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James R. Kiger, MD

  • Associate Professor of Pediatrics
  • Medical Director, Neonatal Respiratory Care
  • Associate Director, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh NICU

Dr. Kiger obtained his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh school of medicine in 2006. He had pediatric residency and fellowship at the medical University of South Carolina, completing his training in 2012. He is board-certified in General Pediatrics and Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine. He held a faculty position at the Medical University of South Carolina until 2016. In 2016, he joined the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He currently serves as the medical director of neonatal respiratory care for the division of newborn medicine, and also the associate director for the NICU at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.

Professional and Scientific Society Memberships

  • American Academy of Pediatrics, 2014 - Present
  • Section on Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, AAP, 2012 - Present
  • Section on Advances in Therapeutics and Technology, AAP, 2017 - Present
  • South Carolina Neonatal Medicine Consortium (SCNMC), 2014 - 2016
  • Southern Society for Pediatric Research, 2015 - Present

 

Education & Training

  • BS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1997
  • MS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2002
  • MD, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 2006

Selected Publications

Huff LL, Kiger JR, Caplan MJ. Asymmetrical abdominal distention in a female neonate. NeoReviews, 2015 May 1;16(5):e1.

Kiger JR, Taylor SN. The Importance of Interpolation in Computerized Growth Charting. J Med Syst. 2016 Jan;40(1):15. PMID: 26573652.

Halliday M, Kavarana M, Ebeling M, Kiger J. Milrinone use for hemodynamic instability in patent ductus arteriosus ligation. J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med. 2016 Apr 12:1-15. PMID: 27072674.

Kiger JR, Annibale DJ. A new method for group decision-making and its application to medical trainee selection. Med Educ. 2016 Oct;50(10):1045-53. PMID: 27628721.

Kiger JR, Taylor SN, Wagner CL, Finch C, Katikaneni L. Preterm infant body composition cannot be accurately determined by weight and length. J Neonatal Perinatal Med. 2016 Sep 16;9(3):285-90. PMID: 27589548.

Kiger JR, Reinhart GA, Southgate WM. When are preemies “out of the woods”? Changing patterns of infant mortality in a tertiary care NICU. J South Carolina Med Assoc. Apr 2017. 

Kiger J. Evaluating evaluations: an ouroboros for medical education. Med Educ. 2017 Feb;51(2):131-133. PMID: 28084050.

Murphy HJ, Cahill JB, Twombley KE, Kiger JR. Early Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy Improves Nutrition Delivery in Neonates During Extracorporeal Life Support. J Ren Nutr. 2017 Sep 27. PMID: 28964639.

Murphy HJ, Cahill JB, Twombley KE, Annibale DJ, Kiger JR. Implementing a practice change: early initiation of continuous renal replacement therapy during neonatal extracorporeal life support standardizes care and improves short-term outcomes. J Artif Organs. 2017 Oct 30. PMID: 29086091.

Murphy HJ, Eklund MJ, Hill J, Morella K, Cahill JB, Kiger JR, Twombley KE, Annibale DJ. Early continuous renal replacement therapy during infant extracorporeal life support is associated with decreased lung opacification. J Artif Organs. 2019 Dec;22(4):286-293. Epub 2019 Jul 25. PMID: 31342287.

Academic and Research Interests

Neonatal ventilation, Neonatal ECMO