Kelly Wade, MD, PhD

Kelly Wade: PTN Principal Investigator at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

Kelly Wade is committed to improving drug safety for children. A neonatologist for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, she works in the newborn intensive care units at both Children’s Hospital and Pennsylvania Hospital. Every day, she prescribes life-saving medicines to her tiny patients, often assigning doses based on estimates derived from adult dosing guidelines because pediatric data do not exist. Consequently, Dr. Wade is extremely interested in improving medication dosing, efficacy, and safety for newborn infants.

Because such improvements cannot be made without clinical trials in that vulnerable population, she also spends a great deal of time educating parents and hospital personnel about the importance of research, as well as the safeguards embedded within clinical research protocols to protect infant study participants.

Dr. Wade’s commitment to pediatric drug safety led her to become involved with the Pediatric Trials Network. She is a member of the PTN Steering Committee, tasked with reviewing protocols, adding insight to studies on neonates, and setting priorities for the network. She also serves on the Safety Committee, overseeing all studies conducted by the PTN to ensure that the health and well-being of study participants are protected.

A native of California who moved east for medical school, Dr. Wade is a proud convert to east coast living. After her residency, she and her family moved to Philadelphia to take advantage of its large children’s hospital, vibrant theater scene, great restaurants, river trail, and the ability to live in neighborhoods within walking distance of the city’s hospitals. Her husband, an actor, runs the theater program at a local university, and her two sons, ages 8 and 10, are avid chess players who can frequently be found at The Franklin Science Institute.