Lise Nigrovic
Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Director of Education, Clinical Research Center and Senior Associate Physician in Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital

Dr. Lise Nigrovic’s research focus has been in the approach to diagnosis and management of children with infectious and traumatic emergencies. Her significant research contributions include the development and multi-center validation of a clinical prediction model to distinguish between bacterial and viral meningitis. She serves as the site principal investigator for the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Applied Research Network (PECARN) and current chair of the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Clinical Research Collaborative (PEM CRC). Her current work aims to optimize the timely diagnosis of Lyme disease in children, in order to target appropriate therapies to those with confirmed disease.

Dr. Nigrovic received her BS from Princeton, her MD in Medicine from Harvard Medical School and her MPH in clinical effectiveness from the Harvard School of Public Health.  She has recognized expertise in the conduct of multi‐center research as well as the evaluation of children with infectious emergencies.

Project Description

Novel approach for the diagnosis of Lyme disease in children: A pediatric multicenter Lyme disease research network with biosample collection

There is an urgent need for new, highly accurate diagnostics for children being evaluated for Lyme disease.  Funding from Bay Area Lyme Foundation is being used to expand the existing multi‐center pediatric Lyme disease network to collect high‐quality biosamples from children tested for Lyme disease. The Pediatric Biorepository will expand their current three‐center pediatric Lyme disease network to include two additional study sites located in Lyme disease endemic areas.  They will enroll at least 400 children undergoing evaluation for Lyme disease annually, while increasing the clinical and geographic diversity of the included patients. In addition, they will evaluate novel Lyme disease diagnostics in samples collected from children with Lyme disease as well as controls.

Dr. Nigrovic has recognized expertise in the conduct of multi‐center research as well as the evaluation of children with infectious emergencies.  The ultimate goal of this project is to optimize the timely diagnosis of Lyme disease in children, in order to target appropriate therapies to those with confirmed disease.