The Center for Infant Pulmonary Disorders is involved with many research initiatives and supported through grants and endowments. These ongoing research efforts are leading to new treatment breakthroughs for infants with chronic pulmonary disorders. 

Current External Research Grants

• NIH/NHLBI U-O1HL94338  TOLSURF (Late Surfactant) RCT Multicenter Clinical Trial Network to Test the Role of "Late" Surfactant in Infants (2009-2014)
  Overall principal investigator: R.A. Ballard, MD (UCSF-SOM)
  Local principal investigator and steering committee member: W.E. Truog, MD
                            
• NICHD NRN U-10  HD068284 Children's Mercy-Truman-UMKC Center: A New Addition for the Next Five Years (2011-2016)
  This cooperative grant builds on existing areas of excellence at Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics including the Fetal Health Center, the Neonatal Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation program, the Center for Infant Pulmonary Disorders, the infant home ventilator program, the ongoing federal and other externally funded clinical research, and our demonstrated excellent clinical outcomes.
  Principal investigator: W.E. Truog, MD

Special Endowments

• Cooper Connor Endowed Fund for Pulmonary Research
• Sosland Family Endowed Chair in Neonatal Research 

Peer-Reviewed Publications

• Keller R, Merrill JD, Black DM, Steinhorn RH, Eichenwald EC, Durand DJ, Ryan RM, Truog WE, Courtney SE, Ballard PL, Ballard RA. Late administration of surfactant replacement therapy increases surfactant protein-B content: a randomized pilot study. Pediatr Res. 2012 72(6):613-619.
• Nyp M, Sandritter T, Poppinga N, Simon C, Truog W. Sildenafil and disordered pulmonary gas exchange: any benefits? J Perinatology 2012 32:64-69.
• Merrill JD, Ballard PL, Courtney SE, Durand, DJ, Hamvas A, Hibbs AM, Lu KW, Ryan RM, Reynolds AM, Spence K, Steinhorn RH, Truog WE, Eichenwald EC, Ballard RA  Pilot trial of late booster doses of surfactant for ventilated premature infants.  J Perinatol 2011 31:599-606.
• Petrikin JE, Gaedigk R, Leeder JS, Truog WE Selective toll-like receptor expression in human fetal lung Ped Res 2010 68(4):335-338.
• Truog WE.  21^st Century Use for Surfactant? (editorial) Pediatrics, 2009;123:173

Other Activities

• Maintenance of a chronic lung disease team in the Children's Mercy Intensive Care Nursery that supports increased and earlier referrals of patients with complex lung and airway problems
• Support of the Children's Mercy Home Infant Ventilator Program
• Creation of comprehensive data repository for clinical trial projects
• Follow-up study of pulmonary function/exercise testing of a cohort of 6-10 year old children from prior research protocol