The Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh UPMC has announced a $23 million grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation to establish an institute designed to advance and strengthen the field of pediatric research.

The hospital is partnering with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine to establish the Richard King Mellon Foundation Institute for Pediatric Research, to be located in research facilities being constructed on the new campus of the children's hospital. The institute's faculty and programs will be a part of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and the facility will house the laboratories of a scientific director and five scholars.

The new institute is modeled in part on the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, funding areas of basic science that have had a profound effect on understanding human disease. Start-up and ongoing funding will foster high-risk, high-impact projects and encourage the researchers of the institute to pursue their most innovative ideas. The institute aims to fill its scholar positions with physician-scientists at early stages in their careers whose research will have a long-lasting influence on various areas of pediatric medicine.

"The construction of our new ten acre, environmentally friendly campus in Lawrenceville visibly signals the beginning of a new era for children's health in Pittsburgh," said Children's Hospital president and CEO Roger A. Oxendale. "These added financial resources will strengthen our efforts to ensure that the research conducted within the new complex will ultimately result in healthier lives for all of the children in this region and beyond."