The University of Tennessee College of Medicine’s campus in Chattanooga has received a $2.4 million federal grant to participate in a sweeping national study that will follow 100,000 children from conception through age 21.

Dr. David Seaberg, dean of the UT College of Medicine in Chattanooga, said the funding — from the National Institutes of Health — is the campus’ first federal grant.

The study is “probably one of the largest ever conducted, certainly in recent memory,” said Dr. Seaberg, who announced the grant at Erlanger hospital’s monthly board of trustees meeting Thursday night.

The undertaking, called the National Children’s Study, will look at children from 105 different locations across the United States, observing the effects of environmental influences on the children’s health and development.

Also at the meeting, Lynn Whisman, Erlanger senior vice president and chief nursing executive, noted a significant improvement in the hospital’s rate of organ donation, per eligible donor.

Erlanger has increased its donation rate from between 50 percent and 60 percent, to above 75 percent, she said. The U.S. Department Health and Human Services, which set 75 percent as a benchmark donor rate, recently recognized Erlanger and seven other hospitals in the state for maintaining that benchmark for one year, she said.

The improvement came through improved communication between Erlanger clinical staff and Tennessee Donor Services, which coordinates organ donations for the area, she said. Erlanger staff also received education that improved their ability to identify eligible donors, she said.

For every organ donor, Erlanger physicians transplant about 3.75 organs, Ms. Whisman said.

“When it comes to our donor population, for every life we lose ... we save 3.75 more through donation. That’s a real positive way of looking at dealing with crisis every single day of your life,” she said.

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