Research Committee Update

New Conference Offering at the 2020 SPA Winter Meeting: Emerging Research

By Helen H. Lee, MD
Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology
University of Illinois at Chicago

And Frank X. McGowan, MD
William J. Greeley Endowed Chair in Pediatric Anesthesiology and Critical Care Research
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

There are many exciting changes in the format for the 2020 SPA Winter Meeting, which we think will meet the diverse needs of members. Part of the new offerings in this year’s meeting is the Emerging Research Panel. This panel will feature presentations by two early stage investigators whose work has the potential to change paradigms within their fields. If the following thoughts have crossed your mind, this panel was built with you in mind!

Are you interested in developing a career in research? Success is built upon a series of attempts that, in the moment, feel like failure. Career pathways are often non-linear and the journey to success is as interesting as the destination. Come to this panel to hear about the choices, strategies, and infrastructure that were critical to the career development of our presenters.

Do you want to learn about innovations in methods, concepts, areas of science that may change how we view children’s health? This panel will feature people and ideas that are disruptive to the status quo. Our goal is to feature work that may be in the proof of concept phase of scientific discovery.

Which people are the next generation of clinician scientists within pediatric anesthesiology? Pursuing a research career is challenging, particularly within our subspecialty. Shrinking institutional support, clinical demands, and overcoming barriers to interdisciplinary collaborations can prevent early stage investigators from persisting. Featuring innovative work as well as innovative people is our attempt to support and disseminate work by our own members.

What exactly am I going to hear from the speakers? Each speaker will follow the same basic format. They will address three questions: What is my research focus? How did I get here? What am I doing now? There will also be an opportunity for audience questions. As moderators, we look forward to facilitating robust discussion, brainstorming, and feedback from the audience.

Get to Know Our Presenters

Cornelius “Neels” Groenewald
Seattle Children’s Hospital

Neels describes his focus as follows: “My research is focused on determining how medical opioid use contributes to the opioid crises facing children and adolescents in the United States by using big data analytics. I am specifically interested in understanding how patterns of opioid prescription by health care providers may place patients at risk for long-term opioid behaviors such as opioid misuse and opioid overdose.”

Neels is currently supported by a K23 Career Development Award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and is a former recipient of the SPA Young Investigator award.

Matthew A. Jolley
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

Imagine being able to visualize the anatomy and dynamic function of a child with congenital heart disease, before, during, and after surgical repair. How would this influence management in the operating room and ICU? Could better imaging contribute to an individual surgeon’s approach to repairs?

Matt’s research focus is the manifestation of his training as a pediatric cardiologist, pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist, and research background in bioengineering. His vision is that through novel applications of computational modeling, congenital cardiac surgical outcomes will improve. Matt is currently supported by Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Cardiac Center Innovation Award and the Big Hearts to Little Hearts Award.

“Emerging Research” will be featured in the Research Track of the 2020 SPA Winter Meeting, on Friday, February 28 (3:00-4:30 pm). We look forward to seeing your friendly faces and engaging with your curious minds.