Emily F Killough, MD
Associate Program Director, Pediatric Residency; Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine
Full Biography
Emily Killough, MD, SCAN (Safety, Care, and Nurturing) Clinic, received a $189,926, one-year award through the 2024 Children’s Justice Act Grant from the Missouri Department of Social Services for her project, “Child Protector: Application Modernization and Improvements to A Smart Phone Decision Tool for Medical and Investigative Personnel.”
Child Protector is a free app to assist investigators and medical personnel when evaluating children for physical abuse. It uses animation, images, decision-trees, and professional narration to assist in evaluation. The app includes modules and decision-trees for bruises, burns, fractures, and head trauma.
For this project, Dr. Killough and co-investigator, Lyndsey Hultman, MD, Pediatric Fellow, will add new and updated content to the program, including new animations, images, and medical information. The study team will create three new modules: Failure to Thrive/Starvation; Strangulation; and Medical Neglect. They will also develop additional content on bruising.
In addition to the new and updated content, the study team will convert Child Protector from a mobile app to a progressive web app. Currently, users must download the app from an app store. With progressive web app technology, users will be able to access Child Protector via a link on their smartphone screens. It won’t require access to app stores, and the web-based tool will function like a traditional mobile app.
“We are excited about the opportunity to update the Child Protector App. We hope that these updates will allow clinicians and investigators to quickly access evidenced based information to help guide the medical evaluation and investigation of children who may have experienced physical abuse,” said Dr. Killough.
Child Protector was originally developed by Children’s Mercy and the University of Texas (UT) Health Sciences Center at San Antonio through earlier Children’s Justice Act funding from Texas and Missouri. The app is used in all 50 states and in over 50 countries. There are 3,000 users in Missouri and more than 30,000 worldwide.
Other members of the study team include co-developer Nancy Kellogg, MD, UT Health San Antonio; Sam Newman, computer animator; and Viagio Technologies, a Kansas-City based software development firm.