Scientific potential of The Children’s Memorial Health Institute
The Children’s Memorial Health Institute conducts its scientific activities based on its clinical activities. The clinical structure of the Institute includes 29 hospital wards, 34 specialized clinics, 8 diagnostic facilities, an operating theater with 10 rooms. There are 596 hospital beds available. The CMHI (in polish: IPCZD) performs 85,000 hospitalizations annually, 172,000 consultations in specialized clinics, covering all areas of pediatric medicine, with the exception of hematology and orthopedics. The CMHI treats patients from across Poland, 50% of which is from the Mazovian district. The Institute performs annually 12,000 procedures under general anesthesia and 7,000 surgical operations.
The Institute has got a scientific category A and HR Logo certificate. It is an active member of 7 ERN’s (European Rare Desease Networks): EpiCARE, TRANSPLANTCHILD, ITHACA, MetabERN, PaedCan-ERN, RARE-LIVER, RITA.
The CMHI employed 94 researchers, including positions of Institute Prof. and Prof. (38 people), Assistant Prof. (29 people) and Research Assistant (27 people). Annually, about 330 scientific publications are being prepared, to 149 of which has been assigned the Impact Factor. The total value for the Institute is amounting to 690,373 IF (status for 2023).
The Institute carried out in 2023 projects financed by MEiN subsidies (Ministry of Education and Science): 28 internal grants, 10 statutory research tasks, 17 projects for young scientists and 14 „grant-to-grant” projects. Conducted 24 grants financed from the external funds, including 15 from the national external funds (NCN, NCBiR, ABM) and 6 from EU funds, including projects such as HIT-GLIO, EJP RD, c4c, OD4RD 2.
Department of Scientific Research (DSR) coordinates all scientific projects in CMHI nauka@ipczd.pl.
IPCZD, as a hospital and a research unit with the highest level of reference in Poland, is a leader in conducting modern clinical trials (BK) in the pediatric population. The Minister of Health appointed IPCZD as the coordinator of the Polish Network of Clinical Trials in Pediatrics (POLPEDNET).
Between years 2017 and 2022, the CMHI conducted on average 60 commercial clinical trials per year, with an upward trend in recent years, reaching 93 ongoing trials by the end of 2023. It therefore has a wealth of experience in their implementation. The Institute is participating in 9 non-commercial Medical Research Agency (ABM) – funded clinical trials with acronyms: DIPGen, BraimTOR Onko, BraimTOR Neuro, VIRAP, RaRE-TS, EMPATia, AxGD, PRIFEN and VEDI-UC.
The total number of Principal Investigators conducting a clinical trial at the end of 2023 was 18 physicians (including 8 professors, 2 MDs, 8 PhDs). This group is part of the experts who are recognized by the pharma industry as Key Opinion Leaders and as a potential not only to become PI, but also national coordinators.
Thanks to funding from ABM, was established Pediatric Clinical Trials Support Center (PCTSC), in order to comprehensively support the conduct of clinical research at the Institute. To implement the NCT, PCTSC acts as an ACRO, acting on behalf of the sponsor, and its staff (PCTSC Manager, PCTSC Specialist for Quality, Pharmacovigilance, Monitoring, Study Coordination) supervise the work of the people hired specifically for each project, among others, CTA, Pharmacovigilance, data manager, monitor, site coordinator). The implementation of the pedDUET-CD project will be based on the cooperation of the DSR and PCTSC staff with the other units of the Institute, incl. the Procurement, Accounting and Human Resources Departments, in accordance with the Public Procurement Law, and the Standard Operating Procedures of the CMHI.
Currently, the CMHI is implementing a Pediatric Digital Medicine Center with a biobank.