Wesam Ismail
Safety of Kidney Transplant Medications in Children
Summary
Induction therapy is a group of drugs that help prevent the body from rejecting a new kidney after a transplant. However, these drugs work by weakening the immune system, making the patient more prone to infections. In 2021, around 94% of children who had a kidney transplant used some form of this therapy. Different transplant centers choose different drugs for their patients as these drugs achieve the same goal. Currently, we do not have enough information about how the use of these drugs affects the risk of infections in children with kidney transplants. In this study, we will investigate the risk of developing infections in children who did or did not use these drugs. We will use data from children who had kidney transplants at different transplant centers across the United States between 2000 and 2019. Our goal is to learn how to make treatments better for children and improve their health outcomes.
Watch a Q&A with Wesam
I am so glad to receive the PhRMA Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship in Value Assessment-Health Outcomes Research. It emphasizes the importance of my research, which focuses on the safety of kidney transplant medications in children. This grant will be a great motivation for my future career as a researcher in health outcomes and pharmacoepidemiology.
