Skip to main content.
Please visit our new home for the Sunflower Pediatric Clinical Trials at ksspectre.org.

What is SPeCTr?

SPeCTr was originally started in 2016 with the first cycle of NIH funding for the ECHO ISPCTN as Sunflower Pediatric Clinical Trials Research Extension (SPeCTRE). We are now in our second cycle of funding and have recently shortened our name, rebranded and created a new website.

logo artwork with silhouette of children in front of a sunflower with text SPeCTRE Sunflower Pediatric Trials Research Extension, A program funded by the NIHNetwork goals include providing medically underserved and rural populations with access to clinical trials, building pediatric research capacity at a national level and supporting the professional development of faculty-level pediatricians and their support teams in the conduct of clinical trials research.

Expanding Access

SPeCTr is the Kansas is the Kansas site of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) IDeA States Pediatric Clinical Trials Network (ISPCTN). 

logo artwork of a child swinging in a tree. ECHO Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes. A program supported by the NIHThe ECHO Program has two major components, the ECHO cohorts — for observational research, and the ECHO IDeA States Pediatric Clinical Trials Network (ISPCTN) — for intervention research. Learn more about the ECHO Program.


logo artwork of a child swinging in a tree. IDeA States Pediatric Network. ECHO A Program supported by the NIH

The ECHO ISPCTN is made up of research sites in 18 states. ISPCTN helps address disparities in pediatric research by including children from rural or underserved populations in clinical trials, and by building pediatric research capacity in states with historically low NIH funding. Learn more about the IDeA States Pediatric Network.

Institute for Community Engagement

University of Kansas Medical Center
Institute for Community Engagement

Mailstop 3013
3901 Rainbow Boulevard

Kansas City, KS 66160
913-588-5258