Federal Project Grant Award Summary

Award Details: The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) awarded $176,671.00 to the University of Pittsburgh under the Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.847) on February 15, 2026, with a completion date of January 31, 2031. This K23 Career Development Award supports Dr. Vikram Raghu in establishing an independent research career focused on pediatric intestinal failure, a rare chronic condition affecting children dependent on daily parenteral nutrition infusions.

The research deliverables include an empirical investigation into health disparities in pediatric intestinal failure outcomes through three specific research aims: (1) evaluating the impact of the Child Opportunity Index on survival and healthcare utilization; (2) measuring socioeconomic and geographic differences in quality of life using the Child Health Utility 9D instrument; and (3) determining patient and caregiver priorities regarding barriers to care through a modified Delphi process and discrete choice experiment. The project applies decision sciences methodologies to optimize intestinal failure management by identifying geographic and socioeconomic factors that influence patient outcomes independent of clinical severity. Dr. Raghu's multidisciplinary training encompasses health disparities research, multicenter health utility measurement, patient preference elicitation, transplant policy, and research leadership, positioning the University of Pittsburgh to advance evidence-based interventions addressing healthcare access disparities in this vulnerable pediatric population.