Dear friends,
I hope each of you had time to relax over the Thanksgiving weekend. I enjoyed spending time with many of you at the holiday party on Sunday!
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Our UNC Children’s Quality and Safety team has led an initiative to decrease our central line infection (CLABSI) rate over the past 18 months. We're thrilled to announce that we have confirmation from the Solutions for Patient Safety (SPS) Safety collaborative we have achieved a statistically significant lowering of our rate - by achieving 8 straight months with a monthly average lower than our previously established monthly average. This is the first time UNC Children’s has achieved this and this reestablishes our benchmark (centerline), which is now favorable to the national benchmark – the average rate of the over 140 children's hospitals in SPS! | |
We are thrilled to celebrate with our Social Media team, Jordan Cope and Amy Laukka, on their success this year. The Carolinas Healthcare PR & Marketing Society (CHPRMS) is the region’s premier healthcare marketing and public relations society and represents health care marketing and public relations professionals in the southeast. Each year, CHPRMS hosts an awards competition for Wallie and Golden Tusk Awards that spotlights the very best work in the region. This year the UNC Children's social media team earned two awards:
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NC Children’s Health System planning is continuing to progress! The team is working on site selection and working with the architects to develop a space program. Please see the latest NC Children’s updates here.
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We hope you enjoyed the "Year in Review" presentation at Grand Rounds on November 21st. If you couldn't join us on the day, you can check out the recording here!
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Also, we are launching a fundraiser to raise money for our resident primary care clinic free bookshelf and food pantry! Please consider contributing to this effort! See the flyer to the right for more information.
I am grateful for each of you as we promote child health for all children across N.C. and beyond!
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Kovalick New APP Supervisor for the Children’s Clinics
We are excited to announce that Lenny Kovalick, PNP, has accepted the role of APP Supervisor for the Children’s Clinics, effective December 8, 2024. Originally from Northeastern Pennsylvania, Lenny has called North Carolina home for over 20 years. He brings extensive experience as an RN across various pediatric specialties. Lenny began his career as a pediatric nurse practitioner in rural primary care before joining the Pediatric Rheumatology/Immunology team in 2015. In addition to his clinical work, Lenny has served as a guest lecturer and preceptor for UNC Family Nurse Practitioners and Pediatric Nurse Practitioner students, contributed to multiple research publications, and acted as a sub-investigator in research studies. Coming from a family of RNs, Lenny continues the tradition alongside his wife, Courtney, who practices as a Physician Assistant at the Durham VA Hospital. Outside of work, he enjoys cheering on his children at their sporting events and exploring new destinations and cuisines with his family. Lenny is excited to step into this new leadership role and looks forward to contributing to the continued success of the Children’s Clinics. Congratulations, Lenny!
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Scofield New SICC Role
We are excited to announce that Amy Scofield, MSN, PNP has a new role as Associate Medical Director of the Special Infant Care Clinic! Congratulations Amy!!
The Special Infant Care Clinic see children when they leave a neonatal intensive care unit based upon their risk for developmental delay. UNC SICC providers see Newborn Critical Care Center graduates, as well as babies and toddlers from other hospitals throughout North Carolina upon referral by their community health provider.
