2024 Pediatric Orthopaedic Research Highlights
February 05, 2025
Rainbow Orthoapedic Update | Winter 2025
Pediatric orthopaedics at UH Rainbow had another productive research year in 2024, with 37 publications in Pubmed listed journals, thanks in great part to our excellent research team. Abby Schlosser RN, BSN, is our research nurse lead and helps organize our research team and keep us at the forefront in collaborative research nationally and internationally. Alex Chang has been working with us for over a year and did an excellent job presenting recently at the International Limb Lengthening and Reconstruction Society meeting in Beijing. Marlee Yancey and Rayyan Abid just started this past summer and both will be presenting in Toulouse at the European Paediatric Orthopaedic Society annual meeting in the spring. Rayyan also presented at the International Congress of Early Onset Scoliosis meeting in November. All three of our bright young researchers will be starting medical school next fall.
Our group remains active nationally in multiple multi-center study groups and organizations. Justin Mistovich, MD, was nominated as treasurer elect for the Pediatric Research in Sports Medicine Society (PRISM), and Ray Liu, MD, will be starting as vice chair for the evidence-based practice committee at the Pediatric Orthpaedic Society of North America (POSNA). Michael Glotzbecker, MD, will be treasurer for the Pediatric Spine Study Group for a two-year term. Chris Hardesty, MD serves as one of eight national PIs for the PIERRE study, investigating clinical use of the ThecaFlex DRxTM system in delivering nusinersen in subjects with spinal muscular atrophy. We continue our involvement with IMPACCT, one of the largest randomized controlled trials of pediatric fracture care, championed by UH alum Jay Janicki.
Dr. Hardesty also became the chair of the Education Resource Committee for the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS). The SRS offers one of the most rewarding opportunities in all of orthopedics – a four-week traveling fellowship to centers around the world for collaborative spine education and community building.
"Being selected for this was a humbling honor and the trip was the highlight of my professional career", says Dr. Hardesty.
Dr. Hardesty says Dr. David Polly served as the godfather for the group – which also included Drs. Lindsay Andras and Dr. Peter Passias – as they visited scoliosis programs in Nijmegen, Utrecht, Copenhagen, Istanbul, Langensteinbach, Paris and Barcelona. At each place, they had case conferences, shared lectures, and participated in unusual or complex spine surgeries. The experience concluded with a presentation at the SRS Annual Meeting in Barcelona, Spain.
“In addition to sharing the wonderful things we do at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, we developed relationships that further the SRS and its mission of global spine education and research,” says Dr. Hardesty. “This was an unbelievable experience and I am so grateful to my wonderful family and partners for supporting this opportunity."
Pediatric orthopaedics looks forward. to another exciting research year in 2025. Some of our goals include starting a natural history study to understand the development of cam morphology of the hip, and to continue to build up our neuromuscular and limb deformity multi-center study groups where UH Rainbow is the lead site. We have 45 active IRB-approved studies, four additional external IRBs, and a total of 13 active prospective studies.
Dr. Meric Enercan of Istanbul, Turkey scrubs in for surgery beside Dr. Hardesty and Dr. Andras.
Inside La Sagrada Familia with Dr. Ferran Pellise and our Spanish hosts.Tags: Research, Publications