As an integral part of your fellowship experience, you’ll receive thorough training in research as it relates to the fields of gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition. The research component will focus primarily on scholarly activities during the first year and either basic science research or clinical projects during the second and third years.

Scholarly Activities

Training in the scholarly experience begins in the first year of the fellowship and continues throughout your training. You’ll develop the full range of requisite skills for research, from project design to completion and presentation to our scholarship oversight committee, in accordance with American Board of Pediatrics certification requirements.

GI Research Lab

Our state-of-the-art GI Research Lab, located on the campus of duPont Hospital for Children support fellow research activities. This one of kind program provides a designated research team to assist fellow research activities. The team works with fellows and their clinical mentors to support their research projects including bench work, funding core lab service, initial study designing, data analyzing and methods writing for publication.

• Evaluation of PH Interferference and Accuracy of Pancreatic Enzyme Activity by Direct Pancreatic Function Testing. Jonathan Beri, Heidi Hagerott, Zhaoping He, Zarela Molle-Rios.

Active Research

Your second and third years will include more hands-on work in either basic science research or clinical projects. You’ll use knowledge gained in the first year to design and execute a study, from concept to completion and presentation, under the supervision of one of our faculty members.

Completed Research

• A Phase 2b, Extension Study to Determine the Long-Term Safety of Vedolizumab IV in Pediatric Patients With Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease. PI Zarela Molle Rios — enrolling patients in 2018.
• A Phase 4, Multicenter, Open-label Study of Serum Infliximab Concentrations and Efficacy and Safety of Dose Escalation in Pediatric Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease - “ADAPT”. PI Zarela Molle Rios – enrolling patients.
• Immunohistochemistry Expression of Cytokines for Diagnosing Eosinophilic Esophagitis, Proton Pump Inhibitor-Responsive Eosinophilic Esophagitis, and Gastroesophageal Reflux in Pediatric Patients. (Shaida Nasiri and Molle Rios)
• The Role of Guanylyl Cyclase C and Its Ligands in Pediatric Obesity: A Prospective Study to Measure the Level of an Intestinal Hormone (Uroguanylin) in Response to a Meal Eaten by Adolescents to Evaluate the Effect on Appetite. (Dr. DiGuglielmo)
• The Role of Guanylyl Cyclase C and Its Ligands in Pediatric Obesity: A Retrospective Study in Tissue Protein Expression Differences of Guanylyl Cyclase C, a Gut Enzyme, and Its Ligands Guanylin and Uroguanylin, Between Obese and Normal Weight Adolescents. (Dr. DiGuglielmo)
• Serological Markers in Children With Celiac Disease and non-Celiac Disease: A Retrospective Study (Dr. Del Rosario and Dr. He).
• Open-Label Safety and Efficacy Study of Reslizumab (CTX55700) for the Treatment of Pediatric Subjects With Eosinophilic Esophagitis Who Completed Study RES-5-0002 
• Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Use in Pediatric Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Functional Dyspepsia (a pilot study).
• Impact of Premedication With Steroids on Formation of Antibodies to Infliximab and Infusion Reactions in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). (Dr. Gjikopulli and Dr. Molle-Rios)
• Difference in the Frequency of Alpha-1-Antitrypsin Phenotype Between Children With Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease/Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis (NAFLD/ NASH) and Normal Population. (Dr. Maheshwari and Dr. Furuya)
• Retrospective Analysis of the Correlation Between Fecal Calprotectin Levels and Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Activity.
• Evaluation of Gastroesophageal Reflux by Detecting Gastric Pepsin A in Salivary Swabs: Correlating With Impedance/pH Monitoring. (Dr. Al-Atrash and Dr. Molle Rios)
• Effect of Proactive Infliximab Concentration Monitoring on Clinical Remission in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). (Dr Gijkopulli and Dr Molle Rios)

In Process

• Evaluation of pH interference and accuracy of pancreatic enzyme activity by direct pancreatic function testing (Dr. Molle Rios and Dr. He)
• Comparison of the gut microbiota composition in Caucasian Hispanic and Caucasian non-Hispanic children with and without obesity (David Garcia, Mathew DiGuglielmo, Zarela Molle-Rios)
• Role of Oncostatin-M in Anti-TNF Refractory Inflammatory Bowel Disease (Jennifer Ezirike, Dr. Molle Rios and Dr. He)

Clinical Trials

• A Phase 2, Randomized, Double- Blind, Dose-Ranging Study to Determine the Pharmacokinetics, Safety and Tolerability of Vedolizumab IV in Pediatric Subjects With Ulcerative Colitis or Crohn’s Disease. PI Zarela Molle Rios
• Personalized Research on Diet in Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease PRODUCE — With Improve Care Now — enrolling patients in February of 2018
• Pursuit2 — Sponsored by Johnson and Johnson 2018 — ongoing
• A Phase 3 Randomized, Open-Label Study to Assess the Efficacy, Safety, and Pharmacokinetics of Golimumab Treatment, a Human anti-TNFα Monoclonal Antibody, Administered Subcutaneously in Pediatric Participants With Moderately to Severely Active Ulcerative Colitis — Enrolling patients
• FREE A food additive removal diet for pediatric Eosinophilic Esophagitis In collaboration with Nemours Orlando and Seattle Children’s Hospital — Enrolling patients
• Clinical Outcomes of Methotrexate Binary Treatment With INfliximab or Adalimumab in PracticE(COMBINE) — With Improve Care Now — enrolling patients..

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