Pediatric Infectious Disease Research

The research portfolio in pediatric infectious diseases ranges from basic science to clinical research to health systems research. Projects include research studies on pathogenesis, treatment, and prevention of otitis media using the chinchilla animal model; work on pneumococcal colonization and the role of pneumococcus in the microbiome of the nasopharynx and relationship with respiratory viruses; research studies on vaccine safety across the lifespan; clinical trials of new vaccines, including COVID, RSV, PCV20, and influenza; studies of use of electronic games to improve adherence to HIV treatment and pre-exposure prophylaxis; research on prevention and the care cascade of treatment of hepatitis C in the context of substance use disorder; investigation of tuberculosis infection care delivery and local and national social epidemiology of tuberculosis; and epidemiologic and mixed-methods studies of disparities in hospitalization outcomes for children with infectious diseases in the U.S. 

See all Pediatric research programs.

Contact

Elizabeth Barnett: elizabeth.barnett@bmc.org

Stephen Pelton: stephern.pelton@bmc.org 

Investigators

Steve Pelton, MD

Elizabeth Barnett, MD

Ellen Cooper, MD 

Vishakha Sabharwal, MBBS  

Jeffrey Campbell, MD, MPH 

Mark Mirochnick, MD

Rachel Epstein, MD, MScE  

Rotem Lapidot, MD  

Glenn Markenson, MD  

Carol Moloney, NP

Research projects

Clinical research

  1. Studies of vaccine safety in pregnancy women
  2. Studies of new vaccines or new vaccine formulations (such a mRNA COVID19; mRNA influenza; RSV vaccine in pregnancy)
  3. Studies of impact of vaccines on disease burden (studies on change in nasopharyngeal ecology and antimicrobial susceptibility among respiratory pathogens after pneumococcal vaccine; surveillance of invasive pneumococcal disease in Massachusett’s children)
  4. Epidemiologic Studies analyzing large datasets and utilizing decision science to characterize the hepatitis C virus (HCV) and opioid use disorder care cascades in pregnant women and children and to compare the clinical and cost-effectiveness of interventions to improve these cascades. Funding: The Patrick and Catherine Weldon Donaghue Medical Research Foundation and NIDA  
  5. Cohort and qualitative studies investigating latent tuberculosis infection care delivery for children and their families in the US, and studies of the social epidemiology of TB locally and nationally.  
  6. Epidemiologic and mixed-methods studies studying disparities in hospitalization outcomes for children with infectious diseases in the US, using local cohorts and large administrative databases.

Translational research

  1. Animal modelling of new treatments for otitis media (transtympanic gel for treatment of experimental OM; blue lite treatment for persistent OM with tympanostomy tube)
  2. Studies of new vaccine targets for prevention of pneumococcal disease (using nanostring technology to identify expression of surface proteins in NP, middle ear and biofilms)
  3. Study of electronic games to improve adherence to HIV treatment, PreP
  4. Studies of evasion of host defenses by Streptococcus pneumoniae.