The Department of Pediatrics provided six department members with generous funding during the spring cycle of its Research and Development (R&D) Awards program. The purpose of the R&D Awards fund is to support research and scholarly activities, including quality improvement (QI) projects. Funds are awarded with the expectation that they will support activities leading to scholarly output, such as presentations, publications, and grant applications.
Faculty members are eligible for awards up to $20,000. Grantees are selected after a competitive internal review process. Funding opportunities are typically offered twice a year.
Below is a list of department members who received R&D Awards in the spring of 2026 and their project titles:
Awardees
- Laura Chen, MD, assistant professor, Division of Hospital Medicine and Complex Care, “Live Translation Pilot Study Using AirPods”
- Jill Denson, PhD, MSW, assistant professor, Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, and director, UW Prevention Research Center, “Centering Lived Experience of Incarcerated Pregnant and Postpartum Women: Co-designing a Doula Intervention in Milwaukee County Jail”
- Kirstin Nackers, MD, associate professor, Division of Hospital Medicine and Complex Care, “Linguistic Analysis of Health Professional Students’ Interactions with AI Simulated Patients”
- Chelsea Olson, PhD, scientist I, Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, “An Investigation of the Cyberstalking Victimization Experiences on Technology and Social Media and Associated Mental Health Outcomes in Adolescents”
- Amy Peterson, MD, MS, professor, Division of Cardiology, “Development of a Mass Spectrometry-based Assay for Familial Hypercholesterolemia Biomarker Testing of Dried Blood Spots”
- Sushant (Sush) Srinivasan, MD, MHPE, associate professor, Division of Critical Care, “SIMPICU: Simulation-Based Preparation for a New Pediatric Intensive Care Unit”