Children`s Clinical Research Office

Clinical Research at the University of Virginia Children's Hospital is an integral part of what we do as an institution. Research is being conducted in almost every area of pediatrics. Results of this research are leading to innovations in children's health and developing state of the art clinical tools to improve the health and well being of children in Virginia and beyond.

The Faculty and Staff of the Children's Clinical Research Office are available to help you. Please contact us by phone, email, or in person.

Richard Stevenson Richard D. Stevenson, M.D.
Professor of Pediatrics
Department of Pediatrics
Division of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics
Director of Clinical Research
M.D.: University of Virginia
Residency: University of Virginia
Fellowship: University of Iowa

PO Box 800232
434-924-8184
rds8z@virginia.edu


Dr. Stevenson is a neurodevelopmental pediatrician at the Kluge Children's Rehabilitation Center and Research Institute, seeing children with developmental delay, speech delay, behavior problems, feeding difficulties, cerebral palsy, autism, mental retardation, genetic syndromes, and learning problems.

Dr. Stevenson's research relates to how secondary health conditions (malnutrition, osteoporosis, aspiration, chronic pain) affect the health, functional abilities, social participation, and quality of life of children with cerebral palsy and their families. He is the principal investigator of the North American Growth in Cerebral Palsy Project, a multi-center, region-based study of growth and nutritional status.

Dr. Stevenson currently holds an NIH Career Development Award (K-24) geared toward the development and implementation of clinical trials to enhance the health, function, and quality of life of children with cerebral palsy. In 2001, he was elected to the Society for Pediatric Research.

 

Stephanie Lowenhaupt

Stephanie Lowenhaupt R.N., MBA
Clinical Research Coordinator Advanced
Department of Pediatrics

BSN: Medical College of Virginia
MBA: James Madison University
CCRC: Certified Clinical Research Coordinator

PO Box 800232
434-982-6421
Fax 434-982-0511
sal3q@virginia.edu


Stephanie has more than 20 years of nursing experience including ten years in pediatric settings and five years in clinical research at a Contract Research Organization.

Services Provided:

  • Study coordinator for a new investigator, an established investigator with ongoing trials who has lost a coordinator, or an investigator whose coordinator needs additional, temporary help due to a heavy workload
  • Assit with IRB submissions for faculty and staff without a study coordinator
  • Prestudy Activities
    • Case Report Forms (CRF) development
    • IRB and GCRC submission
    • Budget preparation and negotiation
    • Contract submission
  • Study Activities
    • Subject recruitment
    • Obtaining consent
    • Subject scheduling and seeing subject in clinic
    • Maintain regulatory binder
  • Data Management
    • CRF and source document design
    • Data collection and verification
    • Data entry
Sarah Creef Baugher

Sarah Creef Baugher
Pediatric Grants and Contracts Administrator
Department of Pediatrics

BS, Psychology: George Mason University  

PO Box 800232
434-243-9929
sbc8x@virginia.edu


Sarah began her career in Research Administration in 2001 at the University of Virginia working in the School of Medicine Office of Grants and Contracts Administration. She has knowledge of Cost Accounting Standards, OMB Policies, Clinical Trials, and Budgeting.

Services Provided:

  • Clinical trials budget and contract negotiation
  • Interpretation of Institutional guidelines
  • Preparation of Internal paperwork
  • Preparation of NIH Clinical Trials proposals
Matthew Gurka

Matthew J. Gurka, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology
Department of Public Health Sciences

Ph.D., Biostatistics: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

434-924-8249
mjg3p@virginia.edu


Matt has experience in a wide range of applications of biostatistics to medical research, from the design and analysis of observational studies to the coordination and analysis of multi-center longitudinal studies. Matt's research areas in statistics include longitudinal data analysis, mixed models and other multivariate modeling techniques, model selection, and internal pilot studies.

Services Provided:

  • Study design
    • Selecting best basic study design
    • Insight on important statistical issues to consider in study design
    • Power analyses to determine appropriate sample size
    • Randomization
  • Analysis of data
    • Simple descriptive statistics
    • More complex modeling scenarios
    • Write the statistical methods and results sections and related points of discussion for a paper(depending on the analysis, co-authorship should be considered)
  • Teaching statistics
    • Provide lectures or lead discussions on any aspects of statistics deemed relevant by any group in the department
    • Answer questions on interpretation of statistical analyses described in publications, presentations, protocols, etc.