SPR Presidential Plenary: Innovative Discoveries to Transform Child Health Across the Translational Spectrum

Friday, May 3, 2024

3:45 PM – 5:15 PM ET

Location: Metro Toronto Convention Centre: 718 B

CE: Live CME: 1.5

Chair(s)

Cristina Alvira, MD (she/her/hers)

Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Stanford University School of Medicine
Palo Alto, California, United States

Disclosure(s):

Cristina M. Alvira, MD: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.

Session

Description: The session will highlight the power of discovery to tackle important questions and induce impactful change in child health. The introduction will focus on the role of pediatric physician scientists in driving discovery, current challenges and obstacles, and novel strategies to protect and promote the mission of discovery. This will be followed by three examples of innovative discoveries occurring at the bench, from the bench to the bedside, and at the population level that have produced dramatic change in our understanding of disease and our ability to care for children.

Learning Objectives:

Understand how novel technologies can help us delineate the molecular mechanisms underlying immune dysregulation and autoimmunity.
Describe how a deep understanding of the structure and function of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator led to the development of life saving therapies.
Describe how multidisciplinary approaches allow for the creation and implementation of novel strategies to address major public health and safety problems.

Presentations:

3:45 PM – 4:00 PM ET

Innovative Discoveries to Transform Child Health Across the Translational Spectrum
Speaker: Cristina M. Alvira, MD (she/her/hers) – Stanford University School of Medicine
4:00 PM – 4:20 PM ET

An approach for unraveling the web of connections between infections, immune dysregulation, and disease
Speaker: Aaron Bodansky, MD (he/him/his) – UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital San Francisco
4:20 PM – 4:40 PM ET

Cystic fibrosis: From gene discovery to life changing therapies.
Speaker: Felix Ratjen, MD PhD FRCPC FERS (he/him/his) – SickKids
4:40 PM – 5:00 PM ET

Traffic Medicine: Discoveries in Preventing a Leading Cause of Child and Adolescent Death
Speaker: Flaura K. Winston, MD PhD (she/her/hers) – U of PA and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
5:00 PM – 5:15 PM ET

Q & A
Speaker: Jingshing Wu, MD, PhD (she/her/hers) – University of California, San Francisco