Research
The Division of Pediatric Surgery is dedicated to advancing the care from fetal life to young adults through innovative research that takes new ideas from the lab bench to the bedside and beyond. The Division strives to help improve outcomes for pediatric patients by investigating pathways for clinical care, exploring genetic determinants of health, researching issues affecting health equity, developing new ways to enhance quality and patient safety and ultimately optimizing treatments, care delivery and management of complex surgical disease. Importantly, through our commitment to research, we are training and supporting the next generation of pediatric surgeon scientists, dedicated to improving the health of young patients.
Our Division members are academically productive with a number of both internal and external grants. Over the past 3 years, our Division has averaged 52 publications annually. The majority of our junior surgeon scientists have completed or are currently participating in the two-year Surgical/Subspecialists Clinical Outcomes Research (SCORE) Fellowship offered through the Adult and Child Consortium for Health Outcomes Research & Delivery Science (ACCORDS).
International Center for Colorectal and Urogenital Care
The International Center for Colorectal and Urogenital Care (ICCUC), led by Dr. Andrea Bischoff and Dr. Luis De La Torre hosts the largest database of patients with congenital colorectal and urogenital conditions in the world. These data collection efforts started in 1980 when Dr. Pena conducted the first operation on a patient with anorectal malformation. The database now houses information on more than 4,000 patients. Thanks to this information, they are able to predict the prognosis for bowel control as early as day of life one, we can understand, suspect and rule out associated anomalies and we will now be able to correlate it with the long-term outcome, since more than 700 patients are now adults. Learn more about the ICCUC here.
Surgical Oncology Program
The Surgical Oncology Program (SOP) was initiated in 2020 with Co-Directors Dr. Nicholas Cost, Associate Professor, Urology, and Dr. Jonathan Roach, Associate Professor, Pediatric Surgery. The program includes Dr. Kristine Corkum, Assistant Professor, Pediatric Surgery, and Anna Linton, PA-C, Pediatric Surgery. This is a multidisciplinary team that includes non-surgical colleagues from pediatric oncology, radiologic oncology, diagnostic and interventional radiology, pathology, and child life and psychology. Over the past few years, the program has successfully published many manuscripts, submitted several abstracts, and has multiple active ongoing protocols. The program has its own research infrastructure, which includes an intake process to receive applications from outside investigators to utilize our SOP infrastructure to carry out multi-institutional pediatric surgical oncology research. The goal of the program is to expand the research portfolio by “hosting” surgical oncology research projects from around the country with CHCO as a “Central Hub.” With the continuation of our research efforts, the SOP will develop the research educational arm by hosting a surgical oncology research fellowship for post-graduate students, residents, or fellows. The inaugural research fellow in the SOP will be for the academic years 2025-2027.
Shannon Acker, MDDr. Acker is a health services researcher and implementation scientist. Her research interests include improving the value of pediatric surgical care delivered through utilization of implementation science principles to engage stakeholders and develop effective and sustainable strategies to change clinical practice. She is also a leader in pediatric trauma research.
View Dr. Acker’s CHCO profile
View Dr. Acker’s CU profile
Kristine Corkum, MDDr. Corkum’s clinical research interests include pediatric oncofertility, pediatric surgical oncology, and medical ethics in pediatric surgery. Currently, she is developing a risk assessment algorithm to improve the quality of life for children who have survived cancer by addressing the risk of reduced fertility due to cancer treatment.
View Dr. Corkum’s CHCO profile
View Dr. Corkum’s CU profile
Chris Derderian, MDDr. Derderian’s clinical research interests include prenatal surgical outcomes for myelomeningocele and twin to twin transfusion syndrome. He has a basic science laboratory that focuses on how miRNAs regulated trophoblast invasion and feto-placental angiogenesis in fetal growth restriction.
View Dr. Derderian’s CHCO profile
View Dr. Derderian’s CU profile
http://www.derderianlab.org/
José Díaz-Mirón, MDDr. Díaz-Mirón’s primary research areas of focus are improving the decision-making process and the decision quality for certain pediatric surgery procedures, as well as study the impact of language-concordant care in the Hispanic/Latino community.
View Dr. Díaz-Mirón’s CHCO profile
View Dr. Díaz-Mirón’s CU profile
Jonathan Hills-Dunlap, MD, MPHDr. Hills-Dunlap is a pediatric health services and disparities researcher. His research interest includes identifying surgical disparities in care among pediatric patients and work to eliminate those disparities through effective dissemination, advocacy, and policy-level initiatives.
View Dr. Hills-Dunlap’s CHCO profile
View Dr. Hills-Dunlap’s CU profile
Steven Moulton, MDDr. Moulton has research interests that lie in the fields of trauma, burns, and medical device development.
View Dr. Moulton’s CHCO profile
View Dr. Moulton’s CU profile
Claudia Mata, MPH – Research Program Manager
Acker/Díaz-Mirón Lab
Ana Ibarra Meraz – Research Services Professional
Catherine Dawson-Gore, MD – Research Resident
Lavanya Easwaran, MD – Research Resident
Emily Myers, MD – Research Resident
Sage Vincent, MD – Research
Resident
Derderian Lab
James Bardill, PhD – Research Instructor
Courtney Breckenfelder – Research Services Professional
Caitlin Eason, MD, MPH – Research Resident
International Center for Colorectal and Urogenital Care
Jill Ketzer – Research Program Coordinator
Surgical Oncology Program
Taylor Perry – Research Services Professional
National Research Collaboratives
The Division is a participating member of the Western Pediatric Surgery Research Consortium (
WPSRC). WPSRC is a multi-institutional surgical collaborative committed to advancing the care of infants and children through contemporary evidence-based research. Through this collaborative, there has been advancement of research studies with many presentations at national meetings as well as several publications. The consortium is wrapping up enrollment for a multi-center randomized control trial comparing the effects of transanastomotic tube use across the anastomosis for type C, proximal esophageal atresia with distal tracheoesophageal fistula. The primary outcome is symptomatic anastomotic stricture development requiring dilation within 12 months. WPSRC has created a 2-year Research Fellowship that will be hosted by rotating member institutions. This fellowship is open to residents that have completed at least 2 years of General Surgery training, and this fellowship will be fulfilled by a combination of clinical, research, and academic requirements. In the Summer of 2024, University of Utah and Primary Children’s Hospital is hosting the inaugural WPSRC Research Scholar for academic years 2024-2026. Drs. Acker and Díaz-Mirón serve as primary Principal Investigators on behalf of our institution.
The Division is a participating member of the Pediatric Surgical Oncology Research Collaborative (PSORC). PSORC is a multi-institutional consortium with pediatric surgeons from 48 institutions across the nation who are dedicated to the surgical care of children with cancer. PSORC has had many publications and conference presentations. Dr. Corkum’s research proposal which aims at addressing the gap of pediatric oncofertility care by assessing the oncofertility resources and practices at PSORC institutions such as team composition, program structures, and available fertility preservation options has been selected by the PSORC as the next multi-institutional study which will be led by CHCO. Drs. Corkum and Roach serve as primary Principal Investigators within Pediatric Surgery on behalf of our institution.