A University of Pittsburgh or UPMC network account is required to view archived presentations.
October 15, 2025
“Optimizing Immunotherapy for Pediatric Sarcomas” by Dr. Erica Braverman, MD Assistant Professor, Dept of Pediatrics, Division of Hematology/Oncology
“Interrogating the Universe of Antitumor Immunity Across Time and Space” By Dr. Anthony Cillo, PhD Assistant Professor, Dept of Immunology & UPMC Hillman Cancer Center
September 17, 2025
“Chikungunya Virus at the Gate: Viral and Host Factors that Drive Entry” by Dr. Laurie Silva, PhD
“Pairing In Situ Imaging With In Vitro Model Systems to Reveal How Mycobacterium Abscessus Tolerates Antibiotics” by Dr. William DePas, PhD
June 18, 2025
"Effects of Antenatal and Postnalta Antibiotics on Hematopoiesis in Newborns" by Michael Morowitz, Professor of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh
"Investigating Microbiota Assembly, One Cell at a Time" by Tim Hand, Director, Gnotobiotic Animal Core Labratory, Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics & Immunology
May 21, 2025
“Reproductive Geroscience: Fertility & the Pursuit of Longevity” by Arjuman Ghazi, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics and Department of Cell Biology & Physiology, Director, MGDB Graduate Program, Co-Director, Genetics, Genomics & Growth Center (G3C)
“Physiological State and the Body-Brain Axis” by Todd Lamitina, PhD, Senior Associate Vice-Chair for Basic Research, Department of Pediatrics, Associate Professor, Department of Cell Biology and Department of Pediatrics
April 16, 2025
"Interplay Between an Innate Immune Effecor and The Nuclear Pore Complex" by Melissa Kane, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Infectious Diseases
"Rift Valley Fever Virus Hepatitis: Determinants of Clinical Disease" by Anita K. McElroy, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Infectious Diseases
March 19, 2025
"Factors Influencing Neurobehavioral Recovery After Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury" by Amery Treble-Barna, PhD, Assistant Professor Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and Clinical & Translational Science and Director, Mothers Leading Science, Associate Director, Safar Center for Resuscitation Research
"The Microbiome in Trauma – A Clinical and Pre-Clinical Perspective" by Dennis Simon, MD, Assistant Professor, Critical Care Medicine and Pediatrics and Director, Pediatric Neurocritical Care, Site Director, Pediatric Neurocritical Care Fellowship
February 19, 2025
"The origins of asthma: early life viral infections and immunity" by Taylor Edens, MD, PhD, Instructor, Department of Pediatrics, Pulmonology
"Pediatric asthma: from exposure to violence to nasal transcriptomic endotypes" by Kristina Gaietto, MD, MPH, Instructor, Department of Pediatrics, Pulmonology
January 15, 2025
“Distant guardians of the reserve: A role for microbial metabolites in reproductive longevity” by Eldin Jašarević, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences
“Cardiovascular Health Before, During and After Pregnancy: 1000 Days of Maternal Health” by Janet M Catov, PhD, MS, Associate Professor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences and the Department of Epidemiology
December 18, 2024
"Family Check-Up-Prenatal: Impetus and adaptations for a prenatal parenting intervention for parents in recovery" by Katherine Guyon-Harris, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
"Maternal-Fetal Immune Crosstalk: Identifying mechanisms of defense" by Christina Megli, MD, PhD, Research Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences
November 20, 2024
“Adolescent Reproductive Health and Epilepsy” by Laura Kirkpatrick, MD, Assistant Professor, Director, Epilepsy Transition Clinic, Associate Director, Child Neurology Clinical Research
“Advances in understanding how ocular bacteria may keep your eyes healthy” by Anthony St.Leger, PhD, Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology and Immunology
October 16, 2024
“EV-D68 and the Central Nervous System” by Megan Culler Freeman, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Infectious Diseases
“New Approaches to Address Anemia in Sickle Cell Disease” by Julia Z. Xu, MD, MScGH, Assistant Professor of Medicine Division of Hematology/Oncology, Section of Benign Hematology
September 18, 2024
Leveraging Behavioral Insights and Digital Health Technologies to Improve Outcomes for Youth-Onset Type 2 Diabetes" by Mary Ellen Vajravelu, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Endocrinology.
