Children’s Hospital named Kassa Darge, MD, PhD, the new chair of the Department of Radiology and Radiologist-in-Chief in December 2016. With an extensive research portfolio encompassing 28 years with more than 200 publications and multiple grants, Dr. Darge focuses his research on innovative and advanced body imaging methods, particularly magnetic resonance and ultrasound modalities.

Dr. Darge holds the John W. Hope Endowed Chair for Radiology Faculty Development at CHOP and has served as chief of the Division of Body Imaging in the Department of Radiology. He has been professor of Radiology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania since 2006 while also serving as an honorary professor of Radiology in the Department of Radiology at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia.

He has mentored dozens of trainees during his esteemed career and has received numerous awards for his research and educational work. Of note is his work to establish the CHOP Radiology International Education Outreach pediatric radiology fellowship program in Ethiopia. To further CHOP’s mission of training the next generation of pediatric experts, Dr. Darge also started a mentoring program for junior faculty members in the Department of Radiology, for which he was awarded the CHOP mentor award.

“We are delighted to have Dr. Darge serve as our Radiologist-in-Chief,” said Chad Hough, senior vice president, Support Services at CHOP, in announcing Dr. Darge’s appointment. “Dr. Darge is a highly accomplished researcher, educator, and scholar in radiology who will help lead CHOP’s strategy and future as we continue to find better ways to provide exceptional care and research discoveries for children.”

Following a nationwide search, Eric Eichenwald, MD, joined CHOP as its new chief of the Division of Neonatology at the end of 2016.

The neonatology program provides optimal care to more than 4,000 critically ill newborns and infants throughout the CHOP Care Network each year. Physicians and scientists from CHOP’s Division of Neonatology conduct basic and clinical research on many conditions affecting newborns and infants.

“Dr. Eichenwald is a highly accomplished clinician, educator and scholar in neonatology who has outstanding leadership abilities and will undoubtedly guide the Division of Neonatology to an even higher level of excellence,” said Joseph St. Geme, MD, physician-in-chief and chair of the Department of Pediatrics.

Dr. Eichenwald is also a Professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and holds the Thomas Frederick McNair Scott Endowed Chair at CHOP. He most recently served as chair of Pediatrics and chief of Neonatology at the University of Texas, Houston. In 2016, he received the Pediatric Education Award from the Southern Society for Pediatric Research.

Pioneering pediatric oncologist Stephan Grupp, MD, PhD, accepted a new role at CHOP in June 2017 as chief of the Bone Marrow Transplant Section in the Hospital’s Division of Oncology, renaming it the Section of Cellular Therapy and Transplant to reflect CHOP’s global leadership role in engineered cell therapy for cancer and other diseases. He is already well known internationally for leading groundbreaking clinical trials of an innovative T cell therapy for children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

Notably, among his many achievements during his two decades at CHOP, Dr. Grupp served as the lead investigator in the development of a groundbreaking personalized cellular therapy for patients up to 25 years of age with ALL that is refractory or in second or later relapse. In August 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the therapy, a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy called Kymriah™, which was developed by CHOP, Penn, and Novartis. Kymriah is the first engineered cell therapy for any cancer, as well as the first-ever therapy based on gene transfer approved by the FDA.

Dr. Grupp has been an attending physician and oncology researcher at CHOP since 1996, when he also joined the University of Pennsylvania medical faculty. In addition to being chief of the Section of Cellular Therapy and Transplant, he is the director of the Cancer Immunotherapy Frontier Program at CHOP, director of Translational Research for the Center for Childhood Cancer Research, medical director of the Stem Cell Laboratory, and the Yetta Deitch Novotny Professor of Pediatrics at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine.

“Dr. Grupp was the top candidate for this crucial position, and will now expand an already outstanding program that is revolutionizing cell therapy for children with resistant relapsed or refractory ALL and pioneering new strategies for stem cell transplantation,” said Stephen P. Hunger, MD, chief of Pediatric Oncology and director of the Center for Childhood Cancer Research at CHOP.

