Alejandro Hoberman, MD

  • Executive Vice Chair of Pediatrics, Vice Chair of Clinical Research, Division Director, General Academic Pediatrics, and Professor of Pediatrics and Clinical and Translational Science
  • Jack L. Paradise, MD Endowed Professor of Pediatric Research
  • President, UPMC Children's Community Pediatrics

Hoberman graduated from medical school and general pediatrics residency in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He completed a General Academic Pediatrics fellowship at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and joined the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh. He currently heads the Division of General Academic Pediatrics, is the Vice Chair for Clinical Research, and has been established as the Jack L. Paradise Endowed Professor of Pediatric Research in honor of his research mentor. 

In the area of AOM, Hoberman has contributed studies to enhance prevention, diagnosis and treatment of this frequently occurring condition. In a study published in JAMA, Hoberman evaluated the efficacy of influenza vaccine in preventing AOM. He published a series of studies in the New England Journal of Medicine sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases evaluating the efficacy of and adequate duration of antimicrobial therapy in young children with AOM. His current study sponsored by the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders is evaluating the efficacy of tympanostomy tubes in children with recurrent AOM. 

In the area of UTI, Hoberman evaluated prevalence, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up imaging in children. He published in the NEJM a National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases-sponsored study evaluating the efficacy of antimicrobial prophylaxis in children with vesicoureteral reflux, and received the Clinical Research Forum Top 10 Clinical Research Achievement Award of 2015 for this publication. His research team is currently conducting two NIH-sponsored UTI clinical trials: (1) a collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania evaluating a short-course therapy for UTI in children, and (2) with his colleague Nader Shaikh, MD, MPH, a study evaluating corticosteroids in preventing renal scars in children with febrile UTI. 

The quality and influence of Hoberman’s research is evident from the journals in which they are published, including the NEJM, JAMA, JAMA Pediatrics and Pediatrics. He has served on NIH special emphasis panels, FDA and NIH strategic planning workgroups, American Academy of Pediatrics guideline committees, and as a member of the Clinical Translational Science Award Child Health Oversight Committee. His research has fostered the careers of many others through his roles in fellowship training, as the chief of a large division of General Academic Pediatrics--the recipient of the 2009 Academic Pediatric Association Outstanding Teaching Award, and in his many other collaborations. In 2014, Hoberman also received the Academic Pediatric Association Research Award that acknowledges the contribution of an individual in advancing pediatric knowledge through excellence in research, characterized by originality, creativity and methodological soundness. 

Hoberman also has administrative responsibilities as the President of UPMC Children’s Community Pediatrics, the largest primary care pediatrics organization in western and central Pennsylvania with 58 offices including Express Care locations and over 800,000 total annual visits. 

Professional and Scientific Society Memberships

  • Argentine Pediatric Society, Fellow, 1987 
  • Academic Pediatric Association, Member, 1995 
  • American Academy of Pediatrics, Fellow, 1995 
  • Inter-American Society of Pediatric Otolaryngology, Charter Member, 1995 
  • Society for Pediatric Research, Member, 1995 
  • Fellow’s Basic & Clinical Research Awards Committee, Clinical Team Member, 2007-8 
  • Society for Pediatric Research, Member, 1998 
  • American Pediatric Society, Member, 2007 

Education & Training

  • MD, National University of Buenos Aires, 1983
  • Internship in General Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Buenos Aires, 1984-1985
  • Residency in General Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Buenos Aires, 1985-1988
  • Fellowship in Ambulatory Pediatrics, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, 1989-1992
  • Physicians Business and Leadership Skills, Katz Graduate School of Business, 2002
  • Leadership Development for Physicians, Harvard School of Public Health, 2004

Selected Publications

Shaikh N, Rajakumar V, Peterson C, Gorski J, Ivanova A, Gravels Muller L, Miyashita Y, Smith K, Mattoo T, Pohl H, Mathews R, Greenfield S, Docimo S, Hoberman A. Cost-utility of Antimicrobial Prophylaxis for Treatment of Children with Vesicoureteral Reflux. Front Pediatr (2019). https://doi: 10.3389/fped.2019.00530. 