Opportunities to Improve Adolescent Mental Health Services using Technology-based Interventions" by Ana Radovic, MD, Msc, Assistant Professor, Adolescent Medicine
July 17, 2024
"Diet and Microbiome Control of Cancer Immunotherapy" by Abigail E. Overacre-Delgoffe, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Immunology
“Harnessing B Cells and Tertiary Lymphoid Structures for Improved Therapeutics”, by Tullia C. Bruno, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Immunology
June 19, 2024
"It's a two-way street: how the lung and blood communicate during infection and injury" By William G. Bain, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine
"The potential mechanism and socioeconomic effect of Long COVID" by Lianghui (Lucy) Zhang, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine
May 15, 2024
“Strengthening Connections for Change: A Community-Based Violence Prevention Pilot Trial” by Alison J. Culyba, MD, PhD, MPH; Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Public Health, and Clinical and Translational Science, Division Director, Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine
“Pediatric critical care across the continuum: Fostering functional recovery for children and their families” by Jessica M. Jarvis, PhD, MT-BC; Assistant Professor of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
April 16, 2024
“It takes a village: Leaning on schools to support youth with type 1 diabetes” by Christine March, MD, MS, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, and Attending Physician in the Division of Endocrinology
“Fat malabsorption and metabolism in Cystic Fibrosis” by Alison B. Kohan, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism
March 20, 2024
“Immune Mechanisms of Influenza-Induced Exacerbation of Atherosclerosis” by Radha Gopal, PhD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Pulmonology, Senior Research Scientist
“Macrophage signaling-to-transcription networks” by Rachel A. Gottschalk, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Immunology
February 21, 2024
“Functional genomics informed metabolic vulnerabilities in Pediatric Brain Tumor” by Antony Michealraj, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Neurological Surgery, Functional genomics, and metabolism of pediatric and adolescent central nervous system tumors; ependymoma, medulloblastoma and DIPGs
"Healing centered care to supporting parent and caregiver survivors of intimate partner violence" by Maya Indira Ragavan, MD, MPH, MS, Associate Vice Chair of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Research, Department of Pediatrics and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
January 17, 2024
“Prevention of Influenza in Infants through Maternal Vaccination During Pregnancy” by Anne-Marie Rick, MD, MPH, PhD, Instructor of Pediatrics and Clinical and Translational Science, Director, Newborn Research Support Services, Clinical and Translational Science Institute, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
"Mechanistic Modeling and Big Data Approaches to Understanding and Treating Immunopathology During Respiratory Infection” by Jason E. Shoemaker, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, at the University of Pittsburgh, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Computational & Systems Biology
November 15, 2023
“Profiling immune responses with phosphoproteomics” by William F. Hawse, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Immunology, University of Pittsburgh
“Blocking the BCL10-MALT1 Interaction in Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma” by Lisa Maurer, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics Oncology, UPMC Children’s Hospital
October 18, 2023
“Pancreatic intraductal Pdx1 and MafA AAV gene therapy as a potential treatment for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes” by Mohamed Saleh, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Endocrinology,UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
“Holistic approaches to tuberculosis: The sum of its parts” by Philana L. Lin, MD, MSc, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Directory Pediatric Infectious Diseases Fellowship, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
September 20, 2023
"Genetic therapy for congenital muscular dystrophy: the future is now (or at least near)" by Dwi Utami Kemaladewi, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Division of Genetic and Genomic Medicine, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
“The Forest and the Seedling: and Immunologic Story” by Brian Campfield, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
August 16, 2023
"Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Metabolic Flux in the Intestinal Epithelium During Inflammatory Bowel Disease" by Kevin Mollen, MD, Professor and F. Sargent Cheever Chair of Developmental Biology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
"Pathogenic Mechanisms Contributing to Adverse Neurodevelopmental Outcome in Congenital Heart Disease" by Cecilia W. Lo, PhD, FAFA. Assistant Surgeon-in- Chief, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Samuel P. Harbison Associate Professor University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
July 19, 2023
"Brain Tumor Theranostics for Improving Immunotherapy" by Gary Kohanbash, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Neurological Surgery, Secondary Faculty in the Department of Immunology , University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
"Medulloblastoma Metastasis in Childhood" by Baoli Hu, PhD, Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Director, Brain Tumor Evolution & Therapy Lab
June 21, 2023
"Genetics of Takayasu Arteritis: An Update and Future Plans" by Amr H. Sawalha, MD, Division Director, Rheumatology and Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine; Director, Lupus Center of Excellence, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
May 17, 2023
“Small Kidneys and Small RNAs” by Jacqueline Ho, MD, Chief, Division of Pediatric Nephrology, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, and Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
“The Plain People Translational Medicine Program” by Lina Ghaloul Gonzalez, MD, Mellon Scholar and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Genetic and Genomic Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
April 19, 2023
“Failed DNA Repair as a Mechanism of Chronic Kidney Disease” by Mellon Scholar Rannar Airik, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Developmental Biology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
“Asthma Omics in Hispanics” by Juan C. Celedón, MD, DrPH, Niels K. Jerne Professor of Pediatrics, Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology, and Human Genetics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and Chief, Division of Pulmonary Medicine, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
March 15, 2023
“Pediatric Scleroderma: Single-Cell RNA-Seq Skin Profiling” by Kathryn Torok, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and Director, Pediatric Scleroderma Center, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
“Immunogenomic Determinants of Tumor Microenvironment in Pediatric Cancers” by Riyue Bao, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and Co-Director of Cancer Bioinformatics Services and the Translational Immuno-Informatics Laboratory, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center
Feburary 15, 2023
“Ovarian Cancer: Targeting the Soil to Destroy the Seed” by Lan G. Coffman, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine, Hematology/Oncology and Gynecologic Oncology, Hillman Cancer Center, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
“Novel Medium-chain Fatty Acid Therapies” by Eric S. Goetzman, PhD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
January 18, 2023
“Pulmonary Thrombo-Inflammation in Sickle Cell Disease” by Prithu Sundd, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine and Associate Professor of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
“What is a UTI?” by Catherine Forster, MD, Mellon Scholar; Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Hospital Medicine and Nephrology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
For the rest of the archives, please visit UPMC Children's Mellon Scholar Seminar Series page.