I n a n u t s h e l l

Spring

2011

What’s Inside?

 Good Clinical Practice

Tip from the CDMCC

 Federal Corner

 Study Updates

 Nodal News

 New Faces to

PECARN

I n a n u t s h e l l

We are excited to welcome Texas

Children‘s Hospital (TCH) as a new

PEDNET site. Founded in 1954, TCH in

Houston is the largest free-standing

children‘s hospital in the country and is a

Baylor College of Medicine affiliate.

TCH ranks highly in all 10 specialties in

the U.S. News & World Report's list of

America‘s Best Children‘s Hospitals.

TCH is one entity in the TCH Integrated

Delivery System, which includes a

community-based pediatric practice

network of over 150 pediatric and mid-

level care providers (Texas Children‘s

Pediatric Associates), TCH itself, and a

health insurance plan (Texas Children‘s

Health Plan).

The TCH emergency department has an

annual volume of approximately 90,000

patient visits with more than 14,000

hospitalized. It has recently become a

certified Level 1 Trauma Center for

Pediatrics. Although the TCH catchment

area includes southern and eastern Texas,

Louisiana, and other neighboring states,

its primary service population is a 13

county region in southeast Texas encom-

passing approximately 5 million residents.

The Section of Emergency Medicine at

TCH has a strong research infrastructure

led by Charles Macias, MD, MPH, who

has more than 15 years of experience as a

clinical investigator. Dr. Macias is a

nationally recognized leader in quality

improvement and has a long-standing

commitment to multicenter research

including as the Chairman of the Pediatric

Emergency Medicine Collaborative

Research Committee (PEM-CRC) of the

American Academy of Pediatrics from

2004-2010. Dr. Macias and Dr. Andrea

Cruz share the role of PECARN HEDA

PI at TCH. Dr. Cruz is an accomplished

junior investigator with subspecialty

training and research expertise in both

pediatric infectious diseases and emer-

gency medicine. TCH has 13 funded

PEM researchers and collaborative

relationships with a number of centers

and research initiatives at Baylor College

of Medicine and its affiliates.

Supported by Grant U03MC00008, Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration, Department of Health and Human Services

PECARN Newsletter

P.O Box 581289

Salt Lake City, UT 84158

Phone (801) 213-3205

Fax (801) 581-8686

Or visit us online at:

www.pecarn.org

Continued on page 2…

New PECARN Site:

Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH)

Submitted by Mikhail Berlyant

PEDNET Nodal Administrator

Page 2

Dr. Macias is presently the

Director of both the Center for

Clinical Effectiveness (CCE) and

the Evidence Based Outcome

Center (EBOC) at Baylor College

of Medicine and TCH. The CCE

coordinates activities in health

services research, informatics,

educational outreach, patient

safety support, policy and

advocacy subgroups, and general

support for Department of

Pediatrics faculty who are engaged

in quality improvement science.

The EBOC develops and

implements clinical guidelines that

will translate to high quality, safe,

and transparent patient care. To

date, EBOC has assisted in the

creation of 23 evidence-based

guidelines. The entities targeted

include common ED diagnoses

such as asthma, bronchiolitis,

gastroenteritis, rapid-sequence

intubation, skin and soft tissue

infections, and status epilepticus.

Concurrently, the CCE has

supported the translation of this

work into knowledge translation

and comparative effectiveness research.

… Continued from page 1

New PECARN Site: Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH)

Excuse Me, Do You Intend To Treat That Subject?

Occasionally, not always for the wrong

reasons, a subject in a randomized

controlled trial (RCT) may be given a

wrong treatment, not follow the treatment

instructions, fail to adhere to the prescribed

protocol, or discontinue participation

(perhaps due to death) caused by factors

seemingly independent of the scope of the

study. In such cases, our inclination is to

exclude these subjects from the statistical

analysis or to analyze them according to

the treatment they received. In contrast,

intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis,

considered the best approach for unbiased

comparisons between treatment groups,

will not exclude such subjects nor

consider them ―reassigned‖.

The Fluid Therapy and Cerebral Injury in

Pediatric Diabetic Ketoacidosis (FLUID)

study has a factorial design in which

patients will be randomized to four

groups that are defined by two rates of

fluid administration (slow and rapid

rehydration) and two levels of sodium

content in the intravenous fluids (0.45%

and 0.9% saline). The aim is to determine

the effects of variations of these two

factors in recovery. However, let‘s say

there are, over the course of the trial,

patients that are given the wrong

rehydration rate or saline concentration

after randomization. If these patients are

excluded, the randomization is not

preserved, and may introduce biases to

the statistical analysis. For example,

suppose patients who are less severe and

would experience a good outcome,

regardless of treatment, tend to be given

slow rehydration when they are assigned

to rapid. Analyzing patients by what they

actually received would show that slow

rehydration has better outcomes than

rapid rehydration, even if slow

rehydration is less effective.

