St. Louis Children’s Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine were recently chosen as one of only 14 clinical centers in the country to become members of the newly formed Childhood Liver Disease Research and Education Network (ChiLDREN). Sponsored by the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health, ChiLDREN merges the efforts of the Biliary Atresia Research Consortium (BARC) and the Cholestatic Liver Consortium (CLiC).
“Although we were members of both BARC and CLiC since they were established, we were required to apply for membership into the newly formed network,” says Yumirle Turmelle, MD, SLCH hepatologist and WUSM principal investigator for ChiLDREN. “It was quite a competitive process. The selection recognizes our clinical expertise in caring for children with rare liver diseases and the infrastructure we have in place to support ongoing research into these diseases.”
By combining the expertise and resources of the BARC and CLiC clinical centers, ChiLDREN will enhance the ability of the network to discover new diagnostics, etiologic and treatment options for children with liver disease and those who undergo liver transplantation. It also will help train the next generation of investigators in rare pediatric liver diseases.