It's Fall and the third cycle of ECHO ISPCTN is in full swing. We are preparing for our first network meeting in DC next week despite the government shutdown and are excited for our network to meet our KUMC colleagues who are part of the new Heartland DCOC.

Below are links to our website. Please check them out if you are interested in more information about the studies we are doing/have done, and the latest network publications.

Our SPeCTr website includes the network studies that we have participated in -- all those that are current, upcoming and closed (legacy). From that page, there are links to more information on all of the studies.

Our publications page lists all network publications that SPeCTr has had an author on, as well as other network publications that we have not had an author on. Publications are further divided by study, so you can easily find the ones you might be interested in reviewing.

                                                     --Kristina Foster, RN, MS, APRN-BC, CCRP

Talk With Me Baby (TWMB)

TWMB is a pilot study to demonstrate the efficacy of embedding universal language promotion (TWMB) in well-child care (WCC) visits for enhancing the home language environment. It is a multicenter trial in two primary care clinics that serve rural/underserved children and families. Our second site for the study is West Virginia.

Enrollment is completed and we are working on retention.

End of study 8/31/26.

Study/Site PI: – Dr. Brenda Salley       Coordinator: Kristina Foster

NCT06479278

Phentermine's Impact on Treatment in Teens (PhiTT)

PhiTT is the network's first FDA/IND study with a late 2025/early 2026 planned launch. It is a Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial of Phentermine for Adolescents with Obesity. Heartland DCOC has gotten up to speed quickly and is making strides daily and weekly toward getting this in the field as quickly as possible.

I have been on the protocol writing team, and SPeCTr has been selected as one of 10 sites for this study. We have approval from NIH to run the study from Children's Mercy and use the PCRU with the stipulation that we enroll teens living in Kansas from primary care clinics (not weight management clinics).

Site PI: Dr. Helena Laroche              Co-Investigator: Dr. Bridgette Jones

Sub-Investigator: Dr. Kate Kyler     Network Liaison: Kristina Foster

Coordinators: Kelsey Howell & Meghan Freier

SPeCTr News: 

We had our first Scientific Oversight Committee meeting last week for this third cycle. We are so thankful for all the 'yes's' that we have received from some very busy people who are helping us expand SPeCTr's reach during cycle 3. They had some great suggestions for us, and some connections to make as well. One of our focuses this cycle will be to try and transition our "Scientific" committee to a more community-based one. With this, we are excited to have new members including representatives from JUNTOS Center for Advancing Latino Health, Center for African American Health, and from the Native American Health collaboration. We look forward to hearing how we can have an impact in these communities.

One of the activities we are planning to complete is an annual survey for rural providers and caregivers. We hope to hear some of the primary problems their rural and underserved patients face, learn what they see as the main gaps in science or clinical care and get ideas for clinical trials we could propose in the network.

We also have a couple of new early-stage investigators that we are working with this year (shown below). 

If any of our partners/friends have items they would like for us to include in our newsletter, please feel free to send them to me.

Network News:  

Network Meeting November 12-13 in DC/Arlington.

Marissa Love, MD

Assistant Professor, Allergy, Clinical Immunology, & Rheumatology

Chelsea Kracht, PhD

Assistant Professor, Physical Activity & Weight Management

Professional Development

Heartland DCOC is working on transferring all of the UAMS DCOC Professional Development materials into a new ECHO ISPCTN portal. Stand by for more information as it becomes available.

ECHO Discovery: monthly webinar series with educational presentations for the ECHO community by internal speakers. Both upcoming and past presentation information can be found here. 

Educational Resources on ECHO website.

SPeCTr Research Training page has many resources.

SPeCTr YouTube channel.

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

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