Inside Pediatrics Winter 2015

cost and risk of side effects for therapies that ultimately offer no benefit. “It can open doors to new methods of treatment,” Korf said. In moving the program’s pediatric clinic to Children’s, Korf hopes to integrate it and expand it to take advantage of the pediatric sub-specialty expertise available through the hospital’s three dozen medical divisions. Currently, the program works directly with pediatric sub-specialists from immunology, gastroenterology, nephrology, cardiology, pulmonology, neurology, radiology, dermatology and rheumatology. Korf anticipates a patient volume of more

than 100 children per year. For more information, visit www.childrensal.org/genetics .

The National Institutes of Health undiagnosed diseases program served as the model for the UAB/Children’s of Alabama program created by geneticist Bruce Korf, M.D., Ph.D. in 2013. The goal of the program is to find answers for patients with major medical issues whose chronic illnesses have not been identified.

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