SYRACUSE — Upstate Medical University has launched a program designed to address the global health issues that women face during pregnancy, and infants deal with in early childhood.

The initiative — known as the global maternal child and pediatric health program — will combine research, clinical trials, education, and training both in Syracuse and abroad, the medical school announced April 28.

The global maternal child and pediatric health program is part of Upstate’s Center for Global Health & Translational Science (CGHATS).

The center “already has done significant” work in global health issues, such as mosquito-borne illnesses like dengue and chikungunya, the school said in a news release.

It is among the research centers conducting investigations into developing a vaccine for the dengue viruses.

Upstate Medical will base the global maternal child and pediatric health program in Syracuse at the Institute for Human Performance. But researchers will carry out much of its work — including clinical trials and educational opportunities — through CGHATS collaborations in Ecuador and Thailand.

“Emerging health issues of pregnancy and childhood have identified a need for special and immediate attention to develop innovative strategies for disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment,” Dr. Danielle Laraque-Arena, president of Upstate Medical University, said. “Building on the success of our already significant work in global health, this program will focus our efforts on the most vulnerable and vital among us: pregnant women, infants and young children.”

“This new program with its emphasis on child and maternal health is a logical extension of the outreach efforts and faculty expertise already established by our Center for Global Health & Translational Science,” David Amberg, Upstate’s VP for research, said in the release. “But with this new program, we will now have a laser-like focus on emerging areas of research during pregnancy and early childhood.”

Experts
Upstate Medical says it expects the program to attract international researchers and clinicians to the Syracuse campus and send Upstate experts abroad.

Dr. Joseph Domachowske, director of the new program, is an expert in pediatric infectious disease who has done “significant” work in clinical trials for childhood diseases, according to Upstate Medical. He spoke with CNYBJ on April 28.

When asked how Upstate Medical is paying for the program, Domachowske noted that CGHATS is “well funded” by the U.S. Department of Defense and federal grants.

Upstate Medical will also use funding secured in CGHATS partnerships with industry, academic institutions, and philanthropic organizations that aid in funding research for the testing and development of new diagnostics, drugs, and vaccines.

The school is also hoping to secure a $6 million grant from the Atlanta–based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Upstate Medical should find out about that potential grant funding, which Domachowske described as “significant,” sometime during May.

The medical school would look to hire two and as many as 12 new employees in the roles of clinical-research assistants and clinical-study nurses, especially if Upstate Medical secures the grant funding, he adds.

Program origin
Domachowske’s colleagues at CGHATS have been working in Ecuador and Thailand developing treatment and prevention strategies for different mosquito-borne viral infections.

They started hearing about Zika virus and what it was doing during pregnancy and what was happening to the babies being born with congenital defects.

“It became clear … at our [CGHATS] center that they needed some additional pediatric expertise and someone that had been doing some work with women during pregnancy and reached out to me,” says Domachowske.

Domachowske, a member of the pediatrics faculty at Upstate, has led medical missions to Latin America for more than a decade.

One of his first assignments is to conduct clinical trials for vaccines to protect against influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a common and “highly contagious” virus that infects the respiratory tract of most children before their second birthday.

“And despite that, very few people really have heard of it. We don’t have a treatment. We don’t have a [method of] prevention,” says Domachowske.

The RSV clinical trial will study whether giving the vaccine to mothers in the last part of pregnancy may keep the newborn safe from the virus during the most vulnerable first several months.

“For the RSV study, we’re collaborating with several local obstetricians,” says Domachowske.

Researchers will also enroll patients for these clinical trials in Ecuador, Upstate Medical said.

Other diseases that may become a focus of research include Group B streptococcal septicemia, a severe bacterial infection that affects newborns, Domachowske said.

“We don’t yet have a vaccine for that one and the time to prevent it is during or right around delivery because that’s when the babies get colonized with bacteria from the mom,” he says.

The program could also research CMV, or cytomegalovirus, a common infection that can be serious for babies or an unborn child if the mother has the virus.

Understanding how Zika virus affects pregnancy and the growing fetus is also an area that “clearly needs to be further understood through systematic study,” according to Upstate.

In addition to hosting clinical trials and medical research, the program will focus on broadening education of global health issues.

Upstate Medical will design the educational offerings for clinicians and researchers seeking “global experience” related to pregnancy, infancy, and young childhood.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com