RFA-HD-16-014 ?Specialized Centers in Research in Pediatric Developmental Pharmacology? (RPDP), identifies two major barriers that must be overcome to address existing knowledge deficits and bring precision therapeutics to children of all ages: 1) the limited number of experts trained in pediatric pharmacology, and 2) the lack of essential information related to developmental changes in drug disposition and response, and analytical tools and techniques calibrated for pediatric use with which to acquire this information. The Administrative Core of the ?GOLDILOKs: Genomic- and Ontogeny-Linked Dose Individualization and cLinical Optimization for Kids? Specialized Center in Research in Pediatric Developmental Pharmacology (RPDP) has been designed to bring together internationally recognized expertise in pharmacometabolomics, quantitative systems pharmacology, and statistical genomics together with a large, multi-disciplinary pediatric clinical pharmacology program to address these current deficits by 1) building multidisciplinary teams to investigate clinically relevant problems related to variability in drug response across all pediatric subspecialties, 2) creating a culture that enables integration of cross-disciplinary research focused on important problems in clinical care settings, and 3) providing didactic and experiential training for pediatric subspecialists interested in developmental pharmacology-focused research program. The leadership team of the Administrative Core has considerable experience, and complementary clinical and research expertise in pediatric clinical pharmacology, pharmacogenetics, clinical study design, pharmacokinetics, developmental & behavioral pediatrics, and genomic medicine. They will be responsible for oversight of the projects, programs and activities at Children's Mercy Hospital, including the education and training program built around the institutional T32 Pediatric Clinical Pharmacology Training Program's didactic and experiential training opportunities, and will contribute their expertise to the Specialized Centers' Steering Committee. They will be guided by a local Executive Committee with representation from the Chair of Pediatrics, Chief Scientific Officer/Executive Director of the Children's Research Institute, as well as an External Advisory Committee with expertise in clinical investigations integrating pharmacogenomics and metabolomics, pediatric pharmacometrics, neuropsychiatric pharmacogenetics and pediatric clinical pharmacology.
