RESEARCH BRIEFS

Maripat Toye RN, ACRN, MS Extends Baystate Medical Center's Reach Around the Globe
Bandy Bear Goes to South Africa &Thailand

Maripat Toye RN, ACRN, MS, Pediatric and Perinatal AIDS Clinical and Research Trials Study Coordinator, is responsible for two new Pediatrics HIV/AIDS grants to Baystate Medical Center. The first is a result of her appointment by the National Institute of Health as Chair of the Training and Education Resource Committee of its International Maternal, Pediatric, Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials (IMPAACT) Group.

Ms. Toye will be overseeing clinical trial research at IMPAACT's maternal, pediatric and adolescent units in Asia, Africa and South America, and will collaborate with other NIH-funded clinical trial units to coordinate training needs throughout the world. It was when Ms. Toye participated in trainings in South Africa and Thailand that she distributed “Bandy Bear” memorabilia to the hospitalized children she visited.

Baystate also received a grant from the Clinton Foundation AIDS Initiative Program to support Ms. Toye’s efforts as a pediatric nursing mentor and trainer in Vietnam.  Toye, who is also Pediatric Infectious Disease Division Program Manager, will make her third trip to Vietnam to train physicians and health care workers how to start up pediatric HIV/AIDS clinics—this time traveling as part of a multidisciplinary team to Ho Chi Minh City from Hanoi. Working in Vietnam has given Ms. Toye a chance to team up with Herb Harwell, MD, a former Baystate Med-Peds Infectious Disease Fellow.

John Fanton MD, of the Psychiatry Department, received a Kirschstein post-doctoral fellowship to study the efficacy and safety of extended release mixed amphetamine salts (MAS, such as Adderall) in pre-schoolers with ADHD. Dr. Fanton says he and his sponsor, Bruce Waslik MD, also of the Psychiatry Department, feel the need for this study comes right out of their clinical experience.

There is increasing evidence that ADHD in pre-schoolers goes untreated. And, according to Fanton, when it is treated, providers are increasingly prescribing XR-MAS—which has favorable results in school-aged children—even though there is little evidence evaluating its appropriateness for pre-schoolers. Immediate release MAS has been shown to be effective in pre-schoolers, but this age group is especially vulnerable to its adverse effects such as decreased appetite, motor tics and sleep problems.

Dr. Fanton will be consulting with four outside experts for this project as part of his fellowship training:

• Lawrence Greenhill MD, Columbia – lead PI for PATS study

• William Pelham PhD, Buffalo – ADHD expert

• David Connor MD, UConn – medication intervention expert

• Elizabeth Harvey PhD, UMass – Study Design and analysis consultation.

Fanton's goal is to use these study results as a pilot for a larger trial to compare medications, or medications in combination with behavioral therapy.