Pandemic Highlights Importance of Collaborative Research

Newswise — Lawrence C. Kleinman, MD, MPH, FAAP, professor and vice chair for academic development of pediatrics at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and professor of global urban health at the Rutgers School of Public Health, along with colleagues on the COVID-19 Common Data Elements Working Group, received the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Collaboration Award.

The COVID-19 Working Group at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is tasked with developing common definitions for variables of COVID research that allow data to be combined, compared, and integrated between scientists and across various research studies.

Dr. Kleinman, who is a national leader and pioneer in children’s research, prioritizes working in partnership with other researchers, especially during COVID-19. He shares, “For a disease like COVID-19 that spreads quickly and whose symptoms and long-term effects can vary, collaborating groups are integral to understanding the disease so that it can be better prevented and treated.”

He explains that during the COVID-19 pandemic, different regions of the country have unique findings, often happening at different times. Collaboration, he says, enables health care providers to prepare for what might be coming in their area next and also helps disseminate information faster.

For example, New Jersey saw cases of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C), a severe acute inflammatory illness which typically begins unexpectedly about a month after the initial infection, before other areas in the country. Through effective communication and partnership, researchers in New Jersey including Dr. Kleinman quickly shared information about this devastating illness in children so that clinicians and researchers throughout the United States could work together systematically to develop a better understanding of this complication.

Dr. Kleinman currently leads three national research collaborations. The federal Health Services Resources Administration’s Maternal Child Health Measurement Research Network addresses child and family needs in five areas: health equity and disparities; social determinants of health; clinical quality improvement; family engagement; and COVID-19.  

The NICHD has funded a spin off project, the COVID-19 Network of Networks to Enhance Clinical and Translational (CONNECT) approaches to predict severe illness in children, which integrates community, clinical, and biological data to identify those children and adolescents who are at highest risk to get very sick from COVID-19. 

And most recently, Dr. Kleinman is involved in the Collaborative study of Long-term Outcomes of COVID-19 in Kids (CLOCK), which was awarded approximately $30 million from the NIH as a key component of the RECOVER study examining long-term effects and delayed impact of COVID-19 in children.

These three projects have the potential to advance the study of children’s health across a variety of areas, most notably COVID-19. As Dr. Kleinman asserts, “The modern way of doing science includes team science. When you can get a number of really good people in the room, who each bring diverse perspectives to work on common problems, the public health is improved and we can create the opportunities for families to be healthier.”