About Us
Our History
The Children’s Research Fund Junior Board was founded in 1992 as the Medical Research Junior Board Foundation, a junior board to the Medical Research Institute Council. In 2011, the Medical Research Institute Council changed its name to the Children’s Research Fund.
The Children’s Research Fund is a principal benefactor of the Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute, the research arm of the hospital and one of a handful of free-standing facilities in the nation devoted exclusively to pediatric medical research.
In order to more closely align with our senior board, we changed our name from the Medical Research Junior Board Foundation to the Children’s Research Fund Junior Board. The Children’s Research Fund Junior Board works under the umbrella of the Lurie Children’s Foundation to promote activities and community awareness for Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.
Since 1992, we have contributed nearly $2 million, including supporting initiatives for the Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute and the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.
Past Co-Chairs
2018: Dan Martino & Lauren Frushnour
2019-2020: Brian Duffy and Katie Lyons
2021-2022: John Dana and Nick Rockwell
2023-2024: Jessica Prieskorn and Kaitlin Horsch
2025-2026: Jessica Cipolla and Eric Johnson
Children’s Research Fund Junior Board Funding History
FUNDS RAISED
2018: $172,038
2019: $134,757
2020: $53,934.23
2021: $74,720.25
2022: $72,893.39
FUNDING HISTORY
2012 & 2013: Dr. Sookyong Koh’s Epilepsy Research
2014 & 2015: Dr. Kathryn Barsness’s Simulation-based Education
2016 & 2017: Dr. Ji Heon Paul Lee, Hematology, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplant Fellow
2018 & 2019: Dr. Jill Chang, Perinatal Brain Injury Research
2019 – 2022: Dr. Carolyn Foster, Telecare Solution for Home Breathing Machines
2022 – 2024: Dr. Jennifer Hoffman, Mental Health Research in the Emergency Room
2025 – 2026: Dr. Jami Josefson, Endocrinology and Childhood Metabolic Diseases
About the Research
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.