The Pediatric Acute Lung Injury and Sepsis Investigators Network (PALISI Network) specializes in identifying preventive, therapeutic, and preventive strategies for acute respiratory distress syndrome, sepsis, multi-organ failure, and other acute, life-threatening pulmonary or systemic inflammatory syndromes that affect infants and children. The Network was founded by Adrienne Randolph in 2002 to foster research to optimize the care of critically ill infants and children. Over this period, PALISI has seen two major evolutions: the formalization of our network infrastructure and a broadening of our clinical research focus.

First, the network is unique in that its activities and meetings are funded by subscriptions from members who now comprise a multidisciplinary group of investigators from over 90 PICUs all over the United States (US) and Canada, with collaborations across the globe. In 2020, the network converted into a standalone, nonprofit organizational structure (501c3), making the PALISI Network formally independent of academic and clinical institutions or professional societies. Such an approach allows us to invest in infrastructure and future initiatives with broader opportunities for fund raising. Second, our research investigations have expanded beyond the original focus on sepsis and acute lung injury, to incorporate the whole field of pediatric critical care, for example, efficient liberation from mechanical ventilator support, prudent use of blood products, improved safety of intubation practices, optimal sedation practices and glucose control, and pandemic research on influenza and COVID-19.

Our network approach in each field follows, where necessary, the full spectrum of clinical and translational research, including: immunobiology studies for understanding basic pathologic mechanisms; surveys to explore contemporary clinical practice; consensus conferences to establish agreement about literature evidence; observational prevalence and incidence studies to measure scale of a clinical issue or question; case control studies as preliminary best evidence for design of definitive prospective studies; and, randomized controlled trials for informing clinical care. As a research network, PALISI and its related subgroups have published over 350 peer-reviewed publications from 2002 through September 2022. The PALISI Network meets twice annually in March and September.

For more details on the history and research focus of the PALISI Network, please read the open access publication “Pediatric Acute Lung Injury and Sepsis Investigators (PALISI): Evolution of an Investigator-Initiated Research Network. Pediatr Crit Care Med. 2022 Dec; 23(12): 1056–1066

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9747245/