Another RCT being implemented by

PECARN, the Intravenous Magnesium

for Sickle Cell Vasoocclusive Crisis

(MAGiC) trial assigns research subjects

to receive up to 6 intravenous infusions of

either magnesium or placebo. Suppose

we decide to include in the analysis only

subjects who receive at least 3 study drug

infusions. Now suppose IV magnesium

has some strong side-effects, perhaps

even leading to prolonged hospitalization,

that cause infusions to be stopped. This

makes it possible that many subjects with

poor outcomes that should count against

magnesium would be excluded from the

analysis, biasing the results. In ITT

analysis, none of the patients are excluded

and patients are analyzed according to

their assigned treatment groups, regardless

of adherence to their assigned treatment.

Because of its ability to remove biases

from the statistical analysis, the principle

of ITT has become widely accepted as the

standard for the analysis of RCTs. One

thing to note when planning the ITT

analysis is that all outcomes must be

ascertained and included. This implies

that it requires continued follow-up, even

if a subject has discontinued their

assigned treatment. In summary, by

including all randomized subjects in the

groups to which they were assigned,

regardless of their eligibility, which

treatment they actually received, or

subsequent withdrawal from treatment or

deviation from the protocol, ITT analysis

is used as a tool to reduce bias and avoid

false conclusions.

Submitted by Tomohiko Funai

Biostatistician at CDMCC

NRC Pilots Newest Technology, the EMSC Online Community

The EMSC National Resource Center has piloted its newest social media

application, the EMSC Online Community. The community serves as an

interactive online portal providing grantees powerful ways to interact with

each other in real time, electronically. PECARN research coordinators are

using the community to publish, access, and share information about successes

and challenges with recruiting and retaining patients for PECARN‘s DKA

study. Through the use of community wikis, blogs, and forums, research

coordinators can ask questions, post observations, discuss recruitment issues,

and offer support and guidance to other members within the group. The

community also allows members to upload and share documents and photos,

and post events to a community calendar.

Page 3

Federal Corner

EMSC Regional Activities

EMSC Program representatives from

the Pacific Basin (American Samoa, the

Commonwealth of Northern Marianas,

Guam and Hawaii), federal

representatives, and medical professionals

met in Oahu, Hawaii, April 19-22. This is

the second meeting that will focus on

the region‘s challenges accessing

pediatric specialty care and timely

transport and transfer of severely ill and

injured pediatric patients from the

territories. Completion of a summary

report describing the uniqueness of the

territorial health systems, a white paper to

facilitate education of hospital, state,

territorial and national leaders on territorial

challenges impacting pediatric care, as

well as recommendations and strategies

to facilitate better access to essential

specialty services, inclusive of inter and

intra island transfer processes are the

planned end products of this activity.

EMSC Federal Appropriations and

Authorization Update

In April, the House of Representatives

and Senate approved and the President

signed into law H.R. 1473, the Department

of Defense and Full-Year Continuing

Appropriations Act. This measure funds

federal agencies and programs for the

remainder of fiscal year 2011.

Despite the passage of this bill, as of

press time for this newsletter the final

funding level for the EMSC Program

has yet to be determined. While the bill

does not identify any cuts specific to

EMSC funding, it does apply an across-

the-board 0.2% cut to all non-defense

spending and a $1.2 billion reduction to

the Health Resources and Services

Administration's (HRSA) budget. It is

up to HRSA to determine how to apply

this reduction across its programs and

operations.

EMSC EFIC Webcasts Archived on MCHCOM

If you were unable to view the EMSC webcasts, ―Exception from Informed

Consent: Lessons from a Consensus Conference,‖ and ―Exception from Informed

Consent in Pediatric Trials,‖ both have been archived and are available on

www.mchcom.com.

Dr. Elizabeth Edgerton Named Branch Chief

for EMSC and Injury Prevention at HRSA

Elizabeth Edgerton, MD, MPH, joined HRSA as the new Branch Chief for

EMSC and Injury Prevention within the Division of Child, Adolescent and

Family Health, the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) at HRSA.

