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James E. Squires, MD, MS

  • Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
  • Associate Director of Hepatology
  • Fellowship Director, Pediatric Transplant Hepatology

Dr. Squires earned his medical degree from the University of Texas and went on to complete his training in general pediatrics at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC). Following residency, he completed fellowships in both pediatric gastroenterology and pediatric advanced/transplant hepatology at CCHMC. He completed a Masters in clinical and translational research focusing his thesis on the diagnostic and predictive value of serum biomarkers in children with hepatobiliary disease. Following completion of his training, Dr. Squires joined the faculty at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh in 2015 where he is an associate professor in pediatrics and the director of the pediatric advanced/transplant hepatology fellowship. Dr. Squires remains active in both clinical and research pursuits. He is a co-investigator in the Children Liver Disease Research Network (ChiLDReN), an NIH funded consortium working to improve the lives of children with rare cholestatic liver diseases. He is also a member of the Society of Pediatric LIver Transplant (SPLIT), a multifaceted organization focused on improving outcomes for children receiving liver transplantation. He is the Clinical Lead for the Starzl Network for Excellence in Liver Transplantation, a novel learning health network of leading pediatric transplant institutions committed to continuous improvement until every child can achieve a long and healthy life and has received funding from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to advance this work. Other current interests include metabolic liver disease, acute liver failure, and liver transplant.
 

Professional and Scientific Society Memberships

  • American Academy of Pediatrics Resident Membership, 2008-2011
  • American Society of Transplantation, 2011-2015
  • North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition (NASPGHAN) Member, 2011-Present
  • American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) Member, 2011-Present
  • Childhood Liver Disease Research Network (ChiLDReN) Member, 2015-Present
  • Society of Pediatric Liver Transplant (SPLIT), 2015-Present
  • Pittsburgh Liver Research Center (PLRC), 2016-Present

Education & Training

  • BA, Biology, Saint Louis University, 2004
  • MD, University of Texas Medical Branch, 2008
  • Pediatrics Internship, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, 2008-2009
  • Pediatrics Residency, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, 2009-2011
  • GI/Hep/Nut Fellowship, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, 2011-2014
  • Master of Clinical and Translational Research, University of Cincinnati, 2014
  • Advanced Fellowship Transplant Hepatology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, 2014-2015
  • Health Sciences Leadership Academy for Early Career Faculty, University of Pittsburgh, 2018

Selected Publications

Strauss KA, Ahlfors CE, Soltys K, Mazariegos GV, Young M, Bowser LE, Fox MD, Squires JE, McKiernan P, Brigatti KW, Puffenberger EG, Carson VJ, Vreman HJ. Crigler-Najjar syndrome type 1: pathophysiology, natural history, and therapeutic frontier. Hepatology. 2020 Jun;71(6):1923-1939.


Leung DH, Squires JE, Jhaveri R, Kerkar N, Lin CH, Pravathi M, Murray KF, Gonzalez-Peralta RP, Robert EA, Sundaram SS. Hepatitis C in 2020: A North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition Position Paper. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2020 Sep;71(3):407-417.


Shneider BL, Goodrich NP, Ye W, Sawyers C, Molleston JP, Merion RM, Leung DH, Karpen SJ, Kamath BM, Cavallo L, Wang K, Teckman JH, Squires JE, Sundaram SS, Rosenthal P, Romero R, Murray KF, Loomes KM, Jensen MK, Bezerra JA, Bass LM, Sokol RJ, Magee JC. Nonfasted Liver Stiffness Correlates with Liver Disease Parameters and Portal Hypertension in Pediatric Cholestatic Liver Disease. Hepatol. Commun. 2020 Aug 5;4(11): 1694-1707.


McKiernan PJ, Squires JE, Squires RH, Vockley J, Mazariegos GV, Soltys K, Ganoza A, Strauss K, Khanna A, Sindhi R. Liver transplant for inherited metabolic disease among siblings. Clin Transplant. 2020 Sep 21;e14090


Lam S, Sign R, Dilman JR, Trout AT, Serai SD, Sharma D, Sheridan R, Su W, Fei L, Karn R, Haramija MM, Ridgway G, Goldfinger M, Squires JE, Denson LA, Hyams JS, Miethke AG. Serum Matric Metalloproteinase 7 Is a Diagnostic Biomarker of Biliary Injury and Fibrosis in Pediatric Autoimmune Liver Disease. Hepatol. Commun. 2020 Sep 24;4(11):1680 – 1693.


