2024 Children's of Alabama/UAB Annual Report

New Programs

Division of General Internal Medicine. “We have had a lot of success with STEP, and we are using that success for the infrastructure of this brand-new program,” Hopson said. “The adult Down syndrome piece is going to happen within STEP, where those partnerships [with various disciplines] will already exist. If a neurologist is needed, that neurologist will be there in the clinic. This new group of patients is really going to benefit from the partnerships and collaborations that have been formed.” Even in the pediatrics realm, many physicians do not keep up with the latest guidelines for care, Khatri says. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Down Syndrome Medical Interest Group publish guidelines from birth to age 21, including lab work, questions to ask and other milestones to look for as patients age. But “you would be surprised at the number of primary care doctors who don’t know they exist,” Khatri said. “Having a dedicated clinic will improve adherence to medical guidelines for the pediatric patients.” Clinicians will be able to contact the clinic for additional support. “This will not be for everybody,” Khatri said. “It will be for families and physicians who need additional supportive or umbrella services.”

“For the vast majority of patients, we will work with their existing clinicians; it is co-management,” Hopson said. “We will help ensure that intervals are being followed, imaging that needs to take place is scheduled, so the local primary care doctor or pediatrician can focus on acute management. We are really holding the pieces together.” The clinic will be a collaboration not only across UAB Medicine and the Heersink School of Medicine, but across UAB’s other health schools. For example, clinicians often recommend physical therapy and occupational therapy; but when patients and families return to their communities,

especially in rural Alabama, “a lot of that doesn’t exist,” Hopson said. “One of the creative things we wrote into the grant is to work with the School of

2024 Academic Annual Report

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