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Sandra C. Kim, MD

  • Associate Professor of Pediatrics
  • Director, Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh

Sandra Kim, MD, a nationally recognized expert in pediatric and adolescent inflammatory bowel disease, is the Director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Center and Associate Fellowship Director in the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition at UPMC Children’s Hospital. Dr. Kim is also Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Prior to joining Children;s Hospital, Dr. Kim was co-director of the Center for Pediatric and Adolescent Inflammatory Bowel Disease at Nationwide Children;s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Dr. Kim’s clinical and research interests focus on pediatric inflammatory bowel diseases, including adolescent transitioning and quality improvement in pediatric IBD and the impact of the gastrointestinal microbiota in IBD. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA). She has authored numerous studies on pediatric and adolescent inflammatory bowel diseases. Dr. Kim served as past chair of Pediatric Affairs and Government Affairs/Advocacy for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation nationally. In addition, she is the past chair for Clinical Affairs and current co-chair for DEI and serves on the Physician Leadership committee and Strategy Council for Improve Care Now. She is the current President for the Board of Directors- Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation Western PA/WV chapter. Dr. Kim also is involved as a member of the Medical Advisory Board for Flying Horse Farms. As a reflection of her dedication to her profession, Dr. Kim was awarded the 2011 and 2018 Rosenthal Humanitarian Awards for her leadership in patient advocacy and education as well as the Uniting to Care and Cure Award 2020 by the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation. She also was the 2015 faculty inductee at the Ohio State University College of Medicine chapters of Gold Humanism Honor Society and Alpha Omega Alpha. Dr. Kim is a graduate of the University of Michigan;s Inteflex (Integrated Pre-medical/Medical) Program, earning bachelors; degrees in Biomedical Sciences and Psychology as well as her medical degree. She completed clinical training in General Pediatrics and Pediatric Gastroenterology at Texas Children;s Hospital and the Baylor College of Medicine. She was a recipient of the Outstanding Clinical Fellow Award during her GI fellowship and was on the NIH/NIDDK-funded T32 grant for her research project investigating zinc metabolism in children with IBD. After her clinical training, she pursued additional training as a post-doctoral fellow at the NIH-funded Center for GI Biology and Disease at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Professional and Scientific Society Memberships

  • American Gastroenterological Association, 2001-Ppresent
  • Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation: 2003-Present
  • North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, 2013-Present
  • Alpha Omega Alpha: 2015-Present
  • Gold Humanism Society: 2015-Present

Education & Training

  • BS/BA, Biomedical Sciences and Psychology, University of Michigan, 1991
  • MD, Integrated Pre-Medical/Medical Program, University of Michigan, 1994
  • Residency in General Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, 1994-1997
  • Clinical Fellowship in Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Baylor College of Medicine, 1997-2000
  • Postdoctoral Fellowship, Mucosal Immunity/Intestinal Inflammation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Center for GI Biology and Disease, 2000-2003

Selected Publications

Michel HM, Noll RB, Siripong N, and Kim SC. 2020. Patterns of Primary, Specialty, Urgent Care, and Emergency Department Care in Children with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. JPGN (ePub).

Prathapan KM, Ramos Rivers C, Anderson A, Koutroumpakis F, Koutroubakis IE, Babichenko D, Tan X, Tang G, Schwartz M, Proksell S, Johnston E, Hashash JG, Dunn M, Wilson A, Barrie A, Harrison J, Hartman D, Kim SC, and Binion DG. 2020. Peripheral Blood Eosinophilia and Long–Term Severity in Pediatric–Onset Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Inflamm Bowel Dis (in press)

Park KT, Ehrlich OG, Allen JI, Meadows P, Szigethy EM, Henrichsen K, Kim SC, Lawton RC, Murphy SM, Regueiro M, Rubin DT, Engel-Nitz NM, Heller CA. 2020. Cost of Inflammatory Bowel Disease: An Initiative from the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation. Inflamm Bowel Dis; 26(1): 1-10.

Mackner LM, Hatzakis E, Allen JM, Davies RH, Kim SC, Maltz RM, Bailey MT. 2019. Fecal microbiota and metabolites are distinct in a pilot study of pediatric Crohn's disease patients with higher levels of perceived stress. Psychoneuroendocrinology; 3;111. 

Denson LA, Curran M, McGovern DPB, Koltun WA, Duerr RH, Kim SC, Sartor RB, Sylvester FA, Abraham C, de Zoeten EF, Siegel CA, Burns RM, Dobes AM, Shtraizent N, Honig G, Heller CA, Hurtado-Lorenzo A, Cho JH. 2019. Challenges in research: Precision medicine. Inflamm Bowel Dis; 25 (suppl 2): S1-S39. 

Schmitz JM, Tonkonogy SL, Dogan B, Leblond A, Whitehead KJ, Kim SC, Simpson KW, Sartor RB. 2019. Murine Adherent and Invasive E. coli Induces Chronic Inflammation and Immune Responses in the Small and Large Intestines of Monoassociated IL-10-/- Mice Independent of Long Polar Fimbriae Adhesin A. Inflamm Bowel Dis; 25(25): 875-885.

Michel HK, Noll RB, Siripong N, Kim SC, and Lipstein EA. 2019. Shared decision making about starting aTNFs: A pediatric perspective. JPGN; 68(3): 339-342.

Serpico M, Maltz R, Crandall WV, Bricker J, Dotson JL, Kim SC and Boyle B. 2018. Combination therapy with thiopurines and allopurinol in children with inflammatory bowel diseases. JPGN; 67(3): 341-345.

Shaikhkhalil AK, Boyle B, Smith J, Dotson JL, Donegan A, Kim SC, Maltz RM, Crandall W. 2018. Utilizing quality improvement to increase enteral therapy in pediatric Crohn’s disease: results and outcomes. JPGN; 66(6): 909-914. 

Maltz RM, Keirsey J, Kim SC, Mackos AR, Gharaibeh RZ, Moore CC, Xu J, Bakthavatchalu V, Somogyi A, and Bailey MT. 2018. Prolonged restraint stressor exposure in outbred CD-1 mice impacts microbiota, colonic inflammation, and short chain fatty acids. PLoS One; 9; 13(5): e0196961.