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University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Doctors Awarded Grants for Innovative New Research

Posted on: Monday, 20 November 2006, 09:01 CST

MIAMI, Fla., Nov. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- The Green Family Foundation Health Initiative (GFFI) announced today that it has awarded $60,000 in grants to four doctors in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. The grants, which were awarded to Robert Fifer, PhD; Andrew Colin, MD; Tracie Miller, MD; and Tanvi Sharma, MD, will serve as seed funding to support research in the areas of medical or psychosocial treatment for children born with HIV/AIDS and cystic fibrosis.

GFFI is a program created by the Green Family Foundation to support health education, research, awareness, and medical and psychological treatment in the local South Florida community as well as in neighboring Haiti and other developing countries.

"The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and its researchers have made tremendous strides in studies that will help children born with diseases like HIV/AIDS and cystic fibrosis. The funding provided to these four grant recipients will further their ongoing research with the hopes that one day, these diseases will be eradicated," said Kimberly Green, President of the Green Family Foundation.

"These grants provided by the Green Family Health Initiative will immeasurably support the work of our doctors and expand their research to new and promising areas that might not have otherwise been possible. We are optimistic that these studies will generate data which will contribute to future funding and in breakthrough discoveries that lead to essential treatments, cures and vaccines for pediatric infectious diseases," said Dr. Gwendolyn B. Scott, Professor of Pediatrics and the Director of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunology at the University of Miami.

The Green Family Health Initiative awarded $15,000 grants to each of the following doctors:

* Robert Fifer, PhD: Director of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology. As the lifespan of children with HIV increases due to the benefits of medical treatment, it is suspected that a significant portion of these children will have difficulty processing speech and sounds. Fifer's study, Use of Auditory Evoked Potentials to Predict Auditory Processing Disorders in HIV-Positive Children, examines brain wave activity to find auditory processing disorders in children with HIV. This study will determine if new technology and testing will improve the ability to diagnose auditory processing disorders, minimizing the effects of cultural bias or language skills and provide referrals for early intervention. * Andrew Colin, MD: Professor of Pediatrics and the Director of the Division of Pediatric Pulmonology. Colin's study, A One-Year Prospective, Collaborative Study to Determine the Prevalence of Non-Tuberculous Mycobacteria (NTM) in Patients with Cystic Fibrosis in Florida, studies the incidence of NTM in patients with this disease. These are common organisms in the environment, which can cause serious infection in patients with Cystic Fibrosis. Beyond assessing the frequency of the infection, this study will help determine why some patients become sicker than others. * Tracie Miller, MD: Professor of Pediatrics and the Director of the Division of Pediatrics Clinical Research. Nutrition has been central to the care of children with HIV. As children survive longer, with better control of the disease, HIV-infected children develop more problems with obesity, high cholesterol, and pre-diabetes. Miller's study, Vascular Inflammation and Endothelial Dysfunction in HIV-Infected Children, investigates whether or not children with disease in their blood vessels are at a higher risk for a heart attack or stroke. The results of this study are expected to lead to the design of early interventions to prevent heart attacks and strokes in children with HIV. * Tanvi Sharma, MD: Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has transformed HIV/AIDS from a fatal disease to a chronic illness. However, we are now faced with a new challenge to the care of HIV infected patients -- adverse reactions to the medications themselves. Sharma's study, Metabolic Complications of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) in HIV-Infected Children, examines why Antiretroviral Therapy (ART), medications which are often given to HIV/AIDS patients, contribute to complications such as abnormal body fat, diabetes and high cholesterol levels. The data gathered by Dr. Sharma and her team can be used in further studies to identify the mechanisms by which these complications occur and ways to prevent such complications in the future. About The Green Family Health Initiative

The Green Family Health Initiative is a program of the Green Family Foundation and the Division of Pediatric Infectious Disease and Immunology at the University of Miami. The Initiative was created in 2003 through a $2.5 million multi-year grant to the University of Miami Pediatrics Department to support research, care, treatment, and education. The Green Family Foundation is a private philanthropic foundation that provides seed money to organizations and programs that focus on improving access to healthcare, treatment of preventable diseases and providing community education. For more information, please visit http://www.greenff.org/

The Green Family Foundation Health Initiative

CONTACT: Jeannine Kilbride of MWW Group, +1-201-964-2446,jkilbride@mww.com, for The Green Family Foundation Health Initiative

Web site: http://www.greenff.org/

Source: PRNewswire

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