Cassandra L. Formeck, MD, MS

  • Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Formeck was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh. She obtained her medical degree at the Ohio State University College of Medicine and completed her pediatric residency at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. She returned to Pittsburgh in 2016 to pursue fellowship training in pediatric nephrology at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. During her fellowship, Formeck completed her master’s degree in Clinical Research at the University of Pittsburgh Institute for Clinical Research Education.

Formeck’s global research interests are to understand the mechanisms whereby acute kidney injury causes increased morbidity and mortality in children, and to develop interventions to improve outcomes in children with acute kidney injury. Her current research focus is to understand the influence of acute kidney injury on the development of subsequent infection among hospitalized children. As part of her research, Formeck is interested in applying advanced causal discovery methods to model and understand kidney disease in children utilizing complex high-density health record data.

Professional and Scientific Society Memberships

  • American Academy of Pediatrics, 2013-Present
  • Member, American Society of Nephrology, 2018-Present
  • Member, American Society of Pediatric Nephrology, 2018-Present

Education & Training

  • BS, Neuroscience, University of Pittsburgh, 2009
  • MD, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, 2013
  • Residency in Pediatrics, Nationwide Children's Hospital, 2013-2016
  • Clinical Fellowship in Pediatric Nephrology, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, 2016-2019
  • MS, Clinical Research, University of Pittsburgh, 2020

Selected Publications

Artim DE, Kullmann FA, Daugherty SL, Bupp E, Edwards CL, de Groat WC. Developmental and spinal cord injury-induced changes in nitric oxide-mediated inhibition in rat urinary bladder. Neurourol Urodyn. 2011 Nov;30(8):1666-74. doi: 10.1002/nau.21143. Epub 2011 Jun 29. PubMed PMID: 21717503; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4659496.

Rheault MN, Zhang L, Selewski DT, Kallash M, Tran CL, Seamon M, Katsoufis C, Ashoor I, Hernandez J, Supe-Markovina K, D'Alessandri-Silva C, DeJesus-Gonzalez N, Vasylyeva TL, Formeck C, Woll C, Gbadegesin R, Geier P, Devarajan P, Carpenter SL, Kerlin BA, Smoyer WE; Midwest Pediatric Nephrology Consortium. AKI in Children Hospitalized with Nephrotic Syndrome. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. 2015 Dec 7;10(12):2110-8. doi: 10.2215/CJN.06620615. Epub 2015 Oct 8. PubMed PMID: 26450933; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4670770.

Carpenter SL, Goldman J, Sherman AK, Selewski DT, Kallash M, Tran CL, Seamon M, Katsoufis C, Ashoor I, Hernandez J, Supe-Markovina K, D'alessandri-Silva C, DeJesus-Gonzalez N, Vasylyeva TL, Formeck C, Woll C, Gbadegesin R, Geier P, Devarajan P, Smoyer WE, Kerlin BA, Rheault MN. Association of infections and venous thromboembolism in hospitalized children with nephrotic syndrome. Pediatr Nephrol. 2019 Feb;34(2):261-267. doi: 10.1007/s00467-018-4072-6. Epub 2018 Sep 7. PubMed PMID: 30194664.

Singbartl K, Formeck CL, Kellum JA. Kidney-Immune System Crosstalk in AKI. Semin Nephrol. 2019 Jan;39(1):96-106. doi: 10.1016/j.semnephrol.2018.10.007. Review. PubMed PMID: 30606411.

Formeck C, Swiatecka-Urban A. Extra-renal manifestations of atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome. Pediatr Nephrol. 2019 Aug;34(8):1337-1348. doi: 10.1007/s00467-018-4039-7. Epub 2018 Aug 14. PubMed PMID: 30109445.

Manrique-Caballero CL, Peerapornratana S, Formeck C, Del Rio-Pertuz G, Gomez Danies H, Kellum JA. Typical and Atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome in the Critically Ill. Crit Care Clin. 2020 Apr;36(2):333-356. doi: 10.1016/j.ccc.2019.11.004. Epub 2020 Jan 31. Review. PubMed PMID: 32172817.

Academic and Research Interests

  • acute kidney injury
  • pediatrics
  • sepsis
  • critical care
  • nephrology

Research Grants

NIH 2T32DK91202-6, Research Training in Pediatric Nephrology (Postdoctoral Scholar, 80% effort), 2019-2020, $59,100.