Amirneni S, Haep N, Gad MA, Soto-Gutierrez A, Squires JE, Florentino RM. Molecular overview of progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis. World J Gastroenterol 2020 Dec 21;26(47):7470-7484.
Sood V, Squires JE, Mazariegos GV, Vockley J, McKiernan PJ. Living related Liver Transplantation for Metabolic Liver Diseases in Children. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2021 Jan 1;72(1):11-17


Kehar M, Ebel NH, Ng VL, Baquero JER, Leung DH, Slowik V, Ovchinski N, Shah AA, Arnon R, Miloh T, Gupta N, Mohammad S, Kogan-Liberman D, Squires JE, Sanchez MC, Hildreth A, Book L, Chu C, Alrabadi L, Azzam R, Chepuri B, Falik R, Gallagher L, Kader H, Mogu D, Mujawar Q, Namjoshi SS, Valentino PL, Vitola B, Waheed N, Zheng MH, Lobritto S, Martinez M. SARS-CoV2 Infection in Children with Liver Transplant and Native Liver Disease: An International Observational Registry Study. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2021 Feb.


Perito ER, Squires JE, Bray D, Bucuvalas J, Krise-Confair C, Eisenberg E, Gonzalez-Peralta RP, Gupta N, Hsu EK, Kosmach-Park B, Lobritto S, Logan B, Mohammad S, Ng VL, Pillari T, Rasmussen S, Shemesh E, Soltys K, Szolna J, Superina R, Tunno J, Mazariegos GV. A Learning Health System for Pediatric Liver Transplant: The Starzl Network for Excellence in Pediatric Transplantation. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2021 Mar 1;72(3):417-424.


Raghu VR, Squires JE, Mogul DB, Squires RH, McKiernan PJ, Mazariegos GV, Smith KJ. Cost-effectiveness of primary liver transplantation versus hepatoportoenterostomy in the management of biliary atresia in the United States. Liver Transpl. 2021 May;27(5):711-718.

 

View MyNCBI Bibliography » 

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Academic and Research Interests

  • Pediatric Liver Disease
  • Metabolic Liver Disease
  • Pediatric Transplant
  • Quality Improvement
  • Acute Liver Failure
  • Cholestatic Liver Disease
  • PFIC
  • Patient-Centered Outcomes Research

Research Grants

U01DK062466 (Squires, R), 09/15/2002 - 5/31/2019, 0.60 Cal. Months, National Institutes of Health, $195,507 

The Pittsburgh Cholestatic Liver Disease Consortium. Diseases in infants that impair the liver’s ability to secrete bile (e.g. biliary atresia) are the leading indication for liver transplantation in childhood.  Multi-centered prospective investigations are essential to improve the health of children afflicted by these disorders.  The Pittsburgh Cholestatic Liver Disease Consortium at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh is ideally suited to participate in these prospective investigations and proposes investigations to analyze response to surgery in biliary atresia and to develop a novel therapy for a genetic form of liver disease. Squires, J is listed as Co-I. Direct contributions will include clinical protocol development and safety, data acquisition, patient recruitment, and patient management. Additional collaborative research efforts will be supported by this grant. 

 

R01 DK117916 (PI: Fox, I and Vockley, G) 07/01/17-06/30/22,1.00 Cal. Months, National Institutes of Health, $685,236 

Hepatocyte Transplantation for Liver-Based Metabolic Disease. In this study, we will treat patients with liver-based metabolic disease by hepatocyte transplantation with the goal of opening the door for broader use of hepatocyte transplants in the treatment of metabolic liver disease. Squires, J is listed as Co-I. Direct contributions will include the clinical protocol development and safety, data acquisition, and patient management – particularly in the post-transplant period.

 

Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Eugene Washington Engagement Award (Project Leads: Perito ER and Squires JE), 2/21/2021 – 1/31/2023, $249,271, 2.90 Cal. Months

PARTNER: Patient-centered Research in pediatric TransplaNt-Engaging families + Recipients

In this project we aim to educate families and providers about patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR) PCOR, and then to help participants apply this new knowledge and new partnerships to prepare for PCOR and comparative effectiveness research (CER). Squires JE is listed as Co-lead and will help lead all PARTNER activities, including design of learning/feedback cycles, recruitment and leadership (co-chairs) of the Advisory Board, feedback analysis and interpretation, focus group moderation, PCOR Roadmap writing and meeting agenda planning.