ACTSI Current KL2 Scholar Published in NEJM

Ravi Mangal Patel, MD, MSc, at Grady Memorial Hospital NICU

Current Atlanta Clinical & Translational Science Institute (ACTSI) KL2 Mentored Clinical and Translational Research Scholar and ACTSI Master of Science in Clinical Research (MSCR) graduate, Ravi Mangal Patel, MD, MSc is the first author of a paper entitled Causes and Timing of Death in Extremely Premature Infants from 2000 through 2011 in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). Patel graduated with a Master of Science in Clinical Research (MSCR) in May 2014. "I want to thank the Emory MSCR and KL2 program. What I learned has been invaluable, and I'm sure this played a large role in this paper as well as those of countless other students," said Patel, assistant professor of pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

In a large, national study of extremely premature infants, Patel and his colleagues found that death rates decreased from 2000 to 2011. An analysis of specific causes found that deaths attributed to immaturity or pulmonary causes and complicated by infection or central nervous system injury all decreased; however, deaths attributed to necrotizing enterocolitis (intestinal complication resulting from prematurity) increased. The research team prospectively analyzed data from 6,075 deaths among 22,248 live births, with gestational ages of 22 to 28 weeks, approximately 12 to 18 weeks before their expected due date. The infants were born in hospitals within the 25-center Neonatal Research Network, supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH. – Read More at the Emory News Center.

The goal of the ACTSI KL2 Mentored Clinical and Translational Research Scholars program is to support career development for junior faculty (MD, PhD, or MD/PhD) from a wide variety of disciplines at Emory University, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Georgia Institute of Technology to become independent, established, and ethical clinical and/or translational research investigators. The Emory Master of Science in Clinical Research (MSCR) degree program, from the Laney Graduate School at Emory University, provides didactic and mentored clinical and translational research training. The degree is designed for participants at Emory University and Georgia Tech who hold a doctorate or equivalent degree (such as physicians and PhD-level scientists) or predoctoral trainees enrolled in a dual degree program (MD/MSCR and PhD/MSCR tracks) and have demonstrated a commitment to a career in clinical investigation. Morehouse School of Medicine also has an MSCR program for MSM applicants supported through an RCMI grant.

The ACTSI is a city-wide partnership between Emory, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Georgia Tech and is one of a national consortium striving to improve the way biomedical research is conducted across the country. The consortium, funded through the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences one of the National Institutes of Health’s Clinical and Translational Science Awards, shares a common vision to translate laboratory discoveries into treatments for patients, engage communities in clinical research efforts, and train the next generation of clinical investigators.