I don't know about you, but I absolutely love Fall! The cooler temperatures, generally lower humidity (unless it's raining or we are enduring a crazy-hot heat wave), the colors, football, sweaters & jackets, the smells & flavors, impending holidays... It just makes my heart happy and makes me want to do some baking -- oatmeal butterscotch cookies are another fave.

So, welcome to fall and our latest SPeCTr update. I'm excited to be experimenting with a new tool called emma. It is helping me create 'prettier' newsletters. I hope you enjoy it.

ACT NOW ESC

We have two sites. Early results were published in NEJM. Enrollment ended March 21, 2022.

Follow up continues for enrolled participants through 24-mo of age (into 2024).

KUMC – 13 enrolled

Site PI: Dr. Dummula

Coordinator: Kristina Foster

As a site, we anticipate completing follow-up by end of 2023.

AHSM – 11 enrolled

Site PI: Dr. Weiner

Coordinator: Allie Scott

ACT NOW Weaning

We have one site - Children’s Mercy/Truman Medical Center. The study is still actively enrolling, and we have 11. Follow up will be like ESC and extends to participant 24-month age.

Site PI: Dr. Rao

Coordinator: Allie Scott

MoVeUP App

We enrolled from two clinics and completed all study activities the week of August 7th, 2023.

KUP Med Pavilion: Drs Ryan Smith (Site PI) & Brad Nelson

KUP Prairie Village: Dr. Lore Nelson

Coordinator: Kristina Foster

Summary:

22 Enrolled

2 early term (left 20 enrolled, shown below)

First app session -- 80% completion rate

            Overall study rate 62%

14/20 completed Baseline survey

15/20 completed Week 8 survey

14/20 completed Week 16 survey

15/20 completed Week 24 survey

           Overall survey completion rate 73% (study rate TBD)

BREATHE

We have one site in Wichita that has enrolled 6 babies so far. We have been in the 'summer slump' as expected and are preparing to enter bronchiolitis season again soon. Study enrollment overall is ahead of schedule and the study team adjusted site-specific enrollment targets (down) accordingly.

PI: Dr. Kirsten Bjorkman        

Co-Is: Drs. Gretchen Homan, Aimee Daccache & Nicolas Lammoglia

Coordinators: Julie de la Garza, Evelyn English & Sarah Krogman

TWMB

SPeCTr has one of only five Jr Investigator pilots accepted by the network for full protocol development and implementation. We are anticipating study start in mid 2024. Our second site for the study is West Virginia.

Study/Site PI: – Dr. Brenda Salley

Coordinator: Kristina Foster

PhiTT

PhiTT is an upcoming FDA study called Phentermine's Impact on Treatment in Teens: A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial of Phentermine for Adolescents with Obesity.

I have enjoyed being on the protocol writing team for this study. Site selection will be released soon, and we anticipate being chosen as a site. We have approval from NIH to run the study from Children's Mercy with the stipulation that we enroll teens living in Kansas.

PI: Dr. Helena Laroche

Coordinator: Pete Muenks (Kristina Foster as backup and network assistance)

SPeCTr News: 

We recently sent out a call for proposals for a new Jr Investigator since our previous 2 received K awards and are no longer receiving SPeCTr funding. We are pleased to announce that we have just added Bethany Forseth to the team. We welcome Bethany and look forward to seeing her progress over the next year.

RPPR season recently passed: 

RPPRs were successfully submitted network-wide so that our NIH program officer was able to have 18/19 signed off 12 days ahead of his deadline!

Network Pipeline:

In an effort to 'prime the pipeline' in hopes of a third cycle renewal (2025), the network has asked for every site to submit at least one 2-page proposal for a clinical trial. SPeCTr submitted/is involved in at least 3 that I know of so far. It will be interesting to see the new ideas that come from this and which ones the network will select.

Network Meeting:

Our next network meeting is October 5-6 with a pre-meeting Mentoring Workshop on October 4th based on the CIMER Framework for research mentoring. The session will engage both mentors and mentees in discussion and real-world application. We are allowed to send three to this session and have Drs Bridgette Jones and Ed Ellerbeck attending as mentors and our newest Jr Investigator Dr. Bethany Forseth as a mentee.

ECHO Funding Opportunities: FAQs and Webinar Now Available Frequently Asked Questions and a prerecorded webinar are now available for the following funding opportunities.

Maximizing the Scientific Value of Data Generated by the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program: Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship (F32)

Maximizing the Scientific Value of Data Generated by the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program: Dissertation Grant (R36)

Professional Development

Online program from Society of Research Administrators is recommended by the network LevelUP Micro-credentialing Program

Addressing Rigor in Scientific Studies: Our network PI recommends this recent NIH blog post as we prepare for new studies. She said "Research rigor is critical as we prepare to invest taxpayer resources and the time and efforts of our participating families toward ECHO ISPCTN trials, so we must be sure those efforts are as well informed and rigorous as possible." (Dr. Jessica Snowden)

As always, our SPeCTr Research Training page has many resources.

In addition to our SPeCTr YouTube channel.

For questions or comments, contact Kristina Foster at:     kfoster6@kumc.edu or 913-485-4216 (cell)