FNNDSC Newsletter- April 30th
- FNNDSC
- Apr 30, 2025
- 6 min read
Upcoming events:
May Lecture Series Calendar:
If you are interested in suggesting a speaker for the FNNDSC Lecture Series, please use the form below to make your recommendation:
FNNDSC Spring RA/Intern Research Symposium:
Date: Friday 5/2 10-5 pm In-person 401 Park 2nd Floor Conference Room
May Coffee Social:
Date: Wednesday 5/14 10-11 am, South Boston Conference Room
May Holiday Closure:
The FNNDSC will be closed Monday, May 26th, in accordance with Memorial Day, an official hospital holiday: Holiday Schedule
FNNDSC Seminar:
Topic: AI Chatbots and Agents in Healthcare
In this Center-Wide Seminar, Dr. Yangming Ou will introduce two of the latest trends in AI: 1. domain/disease-specific chatbot, and 2. agent AI. If you are interested, please join in-person or virtually for this informative session!
Date: 5/28 2-3 pm, South Boston Conference Room
Upcoming Conferences:
ISMRM Annual Meeting | May 10-15, 2025 | Honolulu, HI
American Society of Neuroradiology (ASNR) Annual Meeting | May 17-21 | Philadelphia, PA
Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM) Conference | June 24-28 | Brisbane, Australia
Helpful Links:
Research Announcements & News▴ Office of Sponsored Programs Updates▴Grokker ▴ PeopleSoft/ERP ▴ Flu/COVID Vaccine Central ▴eHelp ▴Ombuds Office ▴Health Well-Being Programs
May is Mental Health Awareness Month!
The new BCH Workforce Well-being Employee Led Group (ELG) held events the week of April 14th to spread awareness of their mission and offer informative sessions to all:
SupportLinc (April 14): "Life Blend: Balancing Work and Family"
Grokker (April 15): Platform Tour with Debbie Coldiron
Passcode: FHt1R^5W
If you have questions or are interested in joining this ELG, please contact workforcewellbeingelg@childrens.harvard.edu
U.S. Immigration Resources:
At this time, no formal travel restrictions have been announced. Although the Office of Immigration Services (OIS) is continuing to urge caution when planning non-essential international travel. If you do plan to travel internationally, the OIS recommends reaching out to them beforehand (Contact Information) to request a travel letter.
For those who are on visas through Intrax, mostly students, please see the below guidance for international travel:
Instructions: https://help.intraxinc.com/travel-validation
Please check the Office of Immigration Services (OIS) page for regular updates and communication: Office of Immigration Services - Welcome!
Harvard International Office (HIO) Communication: *We currently do not have anyone in the division on an HIO sponsored visa, but these resources are good to have from our HMS affiliate
The HIO’s U.S. immigration FAQ
The HIO’s guidance for visitors who will be traveling from abroad to attend Commencement, reunions, or other similar events
Harvard Representation Initiative (HRI), for legal advocacy and legal advice regarding immigration rights
Office of the General Counsel’s guidance on U.S. border security measures
Office of the Vice Provost for Research’s U.S. arrival travel guidance for foreign students and exchange visitors
Massachusetts Office for Refugees and Immigrants’ community resources
Studies Recruiting:
The HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study at Boston Children’s Hospital (https://hbcdstudy.org/) are in need of parents and their infants to volunteer in two play-based neurodevelopmental tasks with their 9- to 15-month-old infants/toddlers (details below) as part of training/piloting.
In addition to the compensation described below, transportation costs and childcare for siblings are provided as needed. These activities take place at 2 Brookline Place.
Please contact the HBCD Study (hbcd@childrens.harvard.edu) with any questions or interest in participating.
Bayley Assessment of Infant and Toddler Development (up to 2 hrs)
-A play-based activity that assesses various domains of children's development, including motor, visual, and language abilities
-Compensation: $50 + diapers, an Uber meal voucher, and small gifts for parent and infant
NIH Baby Tool Box (45 minutes)
-This activity primarily uses an iPad, along with some play-based tasks, to assess cognition, executive functioning, language, numeracy/early mathematics, self-regulation, social functioning, and motor skills.
