A prominent cell biologist has been named to head Children’s Mercy Hospital’s pediatric research program.
The Kansas City hospital said that Tom Curran, previously with Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, will become chief scientific officer and executive director of its Children’s Research Institute on Feb. 1.
The institute was established last year and focuses on four pediatric areas: genomic medicine, the development and reformulation of drugs, health services and outcomes, and health care delivery.
“Children’s Mercy — and all of Kansas City — is fortunate to have one of the top scientific researchers, educators and medical leaders joining us to accelerate Children’s Mercy’s efforts to bring translational research and precision medicine to all children in our region,” Dr. Michael Artman, chairman of Children’s Mercy’s department of pediatrics, said in a statement.
Curran, who grew up in Scotland, did a postdoctoral fellowship at the Salk Institute in San Diego, was associate director of the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology in Nutley, New Jersey, and founded the department of developmental neurobiology at St. Jude’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, according to the statement. He was deputy scientific director of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
His research interests include finding new treatments for childhood brain tumors.
Dan Margolies, editor of the Heartland Health Monitor team, is based at KCUR. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.
