Ensuring that a world-leading pediatric research enterprise is positioned for ongoing growth and preeminence is a weighty task that demands an accomplished leader. In February 2016, Beverly Davidson, PhD, took on such a critical role as Chief Scientific Strategy Officer (CSSO) at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. In this newly created position, Dr. Davidson serves as an integral member of the CHOP Research Institute senior leadership team, has overall accountability for the implementation of the research strategic vision, oversees space and resources allocation, assists in recruitment of researchers, and works with development to ensure philanthropic support of CHOP’s research mission. She also has key role in coordinating scientific alignment of CHOP with the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Davidson remains the director of the Raymond G. Perelman Center for Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics. She holds the Arthur V. Meigs Chair in Pediatrics at CHOP, and is a professor in the department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Penn Medicine. Her research is focused on inherited brain disorders and the development of novel therapies to treat these fatal diseases. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has served as co-chair for study sections and review committees for the National Institutes of Health and as a member of the national advisory council of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, among numerous other honors and leadership positions.

“Dr. Davidson brings to the CSSO position a wealth of scientific expertise, a stellar track record of scientific innovation and leadership, an exciting vision for CHOP research, and exceptional qualities as a mentor and role model,” said Bryan A. Wolf, MD, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer and director of the CHOP Research Institute, in appointing her to this new role.

Research at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has a new helping hand from Katherine Yang-Iott, who became the first person in the newly defined role of Research Navigator in February 2016. The new Navigator role is intended to serve as the point of contact for investigators and the research community to listen to and address any questions and concerns about doing research at CHOP. Services include facilitating research processes, providing and connecting contacts, and coordinating opportunities for improvement wherever it is needed. As Navigator, Yang-Iott works in CHOP’s Clinical Research Support Office and serves the entire CHOP Research Institute.

Yang-Iott has a background in basic laboratory research and has worked at CHOP since 2006. Her work in the lab of Craig Bassing, PhD, in the department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, focused on cancer pathobiology. In 2015, she completed the Research Administration Fellowship, a six-month program designed to give interested research personnel a broad overview of leadership in CHOP Research Administration with administrative directors in their areas of interest.

“My goal is to be an advocate for research faculty and staff,” Yang-Iott said. “My job is to work with research administration as a resource to find ways to make researchers’ jobs easier so that scientists can focus on their studies and discoveries.”

Read more about Yang-Iott and the Navigator’s role in her blog post on Cornerstone.

Too much information can be a bad thing if no one is able to interpret it. As next-generation sequencing methods have begun generating vast quantities of data about cancer and other diseases, there is a growing and urgent need for scientists who can find meaningful signals in the noise, such as identifying the specific genes or pathways that are most promising to target with new therapies.

Kai Tan, PhD, a cancer genomics and bioinformatics researcher who joined Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in January 2016, has pioneered the development of novel computational strategies and systems biology to identify molecular events that drive cancers. As a faculty member in the division of Oncology and in the department for Biomedical and Health Informatics at CHOP, and an associate professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Tan collaborates with CHOP clinicians and engages with the robust cancer and genomic research communities at both CHOP and Penn Medicine.

His bioinformatics lab, which includes a team that came with him from the University of Iowa, develops algorithms to analyze next-generation sequencing data and gene network data to generate hypotheses about molecular targets for new treatments. In addition, he is beginning to develop algorithms to interpret data now available from analyses of single cells. Dr. Tan also studies the development pathways of hematopoetic stem cells (blood stem cells) in his work as a bench scientist, comparing mechanisms that regulate gene expression in both healthy and cancerous cells to gain insight into cancer’s differences — and its weaknesses.

“CHOP’s cancer center is one of the best, so I’m excited to apply our basic science skills to really do something that can eventually lead to new therapeutics,” Dr. Tan said. “That’s what really excites me.”

Read more about Dr. Tan on the Cornerstone blog.

