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Pediatric Neurology Research in the Twenty-First Century: Status, Challenges, and Future Directions Post-COVID-19
Joshua L Bonkowsky1, Gabrielle deVeber2, Barry E Kosofsky3
1Division of Pediatric Neurology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, Utah; Primary Children's Hospital, Intermountain Healthcare, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Insights
Pediatric neurology research faced disruptions in 2020 but has opportunities to improve funding, guidance, and reduce disparities for children with neurological diseases.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Neurology
- Neuroscience Research
- Global Health
Background:
- The year 2020 presented significant disruptions to pediatric neurology due to the COVID-19 pandemic and social justice movements.
- These events highlighted existing obstacles and vulnerabilities within the pediatric neurology research landscape.
- Despite challenges, there's a renewed commitment to enhance and prioritize future research directions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate challenges and opportunities within the pediatric neurology research field.
- To identify priority domains for the future of pediatric neurology research.
- To provide actionable recommendations for advancing research and patient care.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of published research in pediatric neurology.
- Synthesis of publicly available data related to the field.
- A survey conducted among pediatric neurologists to gather insights.
Main Results:
- Identified three key priority domains: funding levels, active guidance, and reducing disparities.
- Recommendations include increasing funding, tailoring strategies for pediatric clinical trials, and supporting investigators.
- Emphasis on optimizing infrastructure, leveraging therapeutics, enhancing data collection, and improving child inclusion in trials.
Conclusions:
- The pediatric neurology community must re-engage the public and government in this challenging era.
- Advancing the health of children with neurological conditions is a timely and crucial mission.
- Prioritizing research in funding, guidance, and disparity reduction is essential for progress.
Background:
The year 2020 marked a fundamental shift in the pediatric neurology field. An impressive positive trajectory of advances in patient care and research faced sudden global disruptions by the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and by an international movement protesting racial, socioeconomic, and health disparities. The disruptions revealed obstacles and fragility within the pediatric neurology research mission. However, renewed commitment offers unique opportunities for the pediatric neurology research community to enhance and prioritize research directions for the coming decades.
Methods:
The Research Committee of the Child Neurology Society evaluated the challenges and opportunities facing the pediatric neurology research field, including reviewing published literature, synthesizing publically available data, and conducting a survey of pediatric neurologists.
Results:
We identified three priority domains for the research mission: funding levels, active guidance, and reducing disparities. Funding levels: to increase funding to match the burden of pediatric neurological disease; to tailor funding mechanisms and strategies to support clinical trial efforts unique to pediatric neurology; and to support investigators across their career trajectory. Active guidance: to optimize infrastructure and strategies, to leverage novel therapeutics, enhance data collection, and improve inclusion of children in clinical trials. Reducing disparities: to reduce health disparities in children with neurological disease, to develop proactive measures to enhance workforce diversity and inclusion, and increase avenues to balance work-life obligations for investigators.
Conclusions:
In this uniquely challenging epoch, the pediatric neurology research community has a timely and important mission to re-engage the public and government, advancing the health of children with neurological conditions.
