Current
2016- Improving Patient and Employee Safety Through Implementation of an Infection Risk Screening Process for International Patients at Boston Children’s Hospital -The “AIRSHIP” Protocol
Patient Safety and Quality Training Grant
Co-PI ($8,000)
This quality improvement project aims to develop a process for infection risk screening for international patients cared for at Boston Children’s Hospital, thereby facilitating infection control planning to optimize patient and employee safety.
2017- DFCI Protocol No.: 18-037: The Impact of Prolonged Exposure to Broad Spectrum Antibiotics in the Immediate Post-Transplant Period on Stem Cell Transplant Outcomes in Children
Internal funding from division of pediatric stem cell transplant at Dana Farber Cancer Institution
PI
This single-center 10-year retrospective cohort study aims to determine if the duration of exposure to empiric broad-spectrum antibiotics (aggregate antibiotic days) prior to neutrophil engraftment in children undergoing stem cell transplant is related to the hazard of developing acute graft vs. host disease and/or transplant related mortality and the risk of development blood stream infection with a resistant bacterium.
2017- DFCI Protocol No: 13-257: Tissue Collection for Research Studies in Children Undergoing Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation and Normal Donors
Internal funding from division of pediatric stem cell transplant at Dana Farber Cancer Institution
This prospective cohort study aims to collect tissue samples including stool, urine, nasal swabs, skin swabs, and blood from children undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation at Dana Farber Cancer Institution for purposes of microbiome-related genomic analysis to study the effect of antibiotic exposure on transplant related outcomes and the development of antimicrobial resistance.
2018- DFCI Protocol No.: 032119: Blood Stream Infections in Pediatric Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation: Incidence, Risk factors, Management, and Outcomes
Internal funding from division of pediatric stem cell transplant at Dana Farber Cancer Institution
PI
This singe-center retrospective cohort study aims to describe the incidence, risk factors, dominating pathogens, management approaches, and clinical outcomes of blood stream infections in the pediatric population undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation at Dana Farber Cancer Institution with emphasis on the effect of key changes in antibiotic prescription practices over a 10-year period.
2019 - Epidemiology and Clinical Outcomes of Multidrug-resistant Gram-negative Blood Stream Infections in Children in a Saudi Tertiary Hospital
A retrospective cohort study of all positive gram negative blood stream infections in children presenting to Children’s specialized Hospital, King Fahad Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The aim of this study is to describe the changing epidemiology of multi-drug resistant gram negative bacteria causing blood stream infection in children over a 4-year period and to validate previously known risk factors in this population as well as assess the clinical outcomes of those with multi-drug resistant bacteria compared to non-multi-drug resistant infections in terms of short-term mortality, time to effective antibiotic therapy, recurrence of bacteremia, and hospital length of stay.
Peer-reviewed Scholarship in Print
1- Farhat, K.B., Alosaimi, M.F., Shendi, H., Al-Hammadi, S., Jones, J., Schwarz, K., Schulz, A., Alawdah, L.S., Burchett, S., Albuhairi, S. and Whangbo, J., Immunologic reconstitution following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation despite lymph node paucity in NIK deficiency. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. 2018 Nov 14
doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2018.11.003.
2- Ganapathi L, Blumenthal J, Alawdah L, et al. Impact of standardized protocols for cytomegalovirus disease prevention in pediatric solid organ transplant recipients. Pediatric Transplant. 2019;00:e13568.
https://doi. org/10.1111/petr.13568
3- Teixeira P, Alawdah L, Alhassan HA, Guidetti M, Priori A, Papatheodorou S, Fregni F.
The Analgesic Effect of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) combined with Physical Therapy on Common Musculoskeletal Conditions: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Physical Therapy. 2019 – Submitted for publication.
Case reports
1- Al Barrak M, Alawdah L, Alshahrani D, Al Fawaz T, Almezyad A, Alshehri M. Extensive osteomyelitis and septic arthritis caused by Bacteroides fragilis in a child with sickle cell disease: A case report. Journal of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. 2016; 10(04): 116-120. doi:10.1055/s-0036-1584180
2- Alawdah L, Nahari A, Alshahrani D, Fagih M, Ghazi S, Al-Hussaini A. Pediatric Gastrointestinal Sarcoidosis: Successful Treatment with Infliximab. Saudi Journal of Gastroenterology : Official Journal of the Saudi Gastroenterology Association. 2016;22(5):391-395. doi:10.4103/1319-3767.191146.
3- Alawdah LS, Campbell JN, Pollock N, Watnick PI. Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae Suppurative Arthritis in a 12-year-old Boy After an Unusual Fresh Water Exposure. The Pediatric infectious disease journal. 2017;36(4):431-3. doi:10.1097/inf.0000000000001461
4- Lapidot R, Alawdah L, Köhler JR, Paulson V, Levy O. Hepatic Legionella pneumophila Infection in an Infant with Severe Combined Immunodeficiency. The Pediatric infectious disease journal. 2018;37(4):356-8.. DOI: 10.1097/INF.0000000000001789
Abstracts, Poster Presentations and Exhibits Presented at Professional Meetings:
1- Alawdah L, AlShahrani D, AlShehri M, et al. Antimicrobial stewardship program in a pediatric intensive care unit of a tertiary care children’s hospital in Saudi Arabia – a pilot study. Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control. 2015;4(Suppl 1):P173. doi:10.1186/2047-2994-4-S1-P173.
Abstract presented at the 3rd International Conference on Prevention and Infection Control (ICPIC 2015)’ Geneva, Switzerland.
2- Alawdah L, Murray AM, Humphrey K, van der Velden M, Lee G, Nakamura M. Improving Patient and Employee Safety Through Implementation of an Infection Risk Screening Process for International Patients at Boston Children’s Hospital -The “AIRSHIP” Protocol.
Poster presented at IDWeek TM; October 4-8, 2017; San Diego, CA.
Received IDWeek 2017TM Trainee Travel Grant to present this work