Major Goals and Plans

The broad objectives of our Division remain to bring drugs into pediatric studies to ensure optimal and safe therapies for pediatric patients, and to discover new drugs and drug targets through basic studies of biological processes.

In 2007, the PPRU clinical trials unit and pharmacometrics core moved into a newly designed building across the street from the Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego campus. This year, the new Division will recruit additional clinical, translational or basic research faculty specializing in clinical trial design, pharmacology and the basic and translational research in drug discovery and development. The Division’s ultimate goal is for UCSD and Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego to have a permanent place in the top echelon of pediatric pharmacology research and training nationwide. To this end, we will seek to remain an integral part of the NIH/NICHD Pediatric Pharmacology Research Unit Network, with an enhanced focus on infectious disease therapeutics and close interaction/scientific exchange with physician-investigators at other major pediatric research hospitals and universities.