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Thanks to Dr. Carl Seashore, Sonia Lai, and Sherri Woody, for their work piloting a new model of care at Horizons. This team is going on-site to Horizons to offer a combination of infant well and sick care, plus lactation care. Horizons is a substance use disorder treatment program focused on moms and babies. Thank you again for this comprehensive, accessible health care in support of those in recovery! | | | |
Tangredi discusses signs, treatment of epilepsy | Dr. Christine Tangredi, specializing in Pediatric Neurology with UNC Children’s in Wilmington, shared her personal experience and professional epilepsy expertise with WECT news for National Epilepsy Awareness month | | | |
Toolkit Available for Early Peanut Introduction in Infants to Prevent Peanut Allergy | Lauren Herlihy, DNP, RN, pediatric immunologist and IHQI scholar, has developed a clinical decision support (CDS) toolkit for early peanut introduction in infants to prevent peanut allergy. The toolkit is now ready for adoption by interested physicians at UNC Health. | | | |
Ahmad Sami, MD, Carolina Child Health Scholar, and Pediatric GI Fellow – Presented an oral presentation at the North American Society For Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition annual conference for his abstract titled, “Urolithin A-mediated Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Signaling Attenuates Necrotizing Enterocolitis” on behalf of co-authors: Lauren Frazer, Natalia Akopyants, Corey Jania, Stephen Mackay, Dhirendra Singh, Yuki Yamaguchi, Claire Miller, Lynda Clodfelter, Olivia Cassidy, Gergely Mozes, and Misty Good. | |
The 2024 North Carolina Medical Society LEAD Conference in Greensboro in early November was a big event for our learners!
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Maureen Farrell, MD, MS, Pediatric Physician-Scientist Training Program Resident presented a poster titled, “Leading With resources: screening and addressing social drivers of health directly through patient-centered clinic-based resources” on behalf of co-authors: Maria Ansar, Jasmine Sun, Jennifer McBride, Kori Flower, and Emily Vander Schaaf.
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Special congratulations to Rebecca Gibson, MD, PhD, Pediatric Physician-Scientist Training Program Resident was the Resident Clinical Vignette Winner for her poster titled, “Periostitis as an early radiologic presentation of leukemia: A case report” on behalf of co-authors Safiyya Adam, and Kaitie Cudahy.
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Congratulations to Emily Cox, DO on being invited to participate in the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine 52nd Annual Fellows’ Seminar on Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine from November 4-7, 2024. | |
Three Elected to American Pediatric Society in 2024 | The American Pediatric Society (APS) council members have formally elected Dr. Elisabeth Dellon, Professor of Pediatrics in Pediatric Pulmonology, Dr. Ajay Gulati, Professor of Pediatrics in Gastroenterology, and Dr. Lane Donnelly, Professor of Radiology and Pediatrics, to Active membership with the society. Congratulations!! | | | |
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Hart and Paul Selected for Passing the Torch
Dr. Jessica Hart, Assistant Professor in General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, and Dr. Katie Paul, Assistant Professor in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, were selected to participate in UNC SOM Passing the Torch program to further her skills as a leader in humanism in medicine.
Passing the Torch is a faculty development program uniquely suited to junior Clinician Educator faculty to develop further patient care and teaching skills with a person-centered model. Supported by the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation, the Passing the Torch program strives to equip faculty with a variety of humanistic skills through experiential learning methods. As one of twelve participating program sites, the UNC School of Medicine is part of a larger cohort of medical institutions working toward helping faculty become better role models.
Congratulations Jesse and Katie!
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Kappelman Leads Landmark Study Revealing That 100,000 American Youth Are Living with Inflammatory Bowel Disease | A comprehensive analysis published in the journal Gastroenterology and led by Michael D. Kappelman, MD, MPH, at the UNC School of Medicine, reveals that U.S. pediatric IBD rates have increased, ranking among the highest globally. | | | |
Kim Receives $1-Million Grant for Novel Multi-nut Allergy Treatment Study | Edwin Kim, MD MS, director of the UNC Food Allergy Initiative at the UNC School of Medicine, will lead the first study of sublingual immunotherapy to address the feasibility and safety of treating multiple tree nut allergens simultaneously in children. | | | |
Bobo Receives ASGCT Career Development Award | Tierra Bobo, PhD, Assistant Professor in Pediatric Genetics and Metabolism and a researcher with the Gene Therapy Center, recently received an award by the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT). Her proposal for Viral Vector Development in the amount of $100,000 was accepted as a Career Development Award. | | | |
New Study Finds Obesity Can Be Prevented in Very Young Children | A large study co-led by Kori Flower, MD, MS, MPH, division chief of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine at the UNC School of Medicine demonstrates that combining text messaging with in-person clinic counseling reduces obesity in the first two years of life. Samantha Schilling, MD, MSHP, associate professor in the Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine at UNC, was also a co-investigator in the study. | | | |
Melissa S. Bauserman, MD, MPH, - Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine - was awarded $10.3 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to test a new therapy for hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, an often-deadly type of brain damage that occurs during the birthing process. The study, termed the Caffeine for Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (CHIME) trial, will be conducted in partnership with the Kinshasa School of Public Health and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development’s Global Network for Women’s and Children’s Health Research.
