke and UNC Chapel Hill that ranged from Genomics of Disease, Medical and Patient Education to Therapeutic Development, Drug Efficacy and Safety research areas. Top Abstract winners in the categories of Public Health/Implementation Science, Improvement Science, Clinical Research and Basic and Translational Research presented to the audience their research.
Claire Sibold, a medical student kicked off the platform talks by sharing her studies on care management for children in foster care done in collaboration with the North Carolina Integrated Care for Kids. Her talk was followed by medical student Noah Prizant, who discussed his results on the implementation of a notification system for patients with high-risk conditions. Afterwards Dr. Shaikha AlQahtani took the stage to share her discoveries on real world experience following the FDA approval of cultured thymus tissue implantation in congenital athymia. To close the platform presentations, Dr. Christopher Bassil, shared insights about his work with the EGFR inhibitor resistant lung cancer sensitivity to KEAP1.
The next day, April 8, we held a Special Grand Rounds [NetID required] that featured a keynote address by Dr. Michelle Trivedi. Dr. Trivedi, from the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, addressed the audience with a presentation titled “Meeting Children and Families Where They Are: Conducting Action-Oriented Research to Make an Impact”. Her talk was followed by a Keynote Panel Discussion [NetID required] focused on “Community-Engaged Healthcare for Asthma to Promote Health Equity.” Dr. Trivedi was joined by Dr. Jason Lang, Dr. Michelle Hernandez, and Melissa McDonald. This panel discussion, moderated by Dr. Mai Elmallah, brought to light challenges and potential solutions to help close the gap between asthma care and health equity, particularly the underpinnings of implementing care within school systems.
To close the 2025 Research Retreat, Dr. Hayden Bosworth, Dr. Rushina Cholera, Dr. Emily D’Agostino and Jeffrey Forde, joined Dr. David Ming to discuss “Implementation Science as a Tool to Improve Child Health Outcomes and Equity”. In this Panel Discussion [NetID required], we heard comprehensive perspectives about how to use implementation science to bring research from the lab to the real world by collaborating with community specialists. The panelists also shared with the audience their best practices on how to engage and learn more about Implementation Science.
This year’s 3-day Research Retreat celebrated the excellence, collaboration, and impact of pediatric research at Duke.