Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics

About a year ago, Dr. Adam J. Jonas, Chair of the Department of Pediatrics, initiated the construction of a new facility at Harbor-UCLA that would emphasize advances in pediatric research. The Child Health Research Center, a joint project of the Department of Pediatrics at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and LA BioMed, is now complete.

The Child Health Research Center is an 8,000 square foot facility that will serve as a hub for translational science and community genetics services. It is the first phase of a Department of Pediatrics program to bring new research efforts to Harbor-UCLA that will integrate with other research programs already on campus. The second phase of the program has begun with the recruitment of new investigators whose research will enhance existing campus efforts and grow the UCLA Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) at LA BioMed. The new facility will also serve as home for the regional portion of the State of California Newborn Screening Program, bringing service to the community.

On November 29, Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics faculty member Charles S. Grob, M.D., was featured in an LA Times article about the therapeutic use of hallucinogens and other street drugs for various conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, addiction, chronic pain, depression and terminal illness.

He recently led a research team that found psilocybin ("magic muschrooms") improved the mood of patients with advanced-stage cancer. Grob is the Division Chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and a Professor of Psychiatry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

In September, resident alumnus and former Chief Resident Dr. Nathan Kuppermann received the "Outstanding Contribution in Research Award" from the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). The award recognizes a physician who has made a significant contribution to emergency medicine research. Dr. Kuppermann was given the only research-related honor this year.

Kuppermann was part of a select group of doctors honored at the 2011 ACEP Scientific Assembly. The conference recently took place in San Francisco and is the biggest annual gathering of emergency physicians in the U.S.

In a motion by Supervisors Don Knabe and Mark Ridley-Thomas, Los Angeles County will develop a two-year pilot program at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center that will address the staggering number of infant deaths that have occurred due to unsafe sleeping practices and head trauma. Harbor-UCLA Medical Center was selected for the pilot program because of its strong pediatric department. Approximately 900 live births occurred at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center last year.

The program will be overseen by Dr. Carol Berkowitz, a nationally recognized expert in child maltreatment, and will be modeled after a similar pilot program in Baltimore, Maryland called the Infant Safe Sleeping and Abusive Head Trauma Pilot. The Baltimore program led to four years without a single abusive head trauma death and a decrease in the rate of sleep-related deaths.