| I am so excited that I may finally share some big news with you! Last month the Joint Boards voted to establish the Shriners Children’s Research Institute — and it will be located in Atlanta, Georgia.
This freestanding facility won’t be a location for providing Shriners Children’s medical care. Rather, it will be dedicated exclusively to advancing scientific discovery. The Shriners Children’s Research Institute will have its home in Science Square Labs in Atlanta, which is strategically located across from Georgia Tech’s North Avenue Research Area.
A freestanding research institution in Atlanta delivers multiple benefits for our philanthropy. It’s a powerful platform for innovation. It attracts the top physician-scientists, who are deciding where to build their careers. It draws the attention of philanthropists looking to invest in breakthroughs that change children’s lives. And importantly, pediatric care elevated by a premier research institute is a key factor for families choosing where to seek treatment.
Idea born of inquiry
The proposal for a Shriners Children’s Research Institute grew from a collaboration that started in 2019 between the Georgia Institute of Technology Pediatric Innovation Network and the Shriners Children’s Research department, headquartered in Tampa, Florida. Leanne West, Chief Engineer of Pediatric Technology at Georgia Tech, worked with Marc Lalande, Ph.D., our vice president of research programs, to partner engineers with surgeons and physicians with the goal of making innovations to improve the lives of pediatric patients. Over 25 joint research projects have produced innovative devices, such as robotic exoskeletons to assist patients with cerebral palsy and flexible, wearable sensors to monitor sleep problems in cleft lip and palate patients. Using artificial intelligence has yielded new knowledge from the extensive Shriners Children’s clinical database to pinpoint genetic markers in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis and other conditions.
Vision for the future
The Shriners Children’s Research Institute is a key part of our Vision 2035 strategic plan. This investment in research will position Shriners Children’s as a significant player on the global stage.
“The Shriners Children’s Research Institute will serve as a multidisciplinary innovation hub to advance the healthcare of children,” Dr. Lalande says. “The close partnership with the outstanding biomedical engineers and scientists from Georgia Tech and Emory University will accelerate discovery and spearhead new treatments and therapies.”
Please join me in celebrating this remarkable new chapter in our organization’s journey. Shriners Children’s research that began decades ago is helping patients today, and we are confident that the research we are doing now — from genomics to motion analysis, artificial intelligence and much more — will drive tangible results far into the future.
Sincerely, |
