Research Corner

Research activities are getting a boost at UMMC with the addition of Thy Huynh, MD, doing double duty as our pediatric dermatologist and inaugural medical director establishing a dedicated Dermatology Clinical Trials Unit. Drs. Huynh and Vinayak Nahar are working to grow our research enterprise to support our three-part mission of health care, research, and education.  We will be conducting future trials on common skin conditions like atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, hidradenitis in addition to rare disorders such as congenital ichthyosis. Registry collection will also be underway to assess impact of various skin conditions and their effect on quality of life. This will add a whole new spectrum to the work being done by Vinayak Nahar, MD PhD.

We are excited to report that our department has been successful in obtaining extramural research funding over the past several months. Pfizer Inc. has funded $281,778 to develop, implement, and evaluate a telemedicine and face-to-face educational intervention to improve health care professionals' understanding of behavioral approaches and new and emerging therapies for the treatment of moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis in children. This grant was awarded to Dr. Vinayak Nahar. In addition, Project ECHO, led by Drs. Chelsea Mockbee and Stephen Helms, has received a $55,345 grant from the UMMC Telehealth Center of Excellence’s Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grant to assist with collection of QI data and the creation of a resource library for providers to access between sessions.

Our department plans to seek additional clinical and translational research funding and grow our research enterprise to support our three-part mission of healthcare, research, and education.