Better bladder and kidney care for young children with spina bifida in Wisconsin
Official title: Improving the Urologic Care and Outcomes of Young Children with Spina Bifida in Wisconsin
Funded at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin · NIH-11400837 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project brings improved urology care and follow-up to young children with spina bifida in Wisconsin to help protect their bladder and kidneys.
Quick facts
| Grant type | U01 cooperative agreement |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Children's Hospital of Wisconsin NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Milwaukee, United States) |
| Project start | September 1, 2019 |
| Project end | August 31, 2026 |
| Funding year | 2019 |
| Award (this year) | $25,000 |
| NIH project number | 6U01DD001239-05M002 |
| Project ID | NIH-11400837 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are infants and young children with spina bifida who receive or can receive urologic care at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin or participating clinics in Wisconsin, along with their caregivers.
✕Less likely to help
Children without spina bifida, adults, or families who do not live in Wisconsin or cannot access participating clinics are unlikely to benefit directly from this project.
What this research studies
If your child has spina bifida, this program works with pediatric urology teams and families across Wisconsin to standardize care, monitoring, and education for infants and young children. The team implements evidence-based clinic practices, trains local providers, and tracks health data over time to spot problems early. Families may be asked to attend clinic visits, share medical information, and follow recommended bladder and kidney monitoring plans. The goal is to make care more consistent and catch issues sooner so children avoid infections and kidney injury.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could lower urinary tract infections and reduce the risk of kidney damage, improving long-term health and daily life for affected children.
How similar studies have gone: Similar care-standardization and clinic-network efforts at other spina bifida centers have improved urologic monitoring and reduced complications, but this project focuses specifically on young children across Wisconsin.
Where this research is happening
-
Children's Hospital of Wisconsin
Milwaukee, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Sherburne, Eileen — Children's Hospital of Wisconsin
- Study coordinator: Sherburne, Eileen
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
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Improving care and outcomes for people living with spina bifida in Wisconsin
A patient-friendly project aims to improve everyday care and health outcomes for people with spina bifida in Wisconsin.
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The National Spina Bifida Patient Registry at University of Pittsburgh
A national registry project at the University of Pittsburgh aims to collect and organize information about people with spina bifida to improve care.
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Improving Care and Outcomes for People Living with Spina Bifida
A patient-friendly project aims to improve how people with spina bifida are cared for and how well they do over time.
-
Scoliosis and neurosurgical factors in myelomeningocele: a clinic registry study
This project uses registry data from Penn State’s Spina Bifida Clinic to understand how brain and spine-related issues influence when and why scoliosis surgery is needed in people with myelomeningocele.
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UMPIRE: Better Urologic Care for Babies with Spina Bifida
This grant tests how to best protect kidney function in newborns with spina bifida by comparing and refining urologic care practices across multiple hospitals.
-
Spina Bifida Collaborative Care Network to Improve Outcomes
A national program is expanding coordinated care networks and a patient registry to help people with Spina Bifida get better, more consistent care.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.