Dr. Edgerton is a previous EMSC Targeted Issues grantee and a recipient of

the 2004 National Heroes Award for Outstanding EMSC Research Project.

Most recently she served as an attending physician in the Emergency Medicine

and Trauma Center at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, DC.

State Partnership Program Manager’s Meeting

The EMSC Program will host a State Partnership Program Manager‘s meeting

from May 2-4, 2011 in Annapolis, Maryland. The keynote address, ―Fulfilling

the Promise‖ will be given by Dia Gainor, EMS Director of Idaho. All

presentations will be posted to the EMSC National Resource Center website

www.childrensnational.org/emsc following the meeting.

NRC Begins EMSC Targeted Issues Archiving Project

The NRC has begun developing a historical account of all EMSC Targeted

Issues (TI) work since the first grant was awarded in 1992. In-depth details

about each project including manuscripts and subsequent projects born out of

the original EMSC TI work will be highlighted on the website.

Page 4

TBI

The TBI project continues to be

productive with new manuscripts

ongoing secondary analyses and

manuscripts. Three manuscripts have

recently been published or are in

press, including: 1) Risk of TBI in

Patients with Coagulopathies in the

Journal of Pediatrics, 2) Clinical

Observation before the Decision to

Obtain a CT in Pediatrics, and 3) Clin-

ical Outcomes after Negative CTs in

Annals of Emergency Medicine. We

have another manuscript being

reviewed by GAPS, and several more

are being prepared for GAPS submis-

sions. In an effort to maintain our

presence and visibility at national

meetings, we have submitted two

abstracts for consideration at the 2011

AAP meeting (Sports-related TBI and

Racial/Ethic Disparities in CT use

after Pediatric Head Trauma). This

brings our total productivity of

presented abstracts and published

manuscripts to well over 20 for this

project! We are currently working on

several more TBI substudies/

manuscripts, and hope to have all

substudies submitted for publication

by 2012. Then the focus will shift to

other important TBI projects.

PECARN is in the middle of a funded

knowledge translation project of the

prediction rule, and a funded planning

project for the use of progesterone for

serious TBI (see those updates).

EMS

This study collected data for 521,239

runs from fourteen EMS agencies for

the years of 2004-2006 through

HEDA partnerships with the agen-

cies. These fourteen submitted data

sets consist of varying size, amount

of missing data, and format. Twenty-two

EMS agencies ultimately partici-

pated in the study, with eight

unable to submit data. Data collec-

tion is complete and no future data

collection will be done. Analysis and

paper writing is ongoing.

THAPCA

The Therapeutic Hypothermia After

Pediatric Cardiac Arrest (THAPCA)

Trials is enrolling on schedule! To

date, the study has screened a total of

1534 subjects, 322 were eligible and

161 have been randomized! Nearly

all of the second group of sites are

activated and now enrolling in the

trial and we are in the process of

adding a third group by the end of

summer. We have a total of 30 sites

enrolling and an additional 6 sites

coming on board. We have new sites

ipation so we anticipate even more sites by

the end of 2011! The participating sites

have shown true commitment to the study

and we thank everyone for their hard work.

MAGiC

All four sites participating in the Intra-

venous Magnesium for Sickle Cell

Vaso-occlusive Crisis (MAGiC) study

are actively screening and enrolling

patients. In mid-April, the study had

screened approximately 60 patients, 28

were eligible, and 11 have been

randomized. All four sites are actively

pre-consenting patients in the Sickle

Cell clinic, inpatient unit, and in the

ED. A protocol amendment was

approved by each site‘s IRB to include

the Quality of Life ancillary study that

is funded by the NHLBI. The ancillary

study includes administering Quality of

Life surveys to the patients enrolled, at

four different time points, to assess the

patient‘s health-related quality of life

and short term outcomes.

IAF-Appendix

Congratulations to the study PI Madelyn

Garcia, MD, MPH! The abstract was

accepted as an Oral Presentation at the

SAEM 2011 Annual Meeting. The IAF-

Appendix Study aims to examine the

role of intra-abdominal fat in CT im-

aging with IV contrast in visualizing

the appendix and to determine if it is

possible to predict which patients will

have adequate intra-abdominal fat, and

thus forgo oral contrast.

IAI

The Intra-abdominal Injury (IAI)

study was funded by the Centers for

Disease Control (CDC) in 2006. The

goal is to develop a clinical decision

instrument to determine the indica-

tions for abdominal CT use in

children with blunt torso trauma.

