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Melinda Fiedor Hamilton, MD, MS
- Associate Professor of Critical Care Medicine
Administrative Assistant: Vickie Johnson
Melinda Hamilton is an Associate Professor of Critical Care Medicine and Pediatrics within the Department of Critical Care Medicine and the Program Director for the Pediatric Critical Care Medicine (PCCM) Training Program. In addition, she is the director for the pediatric simulation center at the UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and the co-chair of the UPMC Graduate Medical Education Professional Development subcommittee. She has been the director at the UPMC Pediatric Simulation Center of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh since its opening in 2005 and she is also an associate director at the Peter M. Winter Institute for Simulation, Education, and Research (WISER) here in Pittsburgh. She has received a master’s degree in medical education from the University of Pittsburgh in 2005. As part of her duties, she oversees all daily operations of the simulation center, including the development, implementation and evaluation of each of our courses. She continues to facilitate simulation courses approximately 10-15 hours per month.
In addition, she has been the site PI for several educational grants and projects and has been a volunteer committee member of the American Heart Association Education, Pediatric, and Education and Scientific Programs committees for nearly 12 years. Her AHA contributions include curriculum, guidelines, and product development for pediatric products, including Pediatric Advanced Life Support courses and simulation packages. She was the site PI for a DOD grant with the state of Hawaii and UPMC, helping to establish extracorporeal membranous oxygenation for critically ill children on the Hawaiian Islands and the Pacific Rim. As the Pediatric Critical Care Medicine program director, she is the direct liaison from trainees to faculty, the clinical environment, and the UPMC Graduate Medical Education office. Finally, in her GME role, working with the entire UPMC GME team, works to promulgate faculty and trainee development within the GME community, including physicians and trainees.
Professional and Scientific Society Memberships:
- American Academy of Pediatrics, 1997-Present
- Society of Critical Care Medicine, 2000-Present
- Society for Simulation in Healthcare, 2003-Present
- American Heart Association, Education Subcommittee, 2004-2010
- American Heart Association, Pediatric Subcommittee, 2010-2012
- American Heart Association, ECC Educational Science and Programs Subcommittee, 2012-2017
- International Pediatric Simulation Society, 2017-Present
Education & Training
- BS, Zoology, University of Wyoming, 1992
- MD, Creighton University, 1996
- Internship in Pediatrics, Creighton University, 1996-1997
- Residency in Pediatrics, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Pennsylvania State University, 1997-1999
- Chief Resident, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Pennsylvania State University, 1999-2000
- MS, Clinician-Educator Training Program, 2003-2005
Selected Publications
DaSilva Y, Hamilton M, Horvat C, Fink E, Palmer F, Nowalk A, Winger D, Clark, R. “Evaluation of Electronic Medical Record Vital Sign Data Versus a Commercially Available Acuity Score in Predicting Need for Critical Intervention at a Tertiary Children’s Hospital. Pediatric Critical Care Medicine. 2015 16(7):644-51
Chime N, Katznelson J, Gangadharan S. et al. for the INSPIRE Network for Simulation-based Pediatric Innovation, Research, and Education (INSPIRE) IMPACTS Investigators. “Comparing Practice Patterns Between Pediatric and General Emergency Medicine Physicians.” Pediatr Emerg Care, 2015; 00: 00-00.
Auerbach M, Whitfill T, Gawel M, Kessler D, Walsh B, Gangadharan S, Fiedor HamiltonM, Schultz B, Nishisaki N, Tay K-Y, Lavoie M, Katznelson J, Dudas R, Baird J, Nadkarni V, Brown L. “Differences in the Quality of Pediatric Resuscitative Care Across a Spectrum of Emergency Departments”. JAMA Pediatrics.170 (10), pp 987-994, October 2016.
Ray K, Felmet, K, Hamilton M, Kuza C, Saladino R, Schultz B, Watson, R, Kahn, J. “Clinician Attitudes Toward Adoption of Pediatric Emergency Telemedicine in Rural Hospitals.” Pediatr Emerg Care.33(4), pp250-257, April 2017.
Scherzer D, Chime N, Tofil N, Hamilton M, Singh K, Stanley R, Kline J, McNamara L, Rosen M, Hunt E, for the INSPIRE Epinephrine Research Investigators. “Survey of Pediatric Trainee Knowledge: Dose, Concentration, and Route of Epinephrine. Letters/Ann Allergy, Asthma and Immunology 2017 118 (4), pp516-518, April 2017.
Walsh B, Gangadharan S, Whitfill T, Gawel M, Kessler D, Dudas R, Katznelson J, Lavoie M, Tay K, Hamilton M et al. “Safety Threats During the Care of Infants with Hypoglycemic Seizures in the Emergency Department: A Multicenter, Simulation-Based Cohort Study.” The Journal of Emergency Medicine, October 2017, 53(4):467-474e7.
Johnson E, Hamilton M, Watson S, Claxton R, Barnett M, Thompson A, Arnold R. “An Intensive, Simulation-Based Communication Course for Pediatric Critical Care Fellows.” Pediatric Critical Care Medicine,2017 Aug;18(8): e348-e355.
Scherzer DJ; Chime NO; Tofil NM; Hamilton MF; Singh K; Stanley RM; Kline J; McNamara LM; Rosen MA; Hunt EA; INSPIRE Epinephrine Research Investigators. “Survey of pediatric trainee knowledge: dose, concentration, and route of epinephrine” Annals of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology.118(4):516-518, 2017 04.
October TW, Dizon ZB, Hamilton MF,Madrigal VN, Arnold, RM. Communication training for inter-specialty clinicians. The Clinical Teacher, 2018; 15: 1–6.
Auerbach M, Brown L, Whitfill T, Baird J, Abulebda K, Bhatangar A, Lutfi R, Gawel M, Walsh B, Tay KY, Lavoie M, Nadkarni V, Dudas R, Kessler D, Katznelson J, Ganghadaran S, Hamilton MF. Adherence to Pediatric Cardiac Arrest Guidelines Across a Spectrum of Fifty Emergency Departments: A Prospective, In Situ, Simulation-Based Study” Academic Emergency Medicine 2018 Sep 8.
Academic and Research Interests
- Clinician educator
- Simulation
- Faculty development
- Post-Graduate Medical Education.