Pediatric Award for Clinical Research (PACR)
The Thomas Jefferson University & Nemours Children’s Health Pediatric Award for Clinical Research is an initiative of the Jefferson and Nemours Children’s Health Pediatric Department to promote interdepartmental research. With a maximum award amount of $50,000, the intent of the PACR funding mechanism is to catalyze collaborative initiatives and enable the generation of pivotal data that will form the basis of new investigator-initiated research studies funded through external (federal, foundation or industry) granting mechanisms.
The application deadline for the 2026-2027 pilot award cycle is April 17, 2026.
Eligibility for Submission
Faculty from the Nemours Pediatric Department and Thomas Jefferson University Departments are encouraged to collaborate on transformational or translational clinical research topics. The investigator teams for submitted proposals must include a Nemours faculty member and a faculty member from any Jefferson department or college. Successful applicants will be pursuing lines of investigation that contribute to either departmental missions or larger institutional programmatic goals.
Any investigator requiring help identifying a collaborator at Nemours or Jefferson can contact the Jefferson & Nemours program leaders: Dr. David Whellan (TJU); Dr. Judith Ross (Nemours) or Dr. Meg Frizzola (Nemours).
Questions regarding the Pediatric Award for Clinical Research (PACR) may be addressed to Tyler Kmiec.
Awardees
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Cynthia Cheng, MD PhD; Family Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University Thao-Ly Tam Phan, MD, MPH; Pediatrics, Nemours Children’s Health Jeff Family Fit: Pilot Trial of a Family Healthy Weight Program in an Underserved Community |
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Lauren Delaney, PhD, MS; Radiology, Thomas Jefferson University Andrew Bluher, MD; Otolaryngology, Nemours Children’s Health Ultrasound Characterization of the Middle Ear: Investigating the Link Between Chronic Otitis Media and Pediatric Hyperacusis |
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Amit Srivastava, PhD; Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University Robin Miller, MD; Pediatrics, Nemours Children’s Health Neuronal Extracellular Vesicles as Biomarkers for Silent Cerebral Infarcts in Sickle Cell Disease |
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Mary-Jane Mulcahey, PhD, OTR/L, Jefferson; Wade Shrader, MD; Nemours Development and Validation of the CP-PRO |
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Scott L. Weiss, MD MSC, Nemours; Marco Tigano, PhD, Jefferson Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Early and Late Phases of Pediatric Sepsis |
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Pierluigi Porcu, MD MSC, Jefferson; Jonathan Powell, MD, Nemours Risk of autoimmune disease in adult survivors of childhood cancer |
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Monika Pogorzelska-Maziarz, PhD, Nursing, Jefferson; Sharon Hwang, Nemours Penicillin Allergy Delabeling in Children: Perspectives of Parents and Primary Care Providers |
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Geetika Kennady, MD, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Jefferson; Zubair H. Aghai, MD, Pediatrics, Nemours Reticulocyte hemoglobin content to evaluate the iron status in neonates at high risk for iron deficiency |
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John Eisenbrey, PhD, Radiology, Jefferson; David Saul, Radiology, Nemours Artificial Intelligence for Identification of Pediatric Hepatic Fibrosis on Grayscale Ultrasound |
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Mark Curtis, MD, PhD, Neuropathology, Jefferson; Matthew Demczko, MD, Pediatrics, Nemours Machine Learning Generated Immune Factor Decision Trees; A Powerful Diagnostic Approach for Rapid Identification of Pediatric Patient CNS Disease State |
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Robyn Miller, MD, Adolescent Medicine and Pediatric Gynecology, Nemours; Casey Coleman, MD, Pediatrics, Jefferson Pediatrics and Police...where should the two meet? Parents views on the pediatricians role on discussing police brutality |
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Matthew Campbell, MD, MSHP, Pediatric Cardiology, Nemours; Praveen Mehrotra, MD, Cardiology, Jefferson Contrast Enhanced Three Dimensional Echocardiographic Quantification of Right Ventricular Volumes in Repaired Tetralogy of Fallot |
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Mijail Serruya, MD, PhD, Occupational Therapy, Jefferson; Mena Scavina, Pediatric Neurology, Nemours Myoelectric devices for restoration of independent arm function in children with neurological disease and injury |
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Beth Schwartz, MD, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Jefferson; Anne Kazak, PhD, Nemours The Effects of Menses and Menstrual Management on Mental Health in Transgender Adolescents |
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Zubair Aghai, MD, Pediatrics, Nemours; Sankar Addya, MD, Cancer Biology, TJU DNA methylation, gene expression and trained immunity in neonates born to mothers with chorioamnionitis |