Also, Dr. Bauserman published Antibiotic use in infants in the 6 weeks after delivery in seven low- and middle-income countries: findings from the A-PLUS trial. Yasmin H, Tanveer S, Sunder Tikmani S, Moore JL, Shakeel I, Rahim A, Lokangaka A, Tshefu A, Bauserman M, Mwenechanya M, Chomba E, Goudar SS, Kavi A, Derman RJ, Krebs NF, Figueroa L, Mazariegos M, Nyongesa P, Bucher S, Esamai F, Patel A, Waikar M, Shivkumar P, Hibberd PL, Petri WA, Billah SM, Haque R, Carlo WA, Tita A, Koso-Thomas M, Hemingway-Foday J, Saleem S, McClure EM, Goldenberg RL. Paediatr Int Child Health. 2024 Oct 27:1-11. PMID: 39462249.
Dr. Allison Burbank – Allergy/Immunology – was an invited speaker at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia 15th Annual Fighting Asthma Summit on “Actionable Steps for Building Climate Change-Resilient Communities” on October 22.
Dr. Burbank was also an invited speaker at the Allergy & Asthma Network U.S. Asthma Summit in Boston, MA on “The Impact of Climate Change on Asthma and Allergic Disease” on October 25.
Dr. Neal deJong - General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine - published Factors Associated with Substance Use Disorder among High-Need Adolescents and Young Adults in North Carolina. Hughes PM, Annis IE, deJong NA, Christian RB, Davis SA, Thomas KC.N C Med J. 2024 May;85(3):222-230. doi: 10.18043/001c.117077.PMID: 39437359.
Dr. Tom Ferkol, Dr. Stephanie Davis, Dr. Maimoona Zariwala and Dr. Margaret Leigh – Pulmonology – published Therapies Used by Children With Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia: A Natural History Study. Gardner RA, Ferkol TW, Davis SD, Rosenfeld M, Sagel SD, Dell SD, Milla CE, Li L, Lin FC, Sullivan KM, Zariwala MA, Knowles MR, Leigh MW; Genetic Disorders of Mucociliary Clearance Consortium.Pediatr Pulmonol. 2024 Nov 22:e27412. doi: 10.1002/ppul.27412. Online ahead of print.PMID: 39575633.
Dr. Maria Ferris – General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine - presented "Healthcare Transition: Lessons from the field" at the American Society of Nephrology meeting.
Dr. Kori Flower - General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine - published Good Friends and Good Neighbors: Social Capital and Food Insecurity in Families with Newborns. Lambert JO, Lutz MR, Orr CJ, Schildcrout JS, Bian A, Flower KB, Yin HS, Sanders LM, Heerman WJ, Rothman RL, Delamater AM, Wood CT, White MJ, Perrin EM.J Pediatr. 2024 Oct 18;276:114355. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2024.114355. Online ahead of print.PMID: 39428091.
Dr. Wes Jackson and Dr. Matt Laughon – Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine published Correlating Severity of Pulmonary Hypertension by Echocardiogram with Mortality in Premature Infants with Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia. Torok RD, Gardner RA, Barker PCA, McCrary AW, Li JS, Hornik CP, Laughon MM, Jackson WM. Am J Perinatol. 2024 Dec;41(16):2206-2213. doi: 10.1055/s-0044-1786544. PMID: 38698596.