Enrollment began in May 2007 and

ended in January 2010. We enrolled

12,044 patients with a capture rate of

80.9%, including 762 patients with an

IAI. Thanks to everyone for all their

hard work! Data cleaning is complete

and the decision rule has been gener-

ated. Analysis and paper writing is

ongoing. Initial results will be

presented in May and June at the PAS

and SAEM meetings.

TBI-KT

The study entitled ―Implementation

of the PECARN Traumatic Brain

Injury Prediction Rules for Children

Using Computerized Clinical

Decision Support (CCDS): An Inter-

rupted Time Series Trial‖ is funded

by the American Recovery and

Reinvestment Act—Office of the

Secretary (ARRA OS). The overall

goal of the study is to promote the

appropriate use of cranial CT for

children with blunt head trauma by

creating a generalizable model to

translate the PECARN TBI prediction

rules into clinical practice. In the

present year one, we have completed

11 focus groups and ED process

evaluations in order to rigorously

develop CCDS that fits into each

ED‘s workflow. We are now devel-

oping the CCDS and preparing to

initiate the interrupted time series

trial to test the effectiveness of the

CCDS intervention.

Study Updates

Page 5

Study Updates

PECARN Core Data Project

All locked PCDP Data for 2002 –

2008 are now available in the

cubes. For preliminary analysis of

PCDP data, you can use the cubes

or complete a data request form

(found in the PCDP eRoom). The

cubes can be accessed at https://

www.utahdcc.org/reportportal.

Contact Drew DeMarco at

andrew.demarco@hsc.utah.edu to

obtain or reset your cube login and

password. For any questions, please

contact Libby Alpern at

alpern@email.chop.edu.

Biosignatures Study

Enrollment is off to a great start this

year with over 350 1 ml

biosignatures samples collected

since January 1, 2011. Sites are

currently enrolling at a pace of

approximately 82 samples per

month and we are on track to

collect 1000 biosignatures samples

in 2011! Most sites have received

approval for the recent protocol

amendment which includes the

changes from the grant titled ‗RNA

Biosignatures in the Emergency

Evaluations of Febrile Infants‘.

The grant extends the sample

collection period for the

Biosignatures study for an

additional two years. Under the

new grant, sites will continue to

collect samples to create the

diagnostic Biosignatures and will

also collect an additional sample to

evaluate the new screening test,

procalcitonin. Currently, over 50

PCT samples have been

collected. We are also in the

process of migrating all study data

from TrialDB to a new database

called OpenClinica. We anticipate

that the data migration will be

completed and OpenClinica will be

live by the end of May 2011.

During this migration period sites

will continue to enroll patients.

Patient Safety and New York State

Patient Safety

Throughout the Patient Safety study

over 18,000 incident reports have

been submitted to the CDMCC

since July 2007. Nine reviewers

have finished categorization of the

first year of incident reporting data.

From their review, it was found that

laboratory errors were the most

common, followed by medication

errors and process variance errors.

Multiple manuscripts are in

progress including one on the

methodology of the study and

another on medication error rates.

Data analysis is ongoing for the

pilot study that took place in New

York state, where over 3200 ED

charts were reviewed by a study

nurse and incident reports from the

participating sites were reviewed.

A grant submission to AHRQ is

planned to be submitted this Fall.

FLUID

FLUID, a prospective randomized

clinical trial using a factorial design,

will determine whether variations in

the rate of administration and

sodium content of rehydration fluids

during pediatric DKA treatment are

associated with differences in

neurological outcomes. The NICHD-

funded study will enroll 1,510

patients over five years at 10

PECARN centers. Drs. Nathan

Kuppermann and Nicole Glaser,

Study Principal Investigators, are

excited that seven sites are

enrolling with nineteen patients

enrolled so far. The two additional

sites should be enrolling by the end

of May. In the meantime, we are

holding regular webinars for RCs

and PIs, and the study leadership is

communicating on a weekly basis.

The whole team is great, and we are

ready to go!

Quality of Care

The Quality of Care study received

funding from AHRQ. The overall

objective of the study is to validate a

structured implicit review instrument

that measures the quality of care

provided to children presenting to

EDs, and to identify factors (i.e.

hospital, ED, physician, patient and

presentation factors) associated with

differences in quality of care among

diverse cohort of EDs and patients

across the United States. The study

plans to review 600 pediatric patient

records from 13 EDs in PECARN.

Currently, the Principal Investigators

are working with the CDMCC to

finalize study details, and enrollment

is expected to begin summer 2011.

