The Children’s Foundation of Memphis (CFOM) has awarded a $500,000 grant to Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital to study the role that exercise has in preventing the development and progression of prediabetes to type 2 diabetes.

The study will be led by Webb Smith, PhD, clinical exercise physiologist in the Healthy Lifestyle Clinic at Le Bonheur and assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), Ahlee Kim, MD, assistant professor in the Division of Pediatric Endocrinology at UTHSC and Amit Lahoti, MBBS, MD, pediatric endocrinologist at Le Bonheur and associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Endocrinology at UTHSC.

This grant from CFOM will help address this issue as study leaders will screen children in Le Bonheur’s general pediatric clinics for physical inactivity. They will develop and test the effectiveness of preventative interventions for prediabetes that combine health and wellness programs with traditional medical treatment. 

This grant will provide direct support to incorporate physical activity screening into medical screening for 400 children and identify patients who are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes. One hundred at-risk patients will be recruited to the research project using an innovative personalized “exercise prescription” as a key part of the medical treatment plans.