Pushing for pediatric research

A national group of pediatric research institutions is pushing for more federal funding to find cures for children's diseases.

Children's Hospital Boston is one of nine pediatric centers backing a bill introduced last week in the US Senate that would bump up funding and create 20 research networks for basic research and clinical trials. Each network would receive a five-year grant of up to $2.5 million per year, the Coalition for Pediatric Medical Research said. The bill was introduced by Senator Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Senator Christopher Bond, R-Missouri.

Children make up 20 percent of the US population but only 5 percent of research dollars from the National Institutes of Health are devoted to research on children's diseases, the coalition said.

"The funding situation is unacceptable for today and tomorrow," Dr. David Williams, chief of hematology/oncology and director of translational research at Children's, said in a statement. "The consequences of inaction are clear -- we see them already today, as children continue to suffer as bright and talented young researchers are discouraged from entering careers in pediatrics because of a lack of funding for their work."

The other members of the coalition are: Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center; Children’s Hospital Los Angeles; The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; The University of Colorado Denver and The Children’s Hospital; St. Louis Children’s Hospital, Washington University School of Medicine; C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, University of Michigan; Johns Hopkins Children's Center; and Children's Memorial Medical Center, Chicago.