A biweekly overview of recent studies published by Institute investigators and their collaborators spans a wide variety of topics, including:

Telemedicine and pediatric asthma; genetic factors and bronchodilator response, and testing Surviving Sepsis guidelines in practice

For all faculty publications, see our Publications page. For up-to-date media coverage and research findings, visit In the Media, and follow us on Twitter. To search for a subject matter expert, visit our Investigator Directory.

The role of social determinants of health in the use of telemedicine for asthma in children
The adverse impacts of social determinants of health often result in health-related social needs going unmet, which can contribute to worse health outcomes, especially in patients with asthma. Asthma, the most common chronic health condition among children in the U.S., was also identified early in the COVID-19 pandemic as a possible risk factor for more severe disease. In a new study in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice, a team including Alon Peltz and Ann Wu took a closer look at how one medical practice’s pivot to telemedicine allowed staff to reach a larger number of patients and families than before the pandemic. The authors conclude that telemedicine may be an effective strategy for addressing both the social and medical needs of children with asthma.

Institute Investigator(s): Alon Peltz, Ann Wu

Genome-wide association study in minority children with asthma implicates DNAH5 in bronchodilator responsiveness
Bronchodilator response can vary from patient to patient. The question is: what factors contribute to this variation? A research team including Joanne Sordillo and Ann Wu sought to identify genetic variants associated with bronchodilator response (BDR) to identify potential mechanisms of drug response and risk factors for worse asthma outcomes. Results of the team’s genome-wide association study, published in Scientific Reports, found that DNAH5 may influence bronchodilator response, and that future mechanistic studies should be pursued to identify how DNAH5 influences BDR. While their results help inform genetic underpinnings of BDR for understudied minority patients with asthma, the limited availability of genetic data for racial/ethnic minority children with asthma remains a paramount challenge.

Institute Investigator(s): Joanne Sordillo, Ann Wu

Clinical decision support improves blood culture collection before intravenous antibiotic administration in the emergency department
Surviving Sepsis guidelines recommend blood cultures before administration of intravenous (IV) antibiotics for patients with sepsis or moderate to high risk of bacteremia. A new publication senior-authored by Chanu Rhee suggests that clinical decision support (CDS) that reminds emergency department (ED) providers to obtain blood cultures when ordering IV antibiotics may lead to improvements in this process measure. The team conducted a multicenter causal impact analysis comparing timely blood culture collections prior to IV antibiotics for adult ED patients 1 year before and after a CDS intervention implementation in the electronic health record. Study results, published in Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, show that CDS improved blood culture collection before IV antibiotics in the ED, without increasing overutilization.

Institute Investigator(s): Chanu Rhee