30 Robert WoodJohnson
I
MEDICINE
are 73.7 million children in the United States.
According to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, 52 per-
cent of them have had a chronic disease at some point in their lives. Yet the
American Academy of Pediatrics reports that in conditions where the pediatric
disease burden was as high as 59.9 percent, only 12 percent of the clinical trials for
new drugs or devices were pediatric.
T
here
There is a significant unmet need for pediatric research.
In New Jersey, the Pediatric Clinical Research Center
(PCRC) at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School is
metaphorically putting a stake in the ground. Sunanda
Gaur, MD, professor of pediatrics and director, PCRC,
feels strongly about the center's importance."It still needs
to be said: people don't have a grasp on clinical research
in pediatric disease," she says. "Over the years it's
improved, but it's not where it should be."
Dr. Gaur and her staff are passionate about the work
they are doing and the consequences it can have in ensur-
ing that safe, effective drugs are available to children. The
PCRC is a full-fledged academic clinical research center
within the medical school's Department of Pediatrics,
T
he Pediatric Clinical Research Center (PCRC) at
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School has expanded
in scope since its inception in 2007. "Because of the
quality research and data produced by the studies at
the PCRC, there has been tremendous growth," says
Sunanda Gaur, MD, professor of pediatrics and director,
PCRC (left).