Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Grants Additional Funding to Dayton Children’s Cystic Fibrosis Center
The Dayton Children’s Hospital, an institution dedicated to advancing treatment for cystic fibrosis (CF), has been granted funding from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation for the hospital to expand its studies and find an effective treatment for the disease. The grant will be invested in hiring more research coordinators and raising patient enrollment to support the discovery and advancement of treatment options.
The Dayton Children’s Cystic Fibrosis Center is particularly focused on providing new therapeutic options as well as better quality of life to pediatric CF patients in the US. Therefore, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation has attributed research funding for the second time to the hospital due to the achievements and surpassed goals of the 10 studies conducted yearly over the last five years, which were made possible by the first research grant.
The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation-accredited center receives visits from about 165 CF patients yearly, as it is among the only 110 care centers in the country to have the designation. It is also a member of the Therapeutics Development Network (TDN), the largest network of clinical trials dedicated to CF in the world. TDN works based on the efficiency of the study’s design, optimization of its execution and data of high-quality in order to accelerate the provision of novel and more efficient therapeutic options to treat CF.
Being a member of the TDN, the Dayton Children’s Hospital is focused not only on research but also on reducing the burden suffered by its patients and their families. CF is a genetic condition, which means that often times more than one member of the same family is diagnosed with the disease. Not only is it an additional concern for parents due to the health condition in itself, but the medication needed — dozens of pills daily — is expensive.
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Dayton Children’s Hospital enables families to have access to investigational, novel drugs for little cost or for free, while they help understand which genes cause CF or improve the lung function in CF pediatric patients. In order to lead the facility’s research efforts, Dayton Children’s recently nominated Gary A. Mueller, MD to be the new medical director of its Cystic Fibrosis Center.
“Dr. Mueller has a wealth of knowledge to share and is very well-respected in the CF community for the care he delivers,” stated the medical director of pulmonology, Robert Cohn, MD, MBA. Mueller, who has worked at Dayton Children’s for 23 years, is an expert in pediatric pulmonary medicine and treats patients with CF and asthma. He also serves as an associate professor of pediatrics at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine. With a medical degree from the University of Michigan and a fellowship in pediatric pulmonary medicine from the James Whitcomb Riley Hospital for Children, he was on the Best Doctors of America list for three consecutive years.
“This is an exciting and hopeful time for patients with cystic fibrosis and their families,” said Mueller. “New therapies directed at the actual genetic defect causing cystic fibrosis have become available in the past few years, and more are in the pipeline. Clinical care at accredited Cystic Fibrosis Foundation treatment centers and research through the Therapeutics Development Network have been critical to improving the lives of people who have cystic fibrosis. I am proud to be a part of such an exciting organization.”
The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is dedicated to supporting promising projects that may help advance treatment for CF or even find a cure for the disease. The foundation recently hosted a meeting in order to discuss the direction and future of CF health care research, during which 400 CF volunteers and donors set the course and possibilities for the foundation and for CF patients during the coming years.