Seizure

The Pediatric Seizure study (officially

titled the Use of Lorazepam for

Pediatric Status Epilepticus: A

Randomized, Double-Blinded Trial

of Lorazepam and Diazepam)

continues to enroll at 10 participating

sites. Our Canadian sites (Alberta

Children's Hospital (Calgary),

Children's Hospital of Eastern

Ontario (Ottawa) have completed all

site preparations and training and are

preparing to start enrolling soon.

With a total of 251 patients enrolled,

we have now met approximately 88%

of our projected enrollment numbers.

Progesterone

In preparation for a future clinical

trial, the Progesterone study will

initiate a prospective yield study to

pilot the inclusion/exclusion criteria.

The yield study will be conducted

from approximately June through

November 2011 in the participating

centers in PECARN to test accrual

feasibility. The finalized study

protocol has been released to the

participating sites and is awaiting IRB

approval. Study enrollment and training

is anticipated to begin in June.

Page 6

See THIS Edition of the

PECARN Newsletter online at:

www.pecarn.org

Next PECARN meeting:

November 2011 Bethesda, MD

Nov 2: Pre-meetings

Nov 3-4: Steering Committee meeting

PECARN WORD SEARCH

ACORN

ADMINISTRATOR

ASSISTANT

BIOSIGNATURES

CARN

CDMCC

FLUID

GLEMSCRN

INVESTIGATOR

MAGIC

PATIENTSAFETY

PECARN

PEDNET

PROGESTERONE

QUALITYOFCARE

SEIZURE

THAPCA

Y P Y M G H A D X T N M R E I

S T R O O G Q B E A R A H R N

P O E O T W X N S I A G P A V

P L W F G W D S U Z C I K C E

H E S T A E I L D H E C S F S

U W R C P S S T H A P C A O T

A F O U T N T T C C M D C Y I

V R L A Z P R N E Y L F D T G

N V N U T I O A E R J M B I A

I T J T I K E U C I O Q K L T

M O O C G D G S Q O T N A A O

N H M T D M D L M G L A E U R

N R C S M E L G B K P K P Q K

S E R U T A N G I S O I B X R

A D M I N I S T R A T O R P N

C-Spine Injury in Children

Case-control analysis: We have

completed abstraction and eligibility

verification for 540 cases and 2,774 con-

trols. Manuscript for utility of plain

films in the diagnosis of CSI is undergo-

ing peer review. We have working drafts

on three additional manuscripts: method

of spinal immobilization in children

<2 years old at risk for cervical spine

injury, CSI transport and SCIWORA.

Six other manuscripts are in develop-

ment: age stratification analysis,

description of CSI patterns in children,

inter-observer agreement, AARS,

sports-related cervical spine injury and

epidemiology of CSI in children. We

will be presenting the protocol for

prospective refinement and validation

of a prediction tool at the Spring

PECARN Steering Committee meeting.

EMS Focus Group

This aspect of the study aims to use

focused interview and focus group

methodology to identify the barriers

and facilitators to EMS participation

in research aimed to limit immobili-

zation to children who are at

non-negligible risk for C-spine

Injury. Focus groups and interviews

EMS leadership were completed in

St. Louis, Milwaukee, Salt Lake City,

Buffalo, Rochester, DC and Balti-

more. All transcripts were reviewed

and comments were categorized into

topics such as qualities, beliefs,

barriers, motivators and suggestions.

The manuscript is undergoing peer

review for resubmission.

Performance Measures

While the formal study period for

this project has officially ended,

dissemination and publication of

the work continues. The first

manuscript has been accepted for

publication and we expect to see

it in the Academic Emergency

Medicine in the coming months.

Two abstracts have been submit-

ted for the upcoming AAP meet-

ing and work has begun on the

5 additional planned manuscripts.

We are also working with CHCA

on piloting the data capture of a

select number of measures out of

the PHIS database. This work

might help inform future data collec-

tion requirements for the database.

Study Updates

CARN

Congratulations to Britni Barnes, Julie Jennings, Ebony Parham, and Bobbe Thomas for

passing the Society of Clinical Research Associates (SoCRA) exam and are now certified

clinical research professionals (CCRP)!

Gooooo CARN!

Nodal News

SCIENT I FIC GRANT WR I TIN G WO R K SHOP

AUGUST 24-26, 2011

CHICAGO , IL

This is a valuable 2-day workshop for those who want to improve their skills, receive

professional guidance on rigorous research-oriented grant writing, and to learn to:

 Write the specific aims

 Outline the significance, innovation, and the approach section

 Write your biographical sketch

 Plan your budget

At this workshop, attendees will work on each section of their research grant proposal, receive continual feedback from

experienced grant writers, and leave with a well-defined draft.