Dr. David Kram and Dr. Barbara Savoldo – Hematology/Oncology – were awarded a $1.18 million grant to investigate a novel and innovative immunotherapy against relapsed Medulloblastoma. The title of the project is: “Natural Killer T-Cells to Fight Incurable Pediatric Brain Cancer.” A team of National Pediatric Cancer Foundation investigators from UNC Chapel Hill, University of Florida and Children’s National Medical Center have united to address medulloblastoma, the most common type of pediatric brain cancer, and when it recurs, it is nearly universally fatal. The project attempts to circumvent the key mechanisms of resistance that these tumors exhibit against cellular therapies.
Dr. Mike O’Shea – Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine published:
Developmental characteristics and accuracy of autism screening among two-year-old toddlers in the ECHO program. Shuster CL, Brennan PA, Carter BS, Check J, D'Sa V, Graff JC, Helderman J, Hofheimer JA, Joseph RM, Murphy LE, O'Connor TG, O'Shea TM, Pievsky M, Sheinkopf SJ, Shuffrey LC, Smith LM, Wu PC, Lester BM; program collaborators for Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes. Pediatr Res. 2024 Sep;96(4):1052-1061. PMID: 38622260.
Neonatal Morbidities, Neurodevelopmental Impairments, and Positive Health among Children Surviving Birth Before 32 Weeks of Gestation. Logan JW, Tang X, Greenberg RG, Smith B, Jacobson L, Blackwell CK, Hudak M, Aschner JL, Lester B, O'Shea TM; program collaborators for Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes. J Pediatr. 2024 Oct 29:114376. PMID: 39481800.
Trajectories of attention problems in preschoolers born very preterm. Camerota M, Castellanos FX, Carter BS, Check J, Helderman J, Hofheimer JA, McGowan EC, Neal CR, Pastyrnak SL, Smith LM, O'Shea TM, Marsit CJ, Lester BM. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2024 Nov 10. PMID: 39523488.
Neighborhood Food Access in Early Life and Trajectories of Child Body Mass Index and Obesity. Aris IM, Wu AJ, Lin PD, Zhang M, Farid H, Hedderson MM, Zhu Y, Ferrara A, Chehab RF, Barrett ES, Carnell S, Camargo CA Jr, Chu SH, Mirzakhani H, Kelly RS, Comstock SS, Strakovsky RS, O'Connor TG, Ganiban JM, Dunlop AL, Dabelea D, Breton CV, Bastain TM, Farzan SF, Call CC, Hartert T, Snyder B, Santarossa S, Cassidy-Bushrow AE, O'Shea TM, McCormack LA, Karagas MR, McEvoy CT, Alshawabkeh A, Zimmerman E, Wright RJ, McCann M, Wright RO, Coull B, Amutah-Onukagha N, Hacker MR, James-Todd T, Oken E; ECHO Cohort Consortium. JAMA Pediatr. 2024 Nov 1;178(11):1172-1182. PMID: 39283628.
Dr. Cindy Powell, Dr. Liz Jalazo – Genetics & Metabolism, and Dr. Neal deJong – General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine – published A systematic framework for selecting gene-condition pairs for inclusion in newborn sequencing panels: Early Check implementation. Cope HL, Milko LV, Jalazo ER, Crissman BG, Foreman AKM, Powell BC, deJong NA, Hunter JE, Boyea BL, Forsythe AN, Wheeler AC, Zimmerman RS, Suchy SF, Begtrup A, Langley KG, Monaghan KG, Kraczkowski C, Hruska KS, Kruszka P, Kucera KS, Berg JS, Powell CM, Peay HL.Genet Med. 2024 Oct 5;26(12):101290. doi: 10.1016/j.gim.2024.101290. Online ahead of print.PMID: 39375994.
Dr. Samantha Schilling - General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine - published Evaluation of Virtual Enhanced Child Adult Relationship Enhancement in Primary Care Intervention. Kiely J, DePaul E, Rojas S, Cortes S, Schilling S, Dougherty S, Wood JN.J Dev Behav Pediatr. 2024 Sep-Oct 01;45(5):e439-e447. doi: 10.1097/DBP.0000000000001292. Epub 2024 Jun 21.PMID: 39413305.
