- Karen Wilson
1. As the deputy editor of Hospital Pediatrics, you screen a lot of potential publications in our field. What recommendations do you have for young pediatric hospitalists looking to publish their research? What articles do you find most exciting?
There are lots of resources out there for young faculty- my favorite is this article: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25362083/ written by Drs. Teufel, Andrews, and Williams. Write often- don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the submitted and write about what you love. I am very excited to see more clinical trials being done in pediatric hospital medicine and published in Hospital Pediatrics. We are such a young field, but we are maturing and it’s wonderful to see all of the work being done.
2. You have done a lot of research on nicotine and tobacco, which have translated into numerous awards and publications. What information do you provide parents and patients in counseling about vaping and electronic cigarettes?
There is a ton of information available to parents- this is a great resource: https://med.stanford.edu/tobaccopreventiontoolkit.html, and the AAP has a website with a ton of links and information https://www.aap.org/en/patient-care/tobacco-control-and-prevention/. It’s really important to stress to parents and teens that vaping is not a safe activity; parents should not vape near their children- they are still exposed to nicotine and toxins, and teens should never vape at all. So many teens have gotten addicted to nicotine using ecigarettes, and many didn’t realize they contained nicotine or were addictive.
3. What advice do you have for others out there in the field of hospital medicine looking to get more involved in clinical research?
It’s really important to spend time understanding what you want to research, and what people are interested in funding. You can have all of the passion in the world for a topic, but if the NIH and AHRQ aren’t interested, it can be a very tough road. You also need to have the necessary skills and experience- work on someone else’s project or do some classes to learn the methods and skills required to do clinical research. It may look easy from the outside, but I can say that it’s very easy to do it wrong, and that can have important consequences.
4. You had an R01 from NCI (to study inpatient smoking cessation interventions). What doors has this opened for you, and what advice do you have for other hospitalists looking to land a grant?
We are so fortunate that more and more hospitalists are getting R01s and other large grants. It is unfortunate that NIH grants are often seen as a form of “academic currency”; I am sure that it has helped me get jobs and credibility. Getting grants is a long and challenging process- you have to embrace failure and be able to learn from your mistakes. I have had far more grants unscored than funded! It’s an extremely competitive world. So resilience and persistence are key.
5. As the Chair Pediatric Research in Inpatient Settings Network Executive Council, can you explain what PRIS is and how it may be useful to our readers?
PRIS (https://www.prisnetwork.org/) is the pediatric hospitalist research network. We comprise over 100 sites across the US and Canada, and we are designed to do multi-center clinical research. We have had over $26 million in grant funding since 2008 and have has some of the landmark multicenter trials in PHM, including IPASS and now EMO. We also do surveys of our site leads and members, and we have a strong commitment to teaching trainees and junior faculty, through mentorship and workshops.
6. Jack Percelay often ends his list-serve commentary with the phrase “that’s just my 2 pennies.” What are your two cents?
I think we still have a ways to go in fostering research in pediatric hospital medicine. We need more researchers, and we need more funding to do the things that hospitalists do so well- from QI and de-implementation, to clinical trials. So much of what we do in PHM is based on adult data, or case series, or just how it’s always been done. There are still huge opportunities to build the evidence base and treat our patients more effectively.
There are lots of resources out there for young faculty- my favorite is this article: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25362083/ written by Drs. Teufel, Andrews, and Williams. Write often- don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the submitted and write about what you love. I am very excited to see more clinical trials being done in pediatric hospital medicine and published in Hospital Pediatrics. We are such a young field, but we are maturing and it’s wonderful to see all of the work being done.
2. You have done a lot of research on nicotine and tobacco, which have translated into numerous awards and publications. What information do you provide parents and patients in counseling about vaping and electronic cigarettes?
There is a ton of information available to parents- this is a great resource: https://med.stanford.edu/tobaccopreventiontoolkit.html, and the AAP has a website with a ton of links and information https://www.aap.org/en/patient-care/tobacco-control-and-prevention/. It’s really important to stress to parents and teens that vaping is not a safe activity; parents should not vape near their children- they are still exposed to nicotine and toxins, and teens should never vape at all. So many teens have gotten addicted to nicotine using ecigarettes, and many didn’t realize they contained nicotine or were addictive.
3. What advice do you have for others out there in the field of hospital medicine looking to get more involved in clinical research?
It’s really important to spend time understanding what you want to research, and what people are interested in funding. You can have all of the passion in the world for a topic, but if the NIH and AHRQ aren’t interested, it can be a very tough road. You also need to have the necessary skills and experience- work on someone else’s project or do some classes to learn the methods and skills required to do clinical research. It may look easy from the outside, but I can say that it’s very easy to do it wrong, and that can have important consequences.
4. You had an R01 from NCI (to study inpatient smoking cessation interventions). What doors has this opened for you, and what advice do you have for other hospitalists looking to land a grant?
We are so fortunate that more and more hospitalists are getting R01s and other large grants. It is unfortunate that NIH grants are often seen as a form of “academic currency”; I am sure that it has helped me get jobs and credibility. Getting grants is a long and challenging process- you have to embrace failure and be able to learn from your mistakes. I have had far more grants unscored than funded! It’s an extremely competitive world. So resilience and persistence are key.
5. As the Chair Pediatric Research in Inpatient Settings Network Executive Council, can you explain what PRIS is and how it may be useful to our readers?
PRIS (https://www.prisnetwork.org/) is the pediatric hospitalist research network. We comprise over 100 sites across the US and Canada, and we are designed to do multi-center clinical research. We have had over $26 million in grant funding since 2008 and have has some of the landmark multicenter trials in PHM, including IPASS and now EMO. We also do surveys of our site leads and members, and we have a strong commitment to teaching trainees and junior faculty, through mentorship and workshops.
6. Jack Percelay often ends his list-serve commentary with the phrase “that’s just my 2 pennies.” What are your two cents?
I think we still have a ways to go in fostering research in pediatric hospital medicine. We need more researchers, and we need more funding to do the things that hospitalists do so well- from QI and de-implementation, to clinical trials. So much of what we do in PHM is based on adult data, or case series, or just how it’s always been done. There are still huge opportunities to build the evidence base and treat our patients more effectively.