Research

I was proud to see the publication of a landmark brain repair trial carried out at OHSU and Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. Our large team of researchers reported the results of this first-ever use of brain-specific stem cells in human patients. The trial, begun in 2006, involved surgical transplantation of purified neural stem cells into six pediatric patients with the rare and uniformly fatal form of the brain degenerative disorder, Batten disease, plus extensive medical and … Read More

April is National Autism Awareness Month and the perfect time to share some good news for children with autism spectrum disorder, or ASD. Parents of children with ASD have commonly been told that if their child isn’t speaking by age 5, he or she likely never will. However, a new study in the journal Pediatrics counters this belief. The study of more than 500 children suggests that even when children are not yet using phrase … Read More

As a resident who works 80 hours a week at times, who would think: “What else can I do at the hospital?” As crazy as it sounds, I said that as I planned to specialize in pediatric emergency medicine and enter fellowship training. As a first-year resident, I thought about many specialties ranging from pediatric cardiology to neonatology. However, after a month in the OHSU Doernbecher Emergency Department, I fell in love with the procedures, … Read More

One of the true challenges of neurosurgical care is that small details can have a big effect. In short, the central nervous system is one of the organ systems in the body least tolerant to irritation, injury, infection and other ill effects. While I was training in general and then pediatric neurosurgery, I was troubled that despite careful attention, very delicate and important drains in the fluid spaces of the brain sometimes fell out. This often … Read More

The principal aim of the Doernbecher Children’s Hospital Development Therapeutics program is to evaluate novel agents for the treatment of pediatric cancer through early phase clinical trials. We conduct Phase I and Phase II trials of potentially promising new drugs for the treatment of all types of childhood cancer. Doernbecher is one of 21 select institutions in North America who comprise the NCI-funded Children’s Oncology Group Phase I Consortium. Through our participation in COG early … Read More

We are thrilled to have such talented high school, college and visiting graduate students this summer. A particular focus is personalized osteosarcoma therapy — you can watch a video of our vision for personalized cancer therapy here. Lara Davis, M.D., the adolescent and young adult (AYA) oncology fellow in our lab, is leading students Claire, Olivia, Melissa and Noah (see bios below) in the effort to develop rapid and reliable ways that children with osteosarcoma … Read More