New England Research Institutes (NERI) has received a $45 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the continuance of its work on the Pediatric Heart Network (PHN). PHN is a multi-center clinical research network started in 2001, supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health, to study congenital and acquired heart diseases that occur in childhood. This grant provides five more years of funding to nine clinical centers and NERI as the data coordinating center, to conduct clinical research studies in children and young adults with heart defects and other heart diseases.

"Quality research conducted by the PHN over the last decade has led to better understanding of pediatric heart disease and how to treat it. Although there are many more questions to be answered, it is gratifying to see the PHN's mission of improving health outcomes in children begin to be realized, and a privilege for NERI to be a continuing partner in this important and exciting research," said Lynn Sleeper, Sc.D., principal investigator, statistical and clinical science for the PHN Data Coordinating Center.