A $1 million investment will launch two physician-led clinical research efforts in North Carolina to grow medical knowledge by seeking to answer pressing questions.

The pair of $500,000 research grants focusing on urgent health needs marks the largest single investment awarded by the collaborative involving Novant Health, UNC Health and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine. The funding will launch joint Novant Health and UNC School of Medicine studies focusing on treatments for patients with pediatric asthma and advanced prostate cancer.

Eveline Wu, MD, MSCR, Associate Professor and Division Chief of Pediatric Rheumatology in the Department of Pediatrics, is one of 14 researchers nationwide selected to receive the award this year.

The UNC site lead investigators are Edwin Kim, MD, associate professor of medicine, division chief of UNC Pediatric Allergy & Immunology, and Corinne Keet, MD, PhD, professor of pediatrics, vice chair of clinical and translational research.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center is launching a first-in-human clinical trial to determine the safety and efficacy of an experimental monoclonal antibody against enterovirus D68 (EV-D68). UNC School of Medicine’s Matthew Vogt, MD, PhD, was a postdoctoral fellow in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at VUMC when he co-led the development of monoclonal antibody therapies against EV-D68.

Camilia Kamoun, MD, Assistant Professor in Pediatric Endocrinology, was recently awarded a grant by the Greenwall Foundation through its Making a Difference Program, in support of her project, “Moving Away from Race-Ethnicity Based Clinical Care of Early Female Puberty Towards Race and Ethnicity Conscious Puberty Justice”. Congratulations Camilia!

Samantha Morrissey, MD, PhD, a UNC Med-Peds resident, has been honored with the prestigious Bondurant-Ehringhaus Award for her groundbreaking research conducted at the UNC McAllister Heart Institute under the guidance of Brian Jensen, MD, a professor of medicine in the division of cardiology.

This five-year grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is led by Toni Darville, MD, director of the UNC Children’s Research Institute, in collaboration with scientists at Vaxcyte, Inc. and the University of Chicago.

At PAS 2024, the NEC Society awarded the Early Career Research Award to Lauren Frazer, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine. Congratulations!

Dr. Brittany Raffa, Assistant Professor in General Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, has been named to the School of Medicine’s Physician Scientist Training Program. Congratulations!

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a severe intestinal disease that impacts preterm babies. On Fri, May 17, NEC Awareness Day, support the Titus Strong Foundation in funding NEC research at UNC. #Titus Strong