Sepsis and septic shock are major health concerns, especially in children. Children account for half of global sepsis cases and one third of sepsis-related deaths—emphasizing a large need for research on the diagnosis and treatment of pediatric sepsis.
Peter DeWitt, PhD, assistant research professor of biomedical informatics at the University of Colorado Anschutz (CU Anschutz), conducts research on pediatric sepsis.
In 2022, DeWitt joined a research task force organized by the Society for Critical Care Medicine to develop and validate criteria for sepsis and septic shock in children. The updated criteria was published in 2024 to improve diagnosis of pediatric sepsis across the world.
Since the criteria have been published, DeWitt has continued to iterate and refine pediatric sepsis research. In addition to supporting the task force with the development of the criteria, DeWitt also developed the phoenix package: a software tool that allows researchers to implement the Phoenix Criteria consistently and repeatedly.
This is the third installment in our ongoing series spotlighting the DBMI Wall of Software, an interactive online hub showcasing the latest open-source software and data tools for researchers. View the Wall of Software here.
We sat down with DeWitt to better understand the phoenix package and its implementation.