*SPeCTr/Kristina Foster DO NOT own the rights to any of these photos/recipes. No copyright infringement intended.

Hello SPeCTr Team, friends & colleagues! Happy Summer Solstice -- the longest day of the year. It is hard to believe this year is almost half over, and starting tomorrow, days will be shortening again ;-) I hope you are all enjoying longer days, time with family, baseball or other outdoor activities, and perhaps a little vacation.

Our network is a busy beehive of activity with the closeout of The BREATHE Study, four Jr Pilot studies launching as well as gearing up for our largest network clinical trial yet -- an FDA/IND study that SPeCTr is excited to be part of. Read on for more details of all things ECHO ISPCTN and SPeCTr.

ACT NOW Eat, Sleep, Console (2 sites)

Early results published NEJM. Enrollment ended 03/21/2022.

Our two sites at KUMC (Dr. Dummula/Kristina Foster) and AHSM (Dr. Weiner/Allie Scott) have completed all of our 24-mo visits. We are awaiting close-out soon and final results by end of year.

ACT NOW Weaning (1 site)

Children’s Mercy/University Health. Ended enrollment with 13. Follow up will be like ESC and extends to participant 24-month age.

Site PI: Dr. Rao                                            Coordinator: Allie Scott

BREATHE

Overall study enrollment completed way ahead of schedule. Our site in Wichita enrolled 11 babies. Follow up period will be complete by the end of the month. 

Site PI: Dr. Gretchen Homan    

Co-Is: Drs. Aimee Daccache & Nicolas Lammoglia

Coordinators: Sarah Krogman & Kristina Foster

TWMB

Our home-grown Jr Investigator pilot is set to launch any day.  Our second site for the study is West Virginia.

Study/Site PI: Dr. Brenda Salley            Clinic Site: KU MedWest Peds

Coord: Kristina Foster & Emily Work    Clinic SubI's: Drs. Petelin & Breeden 

PhITT

We have been selected as one of 10 sites for PhITT. We are running this one from Children's Mercy (and PCRU) targeting teens living in Kansas and from CM primary care clinics (NOT weight-management clinic). 

Site PI: Dr. Helena Laroche; Co-I Dr. Bridgette Jones; Sub-I Dr. Kate Kyler

Coordinators: Kelsye Howell primary coordinator with Megan Mains, Meghan Freier, Jennifer Dolan from PCRU and Pete Muenks, (Kristina Foster network liaison)

*Study descriptions were included in the Fall 2023 SPeCTr Newsletter & some studies have links to more info.

Biggest Network News:

Our network PI, Dr. Jessica Snowden, has just announced that she is leaving UAMS for a position at University of Tennessee Health Science Center. She will be the Vice Chancellor for Research and aims to help another team build their research potential. She has been in the network since its inception and has been a great leader. Her presence will be missed, and she leaves big shoes to fill.

NIH will be meeting with UAMS leadership soon to discuss the best structure for ECHO ISPCTN moving forward and succession planning. More to come in our future quarterly updates.

ECHO ISPCTN Cycle 3:

We successfully submitted our application to continue participating in ECHO ISPCTN for cycle 3 in April. Now we wait and hope...we should know by the end of the year, and that funding cycle starts 9/1/25.

Click here for a description of the ECHO program and ongoing work.

Jr Investigator Updates:

SPeCTr continues working with new Jr Investigators and we have added two recently! Please welcome Drs Anna Wallisch and Marissa Love to the team!

Anna Wallisch, PhD

Assistant Professor, Pediatrics

Division of Developmental and Behavioral Sciences

Education and Training

BS, Occupational Studies, University of Kansas

MOT, Occupational Therapy, University of Kansas Medical Center

PhD, Therapeutic Science, University of Kansas Medical Center

Post Doctoral Fellowship, Autism, Juniper Gardens Children's Project, University of Kansas, Kansas City, KS

Marissa Love, MD

Assistant Professor, Allergy, Clinical Immunology, and Rheumatology

Dual board certified:

–American Board of Allergy and Immunology

–American Board of Pediatrics

Education and Training

MD, Medicine, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford, Rockford, IL

Residency, Pediatrics, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas

Clinical Fellowship, Allergy & Clinical Immunology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS

ECHO ISPCTN Professional Development Series: -- June 27th, 2024, 2-3pm CST

This month: Language Justice in Research by Maya Ragavan, MD, MPH, MS

Summer Short Courses from ACRI:

Arkansas Children's Research Institute (ACHRI) is offering two summer short courses, led by Dr. Andrew Brown, that align with the interests of ECHO ISPCTN.

Causal Inference in Behavioral Obesity Research: Short Course Dates: Public Health Training: Indiana University

Mathematical Sciences and Obesity: Short Course Dates: Public Health Training: Indiana University

Responsible Conduct of Research Training:

Our colleagues at Nemours shared this opportunity September 16-17, 2024, Responsible Conduct of Research | Nemours Children's Health CE. This training is important for all of us on a regular basis to keep our ethical obligations to our participants and the integrity of our scientific pursuits front of mind at all times.

Our SPeCTr Research Training page has many other useful resources.

In addition to our SPeCTr YouTube channel.