While we talk a lot about discoveries that advance our understanding of pediatric diseases and conditions or that may lead to new treatments, we can’t overlook the support investigators receive behind the scenes that allow them to focus on their areas of expertise. Administration is a critical component in the success of any research institution and often encompasses effectively managing myriad areas like grants, finances, training, and resources that investigators can tap into in their quest for discovery. Overseeing such a broad array of services and resources requires an insightful leader who is also a strategic thinker and problem solver.

The Research Institute found that kind of leader with Michelle A. Lewis, MS, CRA, who joined Children’s Hospital in June 2017 as the new vice president for Research Administration & Operations. A seasoned academic medical center research administrator, Lewis has committed more than 18 years of her career serving in multiple positions of increasing responsibility, authority, and oversight in research administration.

A key member of the senior leadership team at the Research Institute, Lewis engages with leaders and groups across the entire CHOP enterprise to advance the Institute’s strategic vision, build connections, and bolster collaboration that leads to research excellence. She is committed to leading with inspiration, directly overseeing several Research Administration departments that support investigators in their day-to-day needs, while looking for ways to enhance teamwork and support throughout CHOP Research Institute.

Joseph Rossano, MD, was named chief of the Division of Cardiology at CHOP in May 2017. Since joining CHOP in 2011 to help manage its heart failure, transplant, and cardiac mechanical support program; train residents and fellows; and conduct research on the epidemiology and outcomes of heart disease in children, Dr. Rossano has also served as principal investigator or co-investigator on several ongoing research studies.

His research includes investigating the use of ventricular assist devices and artificial hearts in children; studying the effectiveness of post-transplant treatments for children who have received heart transplants; and studies of children with heart failure. Dr. Rossano has also worked on registries for pediatric ventricular assist devices and heart transplantation.

“Dr. Rossano has an impressive record of scholarship in heart failure and cardiac transplantation, including a number of important publications in the medical literature that have advanced the field and led to changes in care,” said Joseph St. Geme, MD, physician-in-chief and chair of the Department of Pediatrics. “Given his leadership abilities and his talents as a clinician, an educator, and an investigator, he is poised to lead the Division of Cardiology to even greater excellence in the years ahead.”

In addition to his new position, Dr. Rossano is the medical director of the Pediatric Heart Failure Program. He is also an attending physician in the Cardiac Center and an associate professor of pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a core faculty member of the Center for Pediatric Clinical Effectiveness at CHOP, and a Senior Fellow of the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Care Economics at Penn.

Adeline Vanderver, MD, has hit the ground running as the new program director of the Leukodystrophy Center of Excellence at CHOP. Since taking her new position at the end of 2016, Dr. Vanderver has been focused on creating new standards of care for children with leukodystrophies by advancing leukodystrophy gene discovery, creating new therapies, and supporting and advocating for patients and their families.

Leukodystrophies are caused by genetic defects that affect growth or formation of the myelin sheath, a protective coating that insulates surrounding nerve fibers. Without this protection, brain signals don’t travel effectively, and children with leukodystrophies face a range of potentially devastating neurological problems. Currently, leukodystrophies comprise approximately 30 disorders, and scientists estimate they occur in one in 7,000 births.

Dr. Vanderver is leading two clinical studies with the goal of repurposing medications — one that is currently used to treat human immunodeficiency virus and another that targets interferon — for patients with Aicardi-Goutieres syndrome. Another clinical trial is assessing the efficacy and utility of whole genome sequencing as a first-line diagnostic test for leukodystrophies.

“We’re hopeful that we’ll be able to take that list of 30 disorders and check them off one by one to get them diagnosed earlier and eventually to deliver therapeutics,” she said.

Dr. Vanderver holds the Kamens Endowed Chair in Neurological Disorders and Translational NeuroTherapeutics at CHOP. In addition to her clinical and research efforts, she also leads the Global Leukodystrophy Initiative, an advocacy group that includes parents, clinicians, and researchers, to raise disease awareness and ensure that patients receive appropriate social and medical support.