CTSI Awards Two Institute Faculty Members Pilot Grants

Associate Director for Research Dr. Ruth Paris and Faculty Governing Board member Dr. Peter Rockers were both awarded pilot grants from the Clinical & Translational Science Institute. 

Dr. Paris’ pilot, will track the experiences of mothers in recovery and their young children in order to identify short- and long-term risk and resiliency factors for further longitudinal study and intervention development. This pilot work will be conducted in partnership with the SOFAR (Supporting Our Families through Addiction and Recovery) Clinic, an innovative, multidisciplinary primary care program built around the needs of substance-exposed infants and their parents in recovery.  

She will conduct the research with Dr. Mei A. Elansary, an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Dr. Eileen M. Costello, a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, both at Boston University School of Medicine.  

Dr. Rocker’s pilot will focus on undernutrition during the critical window from conception until 2 years which is known to increase the risk of mortality. Gaining a better understanding of the role of intestinal health in child growth will help inform the design of more effective interventions in the future. Their primary aims are to evaluate the association between biomarkers of environmental enteric dysfunction (EED) and the GI microbiome with infant stunting in Zambia. 

He will conduct the research with Dr. Lindsey Locks, an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Health Sciences (Sargent College) and Global Health (School of Public Health) and Dr. Jacqueline M. Lauer, a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Sciences at Boston University.  

More on their pilots and co-investigators here