Greetings,

2009 was an exciting and eventful year for University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, and 2010 is shaping up with more exciting research by our world-renowned team.

Neuro-oncologist Duncan Stearns, MD, Director of Pediatric Neuro-Oncology at UH Rainbow, is expanding basic research and exploring newer treatments and clinical trials through the Jennifer Ferchill Brain Tumor Center. Dr. Stearns, who will oversee the expansion of translational research and clinical programs at UH Rainbow, has devoted his career to developing new approaches to treating brain tumors.

Anne Lyren, MD, Medical Director of Quality & Ethics and Interim Pediatrics Department Co-Chair at UH Rainbow, is leading a number of quality initiative programs to improve patient safety and outcomes. Quality research initiatives include minimizing surgical site infections and eliminating adverse drug events in children, championing pediatric applications for emergency medical records (EMR), improving hand hygiene, rapidly identifying and attending to children who need intensified care, and raising the bar for care in the intensive care unit.

Orthopaedic surgeons at UH Rainbow are using advanced surgical techniques to promote spine growth that is more tolerable for patients. Growing rods, video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery and posterior-only spinal fusion with spinal osteotomy are being used to correct severe spinal deformities without the negative consequences of more traditional techniques.

UH Rainbow’s growing Autonomic Disorders Interdisciplinary Program – the only interdisciplinary pediatric program of its kind and one of 12 fully equipped autonomic labs in the country – is offering diagnosis and treatment for a complex group of disorders with undiagnosed neurological symptoms. Headed by Gisela Chelimsky, MD, and Thomas Chelimsky, MD, the program recently received a $3.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the role of stress and the stress response in autonomic disorders.

For 20 years, the UH Rainbow Sickle Cell Anemia Center has provided specialty care to children afflicted with sickle cell anemia. Led by Brian W. Berman, MD, the Center treats about 310 families, making it the largest hemoglobinopathy program in Ohio and among the largest in the country. The multidisciplinary program addresses the multiple needs of families affected by sickle cell anemia.

We are delighted to participate in the National Children’s Health Study, created by the Children’s Health Act of 2000. Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine is managing the study as a community project through a five-year, $28 million contract.

We value our partnerships with colleagues from around the country and invite you to contact us at any time with questions, comments or referrals. Thank you for your continued dedication to patients. We look forward to seeing the results of current and future collaborations.

Sincerely,
Michael J. Farrell
President, UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital and University Hospitals MacDonald Women's Hospital