Approximately 100 research projects are in progress at the Children's Research Center. Others are funded by national organizations such as the American Heart Association, local organizations such as the Arizona Elks, private foundations such as the W.M. Keck Foundation and the support of individual donors. What follows are a few of the Center's major areas of research interest. Nearly 5,000 babies are born prematurely in Arizona each year. Research at the Children's Research Center has led to new treatments to improve babies' lung function.
Current research is designed to prevent anemia and improve overall growth and development.
Researchers here are working to develop a new technique to ensure artificial heart valves are working properly. Researchers also are trying to understand how heart defects happen while the baby is in utero, to eventually try to prevent the defect from occurring. Center researchers have identified the gene that causes this deadly disease and are working to develop a gene therapy approach to treating it. Researchers are working to determine the genetic causes of asthma, as well as family and environmental influences that could promote asthma. Fayez K. Ghishan, M.D., director of the Steele Memorial Children's Research Center, with his young patient, Andrew Martinez.