Children’s Research Fund Junior Board
Since 1992, the Children’s Research Fund Junior Board has been passionate about advancing discovery into new and more effective treatments for childhood diseases.
Please welcome our new CRFJB Research Scholar, Dr. Alex J. Kula!
2-year, $250,000 to fund Dr. Alex J. Kula.
Dr. Kula is a physician scientist and pediatric nephrology at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. His research work lies at the intersection of kidney and heart disease, also known as the cardiorenal syndrome. Young people with kidney disease are at high risk for cardiovascular disease, and this is reflected in the shortened lifespan associated with kidney failure. Improving their outcomes relies on detecting cardiovascular disease, understanding the mechanisms that drive cardiorenal pathology in youth, and testing pediatric specific therapies. His active research involves recruiting adolescents and young adults to undergo comprehensive cardiovascular phenotyping using exercise echocardiography and cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET). This innovative approach aims to overcome existing technical limitations to identifying cardiovascular pathology at the earliest, yet most reversible, stages. He also is recruiting for a feasibility study of SGLT2i in pediatric CKD (NCT: 06430684) to prevent cardiovascular disease. Dr. Kula’s research is funded by both foundation and NIH grants. All of his work is aimed to help ensure young people with kidney disease can live long and meaningful lives.
Become a Member
The Children’s Research Fund Junior Board consists of young professionals in the Chicago metropolitan area. If you are interested in becoming a board member of the Children’s Research Fund Junior Board, please contact us at membership@crfjb.org for more information and to be added to the prospective members list. Interviews for new members are conducted every November.
Our Mission
Since 1992, the Children’s Research Fund Junior Board has been passionate about advancing discovery into new and more effective treatments for childhood diseases. The board supports the work of the researchers and physician-scientists of the Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.
Focused on a result-oriented “translational” model of research, scientists in the Manne Research Institute labs are working to develop better and safer therapies for the almost 200,000 children treated each year at Lurie Children’s. As the Junior Board to the Children’s Research Fund, a primary philanthropic benefactor of the Manne Research Institute, the Children’s Research Fund Junior Board supports investigations in genetics, incurable neuromuscular diseases, epilepsy, and other conditions.
Since its inception, the Children’s Research Fund Junior Board has helped raise over nearly two million dollars for pediatric medical research initiatives conducted at Lurie Children’s and the Manne Research Institute.