The Child Neurology Foundation announces the award of a research grant in the field of child neurology to be made at the Child Neurology Society meeting in the fall of 2010. The selected investigator will receive a two-year grant of $50,000 per year. The award will be called the Shields Award and is supported by the Winokur Family Foundation. The CNF Shields Award provides two years of funding at $50,000 per year to support translational or clinical research to a child neurologist early in his/her academic career. The Foundation recognizes that development of clinician researchers is extremely important to the field of child neurology. A junior faculty member who has developed clinical research skills, and has a plan for further development of that research or has basic science research skills related to child neurology, and who has a plan to translate the new knowledge into clinical care for children with neurologic diseases would be eligible for this award. Candidates for the award are asked to submit brief letters of intent which will be scored by members of the CNF Scientific Award Committee. The committee that reviews the applications includes child neurologists who are also successful scientists, including several who have been recipients of CNF awards. In addition to scientific criteria such as the soundness of the hypothesis, feasibility, and relevance to clinical pediatric neurological disorders, reviewers look for evidence that the award will have a major career impact.
Shields Award Recipient 2009
Dr. Hae- Ri Song:
Dr. Hae-Ri Song received her medical degree from Ewha Womans University School of Medicine in Korea in 1996. Following medical school, she carried out postdoctoral fellowship in Human Genetics and Pediatrics at University of California, Los Angeles, where she started to investigate the molecular basis of neurogenetic diseases. Upon the completion of internship and residency in Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Austin and residency in Child Neurology at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), she returned to the bench and initiated the current research program in David Anderson’s laboratory at California Institute of Technology. She began her own laboratory at The Saban Research Institute, CHLA and has been a faculty member and Attending Child Neurologist at CHLA, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, since 2006. Her work was recognized by numerous awards, including Children’s Cancer Research Fund, Hyundai Research Scholar Award, NIH K12 award (NICHD), and K08 award (NINDS). Recently, she moved her laboratory to New York University School of Medicine. Her laboratory is currently investigating roles of Nuclear Factor I (NFI) genes in glioma. She has shown that NFIA, a member of NFI genes, is expressed highly in astrocytmas and its expression is associated with improved survival in children with malignant astrocytoma. Her current research efforts are geared towards understanding the molecular mechanism(s) of NFIA in pathogenesis of pediatric astrocytoma.
"The Child Neurology Foundation Shield’s Award will help explore the deeper molecular mechanisms of glioma mediated by NFI genes. Our recent findings would further understand the biology of pediatric malignant gliomas and therefore may provide insights into the development of novel molecularly-targeted therapeutic approaches against malignant gliomas in children. The support from the CNF Shield’s will further develop my career with the goal of becoming an independent physician-scientist in this important area of biomedical research. Moreover, with this generous support, I plan to apply a new approach- by combining the principles of Neurooncology and Neurodevelopmental Biology- to better develop glioma therapy."
The Child Neurology Foundation announces the award of a research grant in the field of child neurology to be made at the Child Neurology Society meeting in the fall of 2010. The selected investigator will receive a two-year grant of $50,000 per year. The award will be called the Shields Award and is supported by the Winokur Family Foundation. The CNF Shields Award provides two years of funding at $50,000 per year to support translational or clinical research to a child neurologist early in his/her academic career. The Foundation recognizes that development of clinician researchers is extremely important to the field of child neurology. A junior faculty member who has developed clinical research skills, and has a plan for further development of that research or has basic science research skills related to child neurology, and who has a plan to translate the new knowledge into clinical care for children with neurologic diseases would be eligible for this award. Candidates for the award are asked to submit brief letters of intent which will be scored by members of the CNF Scientific Award Committee. The committee that reviews the applications includes child neurologists who are also successful scientists, including several who have been recipients of CNF awards. In addition to scientific criteria such as the soundness of the hypothesis, feasibility, and relevance to clinical pediatric neurological disorders, reviewers look for evidence that the award will have a major career impact.
