Matthew Harer, MD, associate professor, Division of Neonatology and Newborn Nursery, was recently awarded two funding opportunities through the NIH. The first is an R13 award that will support his project, “Consensus Workshop to Address Kidney Health in High-risk Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Graduates.” The award to develop this workshop was granted to Indiana University with the UW as a subaward recipient; Dr. Michelle Starr of Indiana University will serve as the principal investigator, and Harer’s role will be as co-investigator. Faculty members from the University of Alabama Birmingham, the University of Virginia, and the Medical University of South Carolina will also be involved. The goal of the consensus workshop is to develop guidance on kidney health monitoring, identify gaps in the research and clinical care of neonates with chronic kidney disease, and form groups to begin to address these needs. The grant runs from September 1, 2023, through August 31, 2024.
Harer was also selected to receive an award through the NIH Loan Repayment Program, a set of programs designed to recruit and retain exceptional health professionals by offering assistance in student loan repayment. Harer leads the Improving Kidney Outcomes in Neonates into Childhood (IKONIC) research group, which focuses on translational research on kidney function in neonates requiring hospitalization in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) through the use of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and urinary metabolomic biomarkers.