OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Two Omaha health systems plan to create a network for pediatric clinical trials.

The systems say that network will eventually let Nebraska children remain closer to home for such trials.

The University of Nebraska Medical Center and Children’s Hospital & Medical Center are establishing the network as part of a four-year, $1.6 million grant that the university center received from the National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Jill Snowden is an associate professor of pediatric infectious diseases at the university center, and she says the patients are going to get access to clinical trials that are the cutting edge of what we have available in pediatric care.”