CDI 7th annual symposium focuses on metabolism and obesity

CTSI co-sponsored the seventh annual UCLA Children's Discovery and Innovation Institute (CDI) Symposium on May 21, 2020. The event was hosted virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Each year, the event is intended to generate cross-campus collaborations to advance translational child health research. This year's symposium theme highlighted metabolism and obesity and featured keynote speaker, Dr. Matthew Gillman from the National Institutes of Health’s Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program. The talks of two UCLA speakers, Drs. Orian Shirihai and Peter Tontonoz, reflected the CDI Theme of Nutrition, Metabolism, and Growth. Four pediatric fellows were also selected to present their research: second year fellows, Drs. Geonna Bautista (neonatology) and Mona Liu (allergy and immunology), and third year fellows, Drs. Jordan Whatley (gastroenterology) and Jacqueline Crane (hematology/oncology).

The virtual event garnered 135 participants and included a research poster session and a special announcement on the 2020 Research Recognition Awards. The 2020 Research Recognition awardees were first year resident, John Bosco, second year residents, Nora Gibson and Neema Pithia, and third year residents, Camille Hamilton and Nicole A. Smith.

For a complete list of poster presenters, see the symposium pamphlet. Visit the UCLA CDI Annual Symposium webpage for more information on the event. Preliminary data indicates that nearly one third of the attendees feel the symposium might lead to new collaborations with researchers and 83% rated the symposium to be excellent or very good. 

The UCLA CDI Institute is the research home of the Pediatrics Department and encourages multidisciplinary child health research and training at UCLA across the spectrum of basic, translational, clinical and health services research.  

Image source: 

Image caption: