WVU Health News
October 30, 2008
West Virginia University announced today the creation of the multimillion dollar WVU Pediatric Research Institute. The institute builds on a strong history of pediatric research at WVU.
“We are exhilarated to be able to take our research to the next level to serve the needs of children throughout West Virginia,” said Giovanni Piedimonte, M.D., chair of the Department of Pediatrics and physician-in-chief at WVU Children’s Hospital. “Whenever we invest in children, we invest in our future.”
Through a bequest from the late James H. Walker, M.D., former WVU physician and professor on the Charleston campus, $6.378 million will go toward the institute and the creation of the James H. Walker Chair in Pediatric Cardiology.
In addition, the institute will receive $5.67 million from unclaimed settlement money in a class action lawsuit involving Warner-Lambert Co. and Parke-Davis, creators of the diabetes drug Rezulin. In September, Raleigh County Circuit Judge John Hutchison approved the payment to WVU.
Dr. Piedimonte said the money would be used primarily to research a link between obesity, diabetes and asthma in West Virginia’s children. The Pediatric Research Institute will hire research scholars, who along with the current team of researchers, will continue to work to solve these problems.