-Compensation: $20 + diapers, an Uber meal voucher, and small gifts for parent and infant
Recent Publications from our Team:
Fetal MRI: Radiofrequency Safety Assessment at 3 Tesla. Yetisir F, Abaci Turk E, Feldman HA, Gagoski B, Didier RA, Barnewolt C, Estroff JA, Wald LL, Adalsteinsson E, Grant PE. J Magn Reson Imaging. 2025 Apr 17. doi: 10.1002/jmri.29797. Online ahead of print. PMID: 40243139
Foetal cortical expansion is associated with neurodevelopmental outcome at 2-years in congenital heart disease: a longitudinal follow-up study. Wilson S, Yun HJ, Sadhwani A, Feldman HA, Jeong S, Hart N, Pujols KH, Newburger JW, Grant PE, Rollins CK, Im K. EBioMedicine. 2025 Apr;114:105679. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2025.105679. Epub 2025 Mar 29. PMID: 40158387
PARADISE: Personalized and regional adaptation for HIE disease identification and segmentation.Bao R, Weiss RJ, Bates SV, Song Y, He S, Li J, Bjornerud A, Hirschtick RL, Grant PE, Ou Y. Med Image Anal. 2025 May;102:103419. doi: 10.1016/j.media.2024.103419. Epub 2025 Feb 1. PMID: 40147073
Graph-based prototype inverse-projection for identifying cortical sulcal pattern abnormalities in congenital heart disease.Kwon H, Son S, Morton SU, Wypij D, Cleveland J, Rollins CK, Huang H, Goldmuntz E, Panigrahy A, Thomas NH, Chung WK, Anagnostou E, Norris-Brilliant A, Gelb BD, McQuillen P, Porter GA Jr, Tristani-Firouzi M, Russell MW, Roberts AE, Newburger JW, Grant PE, Lee JM, Im K.Med Image Anal. 2025 May;102:103538. doi: 10.1016/j.media.2025.103538. Epub 2025 Feb 28.
Towards automatic US-MR fetal brain image registration with learning-based methods. Zeng Q, Liu W, Li B, Didier R, Grant PE, Karimi D.Neuroimage. 2025 Apr 15;310:121104. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121104. Epub 2025 Mar 7. PMID: 40058533
Management and Outcomes in Isolated Congenital Aqueductal Stenosis: A Single-Center Retrospective Cohort Study.Sambatur EV, Qaderi S, Soldatelli MD, Castillo J, Castillo H, Northam WT, Warf BC, Chmait RH, Krispin E, Grant PE, Shamshirsaz AA. Prenat Diagn. 2025 Apr;45(4):521-530. doi: 10.1002/pd.6764. Epub 2025 Feb 20. PMID: 39978788
Introducing the Gene & Cell Therapy Study Group of the ASNR, ASFNR, and ASPNR. Narsinh KH, Grant PE, Barajas RF Jr, Ivanidze J, Shah BR, Pukenas B, Tanabe J, Hess C, Lindan CE. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2025 Apr 2;46(4):646-647. doi: 10.3174/ajnr.A8745. PMID: 40174980 No abstract available
Recent Grants Awarded:
Congratulations to Dr. Filiz Yetisir, who has been awarded the 2025 BCH Office of Faculty Development/BTREC/CTREC Career Development Fellowship!
Project Title: Improving Image Quality and Imaging Speed of Fetal MRI
Project Summary: 3 Tesla MRI can improve image quality through increased signal to noise ratio compared to 1.5 Tesla MRI. However, image shading and tissue heating increases at 3 Tesla, reducing diagnostic quality and imaging speed. Radiofrequency shimming can decrease image shading and tissue heating, however, using radiofrequency shimming safely for fetal MRI is uniquely challenging because of fetal motion. We will develop methods needed to safely implement radiofrequency shimming for fetal MRI and evaluate its potential to improve image quality and imaging speed compared to the standard mode of imaging using electromagnetic simulations and data from typical pregnant subjects.
Funding Opportunities for Faculty and Fellows:
Grant Writing: https://grantwritingandfunding.com/banned-and-trigger-words-in-federal-grant-writing-in-the-trump-administration-2-0/
Patient/Family Stories Sharing:
The Department of Newborn Medicine wants to stay informed about the exciting and impactful research happening in the FNNDSC. As part of this effort, the team is working to feature patient stories that highlight both research and its clinical impact. These stories will be shared via provider email lists on a quarterly basis.
Here’s an example of a recent feature on Dr. Stella Kourembanas’ research: Stella’s research.
If you have a project or story that you feel would be a good fit for this effort, please fill out the form below or reach out to caroline.schutz@childrens.harvard.edu with the details:
FNNDSC Fun!
April Coffee Social 4/16
BCH Events:
Yoga Reaches Out! Sunday, May 4th @ The TRACK at new balance.
Registration is now open! Full event details plus a video on what you can expect can be found here.
Register at: Yoga Reaches Out | Boston Children's Hospital Trust
The Eversource Walk for Kids will take place on Sunday, June 8th. This is your opportunity to show your staff pride and join an incredible community of hospital employees, kids, families and supporters at the Eversource Walk for Boston Children’s Hospital!
Register at: Eversource Walk for Boston Children’s Hospital | Boston Children's Hospital Trust
Boston Events: Check out the calendar this weekend!
Way to Shine!
Have you seen a teammate or colleague do something exceptional? Have they gone out of their way to exceed someone's expectations? Let them know that you noticed and that you care! To send a Way to Shine, please follow this link: Bravo! Way to Shine - Boston Children's Hospital (harvard.edu)
Brain Games 🧠 📝
HAVE SOMETHING TO SHARE?
If you have something that you would like to see featured in the next newsletter, please contact Caroline Schutz caroline.schutz@childrens.harvard.edu.
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