WELCOME TO THE PEMCRC

The PEM Collaborative Research Committee (PEM CRC) of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is a subcommittee of the Section on Emergency Medicine. Formed in the early 1990’s, the PEM CRC provides a framework for multicenter investigation, serving to support and facilitate the development of useful and rigorous collaborative research in PEM. Although the PEM CRC is an unfunded, volunteer effort, it provides an important means of developing high-quality protocols and identifying interested co-investigators at the over 40 member sites. The PEM CRC Advisory Committee consists of six established investigators in various subfields of PEM. Proposals are reviewed by this advisory group, and are endorsed only after thorough critique and revision. Endorsed proposals can then be promoted via the auspices of the PEM CRC, including the use of the listserv and announcements at the semi-annual meetings. In addition to protocol review and assistance in recruiting collaborating institutions, the PEM CRC attempts to avert authorship dispute by requiring prior written agreement from investigators and arbitrating in the case of conflict.

Additionally, the PEM CRC has recently offered a new resource through a centralized data center. The center is able to provide data collection support services that include front-end logic checks for electronic data sheets, high speed automated data sheet scanning services, and database creation, encryption, and processing. The center’s services are offered at no additional cost to the investigators of PEM CRC endorsed studies.

New to the outreach activities of the PEM CRC is the availability of a grant-writing scholarship. A young investigator who is a PI with an active research project being implemented through the PEM CRC may contact the chair for consideration for the scholarship to a grant-writing conference of the investigator’s choice. The scholarship is offered yearly.

Several important abstracts and manuscripts have resulted from endorsed research studies. The quality of the journals in which these studies have been published, as measured by the Journal Impact Factor has increased over time. A complete list of published manuscripts with links to abstracts is available in this website, as is a list of ongoing projects.