Pitt Pediatrics is pleased to recognize the following faculty for their accomplishments in September 2020.
New Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Vice Chairs
On September 1, 2020, Drs. Loreta Matheo and Sylvia Owusu-Ansah began their service in new diversity, inclusion, and equity leadership positions for Pitt Pediatrics.
In their new roles as Vice Chair and Associate Vice Chair, respectively, Drs. Matheo and Owusu-Ansah will work to improve recuitment and retention of underrepresented minorities within Pitt Pediatrics and UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. They will futher develop training opportunities for faculty and staff on anti-racism and diversity topics.
Promotions and Appointments
Kristin N. Ray, MD, MS, FAAP was promoted to Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of General Academic Pediatrics.
Erika Friehling, MD, an Associate Vice Chair of Faculty Development, was promoted to Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Hematology-Oncology.
John Szymusiak, MD, MS, FAAP of the Paul C. Gaffney Division of Pediatric Hospital Medicine was appointed as the Director of Pediatric Medicine Inpatient Clerkship at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.
Erin Phrampus, MD of the Division of Emergency Medicine was appointed as the Medical Director of Children's Emergency Department Observation Unit.
Publications
Melissa J. Anslow, MD and Jacqueline Ho, MD, MSc, both of the Division of Nephrology, were recognized in the Editor's Focus section of Pediatric Research for their publication, "Increased rates of vesicoureteral reflux in mice from deletion of Dicer in the peri-Wolffian duct stroma."
Justin Yu, MD of Pitt's Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, published a manuscript titled "Identifying Children with Medical Complexity from the National Survey of Children's Health Combined 2016-17 Dataset."
Research on "Cell-Free DNA Sequencing, Pathogen Detection, and the Journey to Value" by Catherine S. Forster, MD, MS, FAAP of the Paul C. Gaffney Division of Pediatric Hospital Medicine was published in the September 2020 issue of Hospital Pediatrics.
Benjamin G. Miller, MD and John Szymusiak, MD, MS, FAAP, both of the Paul C. Gaffney Division of Pediatric Hospital Medicine, published an article in Academic Pediatrics titled "Recognizing and Seizing the Teachable Moment."
Ray, Yu, and Stacey Cook, MD, PhD of the Division of General Academic Pediatrics published an article in Academic Pediatrics titled "Family Caregivers of Children with Medical Complexity: Health-related Quality of Life and Experiences of Care Coordination."
A first-ever placebo-controlled clinical trial by Juan C. Celedón, MD, DrPH and Erick Forno, MD, MPH, ATSF of the Division of Pulmonology and Steven R. Wisniewski, PhD of Pitt's Graduate School of Public Health showed no benefits of Vitamin D3 supplementation in children with asthma. Their work, conducted in partnership with Saint Louis Children's Hospital, Boston Children's Hospital, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, UCSF Beinoff Children's Hospital, UH Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, University of Colorado-Denver, and Unviersity of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health was recently published in JAMA.
Awards and Honors
Lisa Maurer, MD, PhD of the Division of Hematology-Oncology received a Hyundai Young Investigator Grant for a research proposal titled "DNA Damage Induced Immune Regulation in Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma."
Kristin N. Ray, MD, MS, FAAP of the Division of General Academic Pediatrics received a Notice of Award for her R01, "Understanding Use of Direct to Consumer Telemedicine for Pediatric Acute Respiratory Infections."
John V. Williams, MD, division director of Infectious Diseases and director of Pitt Pediatrics' Institute for Infection, Inflammation, and Immunity in Children (i4Kids) received funding from the Richard King Mellon Foundation for work on cure and prevention of acute flaccid myelitis (AFM).
Recognized for her ongoing work with vaccine development, Judith M. Martin, MD of the Division of General Academic Pediatrics and director of the Pittsburgh Vaccine Trials Unit (PVTU), received additional financial support from the Richard King Mellon Foundation.
Deepa Soundara Rajan, MD, FAAP of the Divsion of Neurology and Center for Rare Disease Therapy was awarded a grant from Pitt's Children's Neuroscience Institute (CNI) titled "Identification of modifiers in GEMIN5 related neurodevelopmental disorders."
Mioara D. Manole, MD, FAAP was awarded a grant from CNI titled 'Elucidating the role of vascular contracile cells in capillary stasis after cardiac arrest."
Dwi U. Kemaladewi, PhD from the Division of Medical Genetics received grants from AFM-Telethon and CURE CMD.
Edward V. Prochownik, MD, PhD of the Division of Hematology-Oncology received the 2020 Connor's Cure (WWE) grant, “Patient-Derived NFE2L2/NRF2 Mutations Promote Aggressive Forms of Hepatoblastoma."
Amr H. Sawalha, MD, director of the Division of Rheumatology, received a Notice of Award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for a R01 grant investigating lupus methylation.
Diego G. Chaves-Gnecco, MD, MPH, FAAP of the Division of General Academic Pediatrics, was the winner of the Sheth Distinguished Faculty Award for International Achievement (2020-2021).
Sylvia Choi, MD, FAAP successfully completed the "Advancing Pediatric Educator eXcellence (APEX)" teaching program.
Carmen Coombs, MD, MPH of the Division of Emergency Medicine published a children's book titled "Charlie the Owl's Guide to Coronavirus."
Years of Service
Pitt Pediatrics congratulates the following faculty for their continued service to the department:
- Jennifer S. Clarke, MD - 5 years
- Natalie M. Hecht Baldauff, DO - 5 years
- Jacqueline Ho, MD, MSc - 10 years
- Scott Maurer, MD - 10 years
- Robert A. Safier, MD - 15 years
- Patricia Crumrine, MD - 45 years