Dr. Yamini Virkud and Dr. Jennifer Styles – Allergy/Immunology – published Immunomodulatory metabolites in IgE-mediated food allergy and oral immunotherapy outcomes based on metabolomic profiling. Virkud YV, Styles JN, Kelly RS, Patil SU, Ruiter B, Smith NP, Clish C, Wheelock CE, Celedón JC, Litonjua AA, Bunyavanich S, Weiss ST, Baker ES, Lasky-Su JA, Shreffler WG.Pediatr Allergy Immunol. 2024 Nov;35(11):e14267. doi: 10.1111/pai.14267.PMID: 39530396.
Dr. Jasmine Weiss and team – General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine - published Perspectives on Medical School Admission for Black Students Among Premedical Advisers at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Weiss J, Nguementi Tiako MJ, Akingbesote ND, Keene D, Balasuriya L, Sharifi M, Genao I, Latimore D.JAMA Netw Open. 2024 Oct 1;7(10):e2440887. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.40887.PMID: 39441593.
Also, Dr. Jasmine Weiss was selected to present at the 2024 North American Primary Care Research Group conference in Quebec City, November 20-24, 2024 for their work titled "Toward a Better Understanding of Primary Care Physician Career Typologies".
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Complex Care Family Day
UNC Children’s Complex Care Program held its first Complex Care Family Fun Day on November 9 at the Downtown Cary Park! Families enjoyed time together and with Complex Care and Child Life teams on a beautiful day!
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Prematurity Awareness Day & March of Dimes | Neonatal physician Dr. Cara Beth Carr from UNC Children's Hospital shares eye-opening stats about premature babies, moms in need, and how you can help through March of Dimes. | | | |
Please join me in welcoming our newest adorable additions to the Pediatrics family! | |
Meet Erin Joice Wanjiku. Born in November to Dr. Katherine MacDonald in General Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. She was born 6lb 11oz and 18.5 inches.
Congratulations!
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This bundle of cuteness, Olivia Rowan Leong, joined big sister, Maeve, as well as mom, Dr. Liz Leong in Cardiology, and dad, Dr. Kieran Leong in Critical Care Medicine. in November.
Congratulations!
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Amy Stewart, RN
Nurse Coordinator
UNC Children’s Diagnostic Clinic, UNC Children’s Complex Care Program, and UNC Pediatric Genetics Clinic
Nominators: Maria Ferris, Kori Flower, Michael Steiner, Lauren Baumgardner, Alyssa McRae, Kristen Cole, Lyndsi Sigmon, Heidie Tkach and the rest of the GPAM team.
Even in good times when we had a second, full-time nurse coordinator, Amy was doing well more than one job. Since our full-time Complex Care Nurse Coordinator left in June, Amy has been covering that individual’s position, as well. She is responsive to patients and families to such a degree that, for many, she has become the face and name they associate first with our clinics’ work. As busy as she is, Amy has continued to up her game in all respects. She has become adept at working through electronic prior authorizations, a universally odious and time-sucking task that is nonetheless critically important and time-sensitive in our current clinical and payment environment. She is a wiz at prepping letters of medical necessity, letters for schools, FMLA paperwork, etc., etc. She has also continued to develop clinical acumen and expertise as a front-line contact for families who call with medical concerns about their children. She triages their concerns efficiently and appropriately, and we’ve all come to rely on her frontline assessments and recommendations to help guide our programs’ responses to their concerns. All these things Amy does with a ready sense of humor and with an abiding passion to serve the children and families who rely on us to help meet their needs. I suspect the best way we could honor Amy’s exceptional work is to hurry up and on-board her new partner. Beyond that, though, she has certainly earned broader recognition of her commitment to our patients and the excellence she has cultivated in her work.
Thank you, Amy, for all that you do!
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