Call for Abstracts: Pediatric Science Days and Research Symposium
The Department of Pediatrics will host the 11th annual Pediatric Science Days and Research Symposium May 17-19 at Saint Louis University's medical center.
This year’s multi-disciplinary event is hosted by the Department of Pediatrics in conjunction with the departments of Internal Medicine, Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, the College for Public Health and Social Justice and SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital.
The multi-day event kicks off Wednesday, May 17, with a Special Joint Pediatrics (School of Medicine) and College for Public Health and Social Justice Research Seminar. Sharon Levy, M.D., will present her extensive research on the prevention and treatment of substance abuse in adolescents.
An all-day research symposium will take place Thursday, May 18, in the Learning Resources Center. This event highlights diverse areas of research related to children’s health and wellbeing, and is intended to promote cross-University interactions.
Faculty and trainees at any school, department or center across Saint Louis University whose work addresses any aspect of child health and wellbeing are strongly encouraged to submit their work for presentation at the PSD Research Symposium.
Abstracts may be submitted by email to psd-2017@slu.edu and abstract forms may be downloaded at the PSD website. The submission deadline is Tuesday, Feb. 28. Detailed information about abstract submission can be found on the School of Medicine's website.
A special Joint Pediatrics, Internal Medicine and Molecular Microbiology and Immunology Grand Rounds will be held Friday, May 19, in the LRC. Guest speaker Ofer Levy, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of pediatric infectious diseases at Harvard Medical School and director of the precision vaccines program will present work related to his basic science, translational and clinical research endeavors to improve the effectiveness of vaccines in infants and children.
Afterward, Ofer Levy and Sharon Levy will facilitate an informal discussion about issues related to academic career development and relate these to their own career paths. Attendees must register for this event, which will be held at SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital. Registeration for Pediatric Science Days can be completed online.
About the Visiting Professors: Ofer Levy, M.D., Ph.D. and Sharon Levy, M.D.
Each year, as part of Pediatric Science Days, the Department of Pediatrics hosts a distinguished academic pediatrician. This year's visiting professors are Ofer Levy, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and director of the precision vaccines program at Boston Children’s Hospital; and Sharon Levy, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and director of the Adolescent Substance Abuse Program.
This year the Department of Pediatrics is jointly hosting Ofer Levy with the departments of Internal Medicine and Molecular Microbiology and Immunology. Sharon Levy is being co-hosted by the Department of Pediatrics with the College for Public Health and Social Justice.
Ofer Levy’s research program is focused on studies of immune mechanisms that protect the developing human host against infection, particularly as they relate to vaccine-induced protective immunity. His work has led to novel clinically-based approaches to the development of diagnostic, preventive, and therapeutic modalities for immune deficiencies in newborns, children and in those undergoing chemo-radiotherapy.
His work has focused on molecules that can amplify vaccine responses (immune adjuvants) against HIV. As part of research funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, his laboratory has developed a novel human tissue platform to assess new vaccine formulations in vitro. This platform is now being used by the Levy laboratory to identify small molecules that can augment vaccine-induced immunity in infants and in the geriatric population in an ongoing NIH-funded study.
The Harvard Precision Vaccines Program, of which Ofer Levy is the director, has been designed to enhance world-wide collaborative research efforts to develop more effective vaccines. Levy has been funded by the NIH, Department of Defense and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Since 2005, Ofer Levy has successfully mentored more than 30 trainees and junior faculty at his home institution and across the United States, as well as internationally.
Sharon Levy’s program focuses on the effects of substance abuse particularly in the adolescent population. She is a nationally and internationally recognized expert on drug abuse, has served as a panelist at the NIH and at the White House, and has lent her expertise to address drug abuse issues both in the academic and lay communities. She has given numerous seminars to local communities and to academic institutions across the nation as well as at international sites. Her work has been funded by the NIH.
For information about abstract submissions or Pediatric Science Days, visit the Pediatric Science Days website.
For specific questions related to abstract submissions or the Research Symposium, contact Jennifer Baine or Joyce Marie Koenig, M.D., at 314-977-9291 or psd-2017@slu.edu.