“Human genetics isn’t bounded by children or adults; it’s really one big continuum. Families are also a huge part of human genetics research, including families of all different ages,” said Daniel Rader, MD, a professor and chair of the department of Genetics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

The family principle was front and center with Dr. Rader’s selection as the chief of the division of Human Genetics in the department of Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Since assuming this role in March 2016, Dr. Rader has been working to strengthen the family bonds within the CHOP division itself and between pediatric and adult genetics programs on the CHOP-Penn campus. The former divisions of Genetics and Metabolism were merged upon Dr. Rader’s appointment to his new role, restoring a previous arrangement at CHOP that reflects the shared training and overlapping expertise among the individuals practicing in each specialty. Dr. Rader hopes to develop the division into a hub of genetics activities at CHOP that others from across the institution can consult for genetics-related questions and projects. At the same time, he aims to strengthen collaborations with adult genetics specialists at Penn to engage entire families of all ages in research and clinical care across the lifespan.

“We’re fortunate to have attracted Dan to this position, in particular given his stature as a leader and a physician-scientist in the field of genetics,” said Joseph St. Geme III, MD, CHOP’s physician-in-chief and chair of the department of Pediatrics at CHOP and Penn. “His concurrent roles as chief of the division of Human Genetics at CHOP and chair of the department of Genetics at Penn create an exciting opportunity to unify the genetics community across the Penn and CHOP campuses, stimulating greater collaboration and increased progress in understanding and treating genetic diseases.”

Dennis Durbin, MD, MSCE, was appointed Assistant Vice President and Chief Clinical Research Officer at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in July 2016. This newly created role expands on Dr. Durbin’s longstanding leadership responsibilities in CHOP’s clinical research that include serving as the CHOP site principal investigator of the Clinical and Translational Science Award with the University of Pennsylvania, where he is also a professor of Pediatrics in the Perelman School of Medicine. Dr. Durbin served most recently as the director of the Office of Clinical and Translational Research at CHOP.

“One of Dennis’ primary responsibilities is to promote institutional alignment by serving as the point of intersection among clinical operations, faculty affairs, research, and hospital administration,” said CHOP Chief Scientific Officer and Research Institute Director Bryan A. Wolf, MD, PhD, in announcing Dr. Durbin’s expanded role. “An important component of this rests with overseeing clinical research operations at CHOP, a major initiative stemming from our strategic planning process.”

Dr. Durbin serves as a key member of Dr. Wolf’s CSO Leadership Team, and in his expanded role as Chief Clinical Research Officer he partners with leaders across the CHOP enterprise and the University of Pennsylvania to support CHOP’s research mission. He also participates in the development, communication, implementation, and organizational engagement of the Research Institute’s strategy. While holding this growing leadership role, he continues to maintain his own clinical responsibilities and his role as a co-investigator on injury prevention research projects.

A pool of shared resources and expertise within a complex research organization is vital to support discovery that is convenient, affordable, and efficient. Hence, research institutions such as Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia invest in research cores to provide centralized equipment, services, and technical staff in key scientific areas — allowing individual research laboratories and teams to use these resources without each bearing the potentially prohibitive cost of developing them independently.

As science evolves, ensuring that these core capabilities remain robust and up to date with researchers’ contemporary needs is essential. At CHOP, Harry Ischiropoulos, PhD, recently took on this key responsibility. Dr. Ischiropoulos, an investigator whose research program focuses on the biological chemistry and molecular mechanisms of nitric oxide signaling, has been with CHOP since 1999. He was named scientific director for the cores at the CHOP Research Institute in February 2016. In this role, he chairs the Institutional Core Advisory Committee, advises CHOP Chief Scientific Officer and Research Institute Director Bryan A. Wolf, MD, PhD, directly on matters concerning the cores, and serves as a liaison with the University of Pennsylvania.

“The CHOP Research Institute cores are committed in providing state-of-the-art technologies, technical expertise, and education to support the research missions of our investigators,” said Dr. Ischiropoulos, who is also a research professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at Penn. “We are instituting transparent oversight and evaluation procedures, implementing measures to determine success, and empowering investigators to work with cores leaders to develop new technologies and drive innovation. We will continually evaluate technologies and service needs of our researchers as well as improving our collaborative efforts with core resources at Penn.”