Children’s Miracle Network at UC Davis awards more than $2 million in grants

Twenty-four grants, totaling more than $2 million, have been awarded by Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) at UC Davis to clinicians and researchers at UC Davis Children’s Hospital. 

Grants in the amount of $1,526,146.96 will enhance the clinical care of children, while $529,226 was awarded for research directly improving the health and welfare of children. In total, CMN is providing $2,055,372 to advance children’s health.

CMN accepts applications each fiscal year for both clinical services and research grants. Each application must demonstrate how the project or research contributes to UC Davis Health strategic goals and/or UC Davis Medical Center institutional goals. The amount of funding is determined by the CMN executive committee and chief executive officer of UC Davis Medical Center.

Clinical Services grants funded for 2025 are as follows:

• Establishing & Expanding a Pediatric Interventional Pulmonary Line of Service with Cryotherapy: Gage Alvernaz
• Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Resources for Families: Rachel Greenfield
• Pilot Trial of Passive Disinfection Caps to Reduce CLABSIs: Michelle Hamline
• Improving Transitions from Pediatric to Adult Care for Adolescents and Young Adults with Sickle Cell Disease: Sarah Haynes
• Training & Technical Assistance to Develop Treatment Program for Children with Problematic Sexual Behavior: Emily Johnson
• Creating a Welcoming and Family-Centered Pediatric Diabetes New Onset Teaching Center: Caroline Schulmeister
• Virtual Reality in Pediatrics: An Evidence-Based Strategy for Pain and Anxiety Reduction: Norena Banayat
• Inpatient Auditory Brainstem Response Testing Equipment: Aditi Bhuskute
• Point-of-Care International Normalized Ratio Blood Test for Warfarin Patients: Robin Culver
• Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Mock Code Program: Ashley Donkerbrook
• Removing Barriers to care for Pediatric Ophthalmology Patients: Marcela Estrada
• Providing Safe Breastmilk Transportation for NICU Families and Enhancing Lactation Support to Improve Neonatal Outcomes: Erica Helmer
• Clínica de Revisión de Etapas de Crecimiento en Español Clinic Grant: Rosa Rodriguez
• MIND Institute Child Life Sibling Support Programs: Veronica Tuss
• Pain Clinic —Pediatric Specialty Mental Health Integration Pilot: John Standish Adams
• PATH — A Path to Positive Medical Outcomes (Promoting Accessibility to Healthcare): Roger Scott Akins
• Respiratory Therapist-Guided Case Management and Continuity of Care — A Novel Approach to Hospitalized Children on Long-term Ventilation: Rory Kamerman-Kretzmer
• YMCA — Healthy US! Health-based Summer Camp: Sindhura Batchu

Research grants funded for 2025 are as follows:

• Engineered Extracellular vesicles for Early Neuroprotection in Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury: Rachel M. Russo
• Optimal Virtual Care for Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in Children: Lori Kennedy
• Randomized Pilot Trial of Dopamine vs Norepinephrine in Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension of Newborn (DONE Trial): Deepika Sankaran
• Functional Genomic Analysis of Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase Non-Receptor Type 14 (PTPN14) as a Molecular Marker of Vascular Disease: Daniah Beleford
• Improving Screening and Identification of Development Concerns in Infants from Spanish-speaking Families: Meagan Talbott
• Fontan Failure Prediction via Abdominal-Thoracic Impedance Changes and Vectorcardiography: Daniel Cortez