Shaikh N, Martin JM, Hoberman A, Skae M, Milkovich L, McElheny C, Hickey RW, Gabriel LV, Kearney DH, Majd M, Shalaby-Rana E, Tseng G, Kolls J, Horne W, Huo Z, Shope TR. Biomarkers that differentiate false positive urinalyses from true urinary tract infection. Pediatr Nephrol (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00467-019-04403-7. 

Shaikh N, Haralam MA, Kurs-Lasky M, Hoberman A. Association of Renal Scarring With Number of Febrile Urinary Tract Infections in Children. JAMA Pediatr. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2019.2504. 

Shaikh N, Wald ER, Jeong JH, Kurs-Lasky M, Nash D, Pichichero ME, Kearney DH, Haralam MA, Bowen A, Flom LL, Hoberman A. Development and Modification of an Outcome Measure to Follow Symptoms of Children with Sinusitis. J Pediatr 2019;207:103-108. 

Shaikh N, Kurs-Lasky M, Hoberman A. Modification of the Acute Otitis Media Symptom Severity Scale. Int J Pediatr Otolaryngol 2019 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2019.04.026  

Shaikh N, Martin JM, Hoberman A, Skae M, Milkovich L, Nowalk A, McElheny C, Hickey RW, Kearney D, Majd M, Shalaby-Rana E, Tseng G, Alcorn JF, Kolls J, Kurs-Lasky M, Huo Z, Horne W, Lockhart G, Pohl H, Shope TR. Host and Bacterial Markers that Differ in Children with Cystitis and Pyelonephritis.  J Pediatr 2019;S0022-3476(19)30027-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2019.01.012 

Martinello M, Spinoulas L, Karygianni S, Frossard P, Haralam MA, Shope T, Shaikh N, Hoberman A, Tosic I. Bulged Eardrum Detection from 3D Data. IEEE International Conference on Image Processing, 2018. 

Shaikh N, Hoberman A, Hum SW, Alberty A, Muñiz G, Kurs-Lasky M, Landsittel D, Shope T. Development and Validation of a Calculator for Estimating the Probability of Urinary Tract Infection in Young Febrile Children. JAMA Pediatr 2018;172(6):550-556. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2018.0217 

Forster C, Shaikh N, Hoberman A, Jackson E. Uropathogens and Pyuria in Children with Neurogenic Bladders. Pediatrics 2018;141(5):e20173006. 

Martin JM, Hoberman A, Shaikh N, Shope T, Bhatnagar S, Block SL, Haralam MA, Kurs-Lasky M, Green M. Changes Over Time in Nasopharyngeal Colonization in Children Under 2 Years of Age at the Time of Diagnosis of Acute Otitis Media (1999-2014). Open Forum Infectious Diseases 2018  https://doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofy036 

Full Publication List via NIH PubMed »

Research Grants

BAA-NIAID-DMID-AI2008025, Targeted Clinical Trials to Reduce the Risk of Antimicrobial Resistance (SCOUT), (PI, 20% effort), 2009-2020, Children Hospital of Philadelphia - NIAID, $5,464,683 

1 U01 DC013995-01A1, Efficacy of Tympanostomy Tubes for Children with Recurrent Acute Otitis Media, (PI, 19% effort), 2015-2020, NIDCD, $4,718,368 

1 U01 AI118506-01, Efficacy of Antibiotics in Children with Acute Sinusitis: Which Subgroups Benefit?, (PI, 8% effort), 2015-2020, NIAID, $4,919,729 

OP0201-C-006, Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study to assess the safety and preliminary efficacy of OP-02, in addition to amoxicillin-clavulanate in Children 6-24 months with acute otitis media (AOM), (PI, 28% effort), 2018-2020, Novus Therapeutics, $2,904,493 

Assessment of Otopathogens in Young Children with Acute Otitis Media (AOM), (PI, 15% effort), 2019-2021, Merck, $4,327,325