UAB selected to participate in the Pediatric Prevention Network, receive $10M in funding

The University of Alabama at Birmingham has been selected as one of 10 centers nationwide to participate in the Pediatric Prevention Network, previously known as the Pediatric Pandemic Network. The network recently received $22.5 million in funding through the Health Resources and Services Administration to strengthen pediatric response capabilities nationwide, including in rural, remote and tribal areas. UAB will receive more than $10 million over five years.

The funding will support initiatives including direct engagement with families and youth, mental and behavioral health services, and support for children and adolescents with special health care needs.

With the funding, UAB researchers will develop a hospital-based, physician-reviewed program designed to improve emergency care for medically complex children and adolescents; expand Youth Advisory Boards in Jefferson County and Wilcox County; and establish a Tribal Youth Advisory Board in Alabama. The boards help equip young people with lifesaving skills and prepare them to address community-based disasters.

The funding will also allow UAB to continue supporting its Mini Medical School program, which provides virtual and in-person experiences designed to increase middle school students' awareness of careers in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, with a particular focus on health care. It will also support UAB's 9th Grade Bridge Program, which teaches ninth graders how to recognize, prepare for and respond to issues in their communities.

The funding will continue to support UAB's existing partnerships with KultureCity, COACHES, PsySTART and the Gulf Shores Disaster Project.

The funding will also support new partnerships, including one with the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, which will serve as an affiliate hub site subrecipient under the UAB and Children's of Alabama Regional Pediatric Prevention Network. The University of Oklahoma will lead program activities in Oklahoma and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Region 6, with a particular focus on rural and Native communities that face compounded barriers to pediatric disaster preparedness and emergency medical care.

The University of Oklahoma's geographic presence, established relationships with tribal nations and regional health care partnerships will help advance the network's goals in communities that are among the nation's most underserved for pediatric emergency services.

The funding will also support UAB's partnership with Pulse Finders to certify and train UAB's Youth Advisory Boards in lifesaving emergency medical services skills, including Stop the Bleed, automated external defibrillator use and CPR, first aid and Narcan administration.

Tamera Coyne-Beasley, M.D., the Derrol Dawkins M.D. Endowed Chair of Adolescent Medicine and vice chair of pediatrics for community engagement, serves as the UAB hub's principal investigator. She also serves as the community and youth engagement lead for the entire 10-hub network.

Coyne-Beasley will work with Erin Carley, program director and facilitator of UAB's Youth Advisory Board. Co-investigators on the project include faculty members in the UAB Department of Pediatrics, School of Public Health and School of Education and Human Sciences.

“We are honored to be one of the 10 centers nationwide selected to serve the needs of our pediatric patient population through our partnership with the Pediatric Prevention Network,” Coyne-Beasley, a professor of pediatrics and internal medicine at UAB and Children's of Alabama, said. “Providing exceptional patient care is a core part of our mission here at UAB, and we are looking forward to working with other hospitals in the network to combine leading expertise and compassionate, patient-centered care for communities across the country. Furthermore, we are thrilled to continue our work in communities and collaborating with adolescents and their families.”

The Pediatric Prevention Network aims to strengthen pediatric disaster preparedness at children's hospitals, improve pediatric health care capabilities for crises affecting children and adolescents, establish integrated and resilient local and regional systems through collaboration and community engagement, and develop a pediatric emergency management workforce grounded in data and quality improvement.