SLS 17RS-577 ORIGINAL
2017 Regular Session
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 34
BY SENATOR PETERSON
COMMENDATIONS. Commends LSU Health New Orleans' Sunyoung Kim, PhD, for her
work in developing a life-saving screening test for premature babies.
1 A RESOLUTION
2 To commend LSU Health New Orleans' Sunyoung Kim, PhD, Associate Professor of
3 Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the School of Medicine, for her work in
4 developing and testing a screening system for necrotizing enterocolitis affecting
5 preterm infants.
6 WHEREAS, necrotizing enterocolitis is a disease that affects one out of eight infants
7 who are extremely premature and carries an extremely high mortality rate; and
8 WHEREAS, this disease presents a three to four times greater risk for male,
9 African-American infants who are born prematurely and suffer from extremely low birth
10 weight; and
11 WHEREAS, Louisiana has one of the highest rates of preterm births in the United
12 States and has a large African American population; and
13 WHEREAS, diagnostic tests are critical for disease management and better
14 outcomes, however, current tests have poor success in identifying necrotizing enterocolitis;
15 and
16 WHEREAS, the current gold standard diagnostic method is X-ray, which has a true
17 positive rate of only forty-four percent; and
18 WHEREAS, Dr. Kim's noninvasive Neonatal DDx biomarker panel, a collaborative
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SLS 17RS-577 ORIGINAL
1 effort between physicians, nurses, and researchers, which is performed on stool samples,
2 identifies ninety-three percent true positives and ninety-five percent true negatives in
3 diagnosing the disease that affects about six thousand premature infants every year in the
4 United States; and
5 WHEREAS, by personalizing medical management of infants, Dr. Kim's technology
6 may prevent one thousand infants from dying each year, with an added benefit of potentially
7 saving U.S. insurance companies seven hundred twenty million dollars in health care costs;
8 and
9 WHEREAS, the success of the state of Louisiana, the strength of our communities,
10 and the overall vitality of American society depends, in great measure, upon the dedication
11 of people like Dr. Sunyoung Kim who use their considerable talents to further medical
12 research and help Louisiana's tiniest and most vulnerable citizens.
13 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
14 does hereby commend Dr. Sunyoung Kim for her work in developing and testing a lifesaving
15 screening system for premature infants and does hereby wish her continued success in all
16 future endeavors.
17 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to Dr.
18 Sunyoung Kim.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Nancy Vicknair.
DIGEST
SR 34 Original 2017 Regular Session Peterson
Commends Dr. Sunyoung Kim for her work in developing and testing a screening system
for premature infants.
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