Proceedings of the Inaugural Pediatric Dermatology Research Alliance (PeDRA) Conference

Skin disease research involving children currently faces several major hurdles and as a result, many therapies are only available for off-label use in children and many of the most pressing clinical needs of our pediatric population remain unsolved. A strategic planning committee of the Society for Pediatric Dermatology (SPD) identified the need for an organized, inclusive research alliance to augment the resources of individual practitioners and pre-existing smaller collaborative groups and facilitate robust, multicenter basic, translational, and clinical research and therapeutic trials. A December 2011 National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) Roundtable on Pediatric Dermatology further detailed the therapeutic gaps and barriers to translation of scientific advances to clinical practice. Building on these forums, in July 2012, a group of interested investigators met in Monterey, CA to develop the infrastructure for collaborative pediatric skin research, now called the Pediatric Dermatology Research Alliance (PeDRA). The vision of PeDRA is to create sustainable collaborative research networks to better understand, prevent, treat and cure dermatologic diseases in children. From that starting point, subcommittees and expert members were added, stakeholders identified, and seed funding garnered, with the first PeDRA stand-alone research meeting realized in Chicago, IL in October 2013.