Visit www.nedarc.org for online registration.

ACORN

The ACORN node would like to extend sincere congratulations to Marc Gorelick, who became the

CEO of the Children's Specialty Group, and the Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs at

Medical College/Children's Hospital of Wisconsin as of March 1. David Brousseau is now

Associate Section Chief for Pediatric Emergency Medicine and will take over for Dr. Gorelick as the

PECARN HEDA PI at MCW.

Page 7

Q: How should the Informed Consent process be documented?

A: We all know that the Informed Consent documents must be signed by the study participant/

parent, dated, timed, signed by the investigator and/or consenter and stored with study

records. But since Informed Consent is a process, how should we document the ongoing

conversations, discussions, and information exchange that makes up this process? The document

is the basis for the start of the a meaningful exchange between investigator and

study participant, rather than the end point. The process begins when a potential research subject

is initially contacted and documentation of this conversation should be included in study

records. Each conversation that occurs with the participant about the study should be documented

in the study record. The CDMCC has provided a template to help sites document this process for

PECARN studies that require consent.

Submitted by Marci Fjelstad, MPH, MBA, CCRP

CDMCC Project Manager

Good Clinical Practice Tip

Page 8

New J r . Fac e s to PE C ARN

Zoljargal “Zola” Nkansah, BS, is the PECARN executive secretary at

the CDMCC. Originally from Mongolia, Zola graduated from Brigham

Young University-Hawaii in 2007 with a BS degree in International

Business Management. She aspires to dedicate her career in the

healthcare industry and has taken several pre-nursing classes at the

University of Utah. She speaks English, Mongolian and Russian. As a

newlywed, Zola enjoys cooking, cleaning and picking up after her

husband.

Rebecca Kelly, BS, joined the PECARN in April 2011 as a Clinical

Data Associate. She studied Health Education at Western Oregon

University, graduating in 2009. While attending college, she worked as a

MA in Gastroenterology, Cardiology and Urgent Care. She took a year

off after graduating to care for her new daughter, Bristol. She is excited

for the new experience working in research, branching outside of her

clinical experience.

Jerry Butler, MAS, is a new biostatistician at the CDMCC. Jerry

earned his MAS degree in Biostatistics at The Ohio State University

in 2006. He has worked as a statistician in the financial services

industry for the past 4 years where he worked on experimental designs

and the development of statistical models. Jerry looks forward to

applying his skills in clinical and public health research and is excited

to be a part of the PECARN team.

Bradley C. Baird MS, M Stat., has recently joined the Biosignatures Study

as a biostatistician. Brad has recently moved to the Department of Pediatrics

at the University of Utah Health Sciences Center having previously worked

for Internal Medicine for eight years performing research on kidney dialysis

and transplant outcomes. He received his Master of Statistics from the

University of Utah and an MS in Information Systems from the University of

Arizona. Brad also teaches Statistics at a local college in the evenings. He

enjoys sports, family outings and playing golf.

Casey Evans, BS, has worked as a clinical data manager at the

University of Utah Central Data Management and Coordinating

Center since September 2010. Before joining the data center, he

was a data manager at Myriad Pharmaceuticals for three years,

where he worked mostly with oncology studies. Casey graduated

from the University of Utah with a BS in behavioral science and

health in August 2006. Casey enjoys basketball, golf, crossfit,

running, and spending time with family and friends.

Sarah Warnock is a new Research Coordinator with Children's Hospital of

New York Columbia University Medical Center. Originally from Texas,

Sarah studied anthropology, psychology and pre-medicine at the University

of Texas and the American University of Beirut. Since joining Children's

Hospital of New York-Columbia University Medical Center in 2009 she has

worked in the Department of Pediatric Emergency Medicine and has served

as the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship Coordinator for Columbia

University. She is also a freelance photojournalist and medical photographer .

New Faces to PECARN

This newsletter was compiled by Zoljargal Nkansah, PECARN Secretary at the CDMCC

Tom and Tasmeen Singh Weik are pleased

to announce that their twin boys,

Rohan Alexander Weik and

Krishen Robert Weik are born

on March 14, 2011.

Congratulations!

CDMCC

Krishen was born

4 lbs. 15 oz. and

18 in.

Rohan was born

6 lbs. 6 oz. and

18.5 in.

PEDNET

Kym Call had her baby boy. He was born

8 lbs. 9 oz.