Nemours Children’s Health System recently appointed Dr. Mary Lee its Enterprise Chief Scientific Officer.
Dr. Lee, a pediatric endocrinologist, has a long history of clinical and laboratory-based research, including long term environmental research on the health implications of nearby chemical factories on children in a small Russian town.
In her new role, Dr. Lee leads Nemours’ efforts to develop better treatments and new cures for children and she recently spoke with Delaware Public Media’s Nick Ciolino about the latest Nemours medical research.
Lee notes one research project underway at Nemours is a study monitoring Dover’s Amish population to see what genetic diseases they are vulnerable to.
“How do we help to identify these early so that those children who are treatable can be treated early and avoid the devastating consequences that occur rapidly and are irreversible,” said Lee.
Lee says Nemours is also conducting studies to track health outcomes for infants who have been exposed to substances prenatally.
“It is well recognized that pregnant women are very motivated to change and that is an opportune time to try to work with them help with addiction and try to help them work at improving those behaviors,” said Lee.
She adds the hospital currently funds its research with $20 million a year of internal revenue and about $15 million in external grant funding.
