June 2024

Dear Friends,

Happy July! I hope you all had a wonderful 4^th of July holiday.

Over the next two months, there will be many new faces at UNC Children’s. We are excited to welcome several new physicians, practitioners, and staff. We have an outstanding group of new interns who have started, and our new fellows will be joining us soon. Please see several of these new faces below.

Dr. Samuel Young started as the Director of the UNC Gene Therapy Center at the end of June. Dr. Young joins us from the University of Iowa where he was a Professor in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology and served as the Director of Molecular Auditory Research in the Department of Otolaryngology. Please help me welcome Dr. Young to UNC Children’s!

The planning for N.C. Children’s Campus continues to move forward. The current priorities are identifying the site and initiating several workstreams focused on the new campus. As workstreams start to take shape, we will be sending out a survey to everyone in UNC Children’s to gauge interest in participating in various aspects of the early planning. Linked here is the latest update from the NC Children’s Hospital Planning Team!

Drs. Katie Jordan, Priyanka Rao and Julie Byerley recently published an excellent Viewpoint entitled Where Are All the Pediatricians? This article highlights the current pediatric workforce landscape and the potential reasons for why we don’t have enough pediatricians. I would encourage all of you to read this. 

Our faculty and staff have also received many kudos this month from families and patients. This positive feedback from families regarding clinical care, from community agencies regarding advocacy efforts, or from national organizations regarding important child health service highlights the amazing people we have as colleagues at UNC Children’s. The strength of UNC is truly our people!

As always, I am thankful for your leadership, care, and service to our children and families!

Gratefully,

General Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine is Reaching Out

In collaboration with the NC Department of Public Safety, GPAM has expanded medical services to the juvenile detention system and will being serving a new center in Reidsville, in addition to the 2 currently served in Butner and Hoffman.

Dr. Baum and Team Earn Very Positive Feedback!

The family shared with a staff member that Nurse Coordinator Neal Lochrie was "so reassuring and on top of things" and that Social Worker Kristin Chadha was "so personable and professional and asked all the right questions that helped her think about her daughter in a deeper way that she had not done in a long time."

The family expressed tremendous gratitude that Dr. Baum's team is also serving rural areas and addressing gaps between behavioral health needs and providers. 

Kudos to Peds Cardiology and Peds ED Teams!

Welcome to Our Pediatrics and Med-Peds Presidents!

Click on the images below to more easily view the complete composite photos

Kaouk Receives Cefalo House Officer Award

One of our graduating residents, Dr. Ghallia Kaouk, was recently honored with this year's Robert C. Cefalo House Officer Award! Selected from a a competitive cohort of all fellows and residents at UNC, Dr. Kaouk was one of only five individuals chosen. Dr. Kaouk earned her medical degree at UNC and soon will be a Critical Care Medicine Fellow at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.

The UNC Hospitals House Officer Awards recognize outstanding members of the Hospitals’ house staff for exemplary service, professional performance, and compassionate patient care. Residents and fellows are nominated for this esteemed award by demonstrating outstanding empathy for patients and families, effective listening to and communicating with patients and families, advocacy for and demonstration of the highest standards in patient care, and exemplary professional and interpersonal interactions with colleagues, staff, patients, and visitors.

Congratulations!

PSTP Celebrates their Graduates

The UNC Pediatric Physician-Scientist Training Program/Carolina Child Health Scholar Program celebrated our graduates, Maria Ansar, MD, PhD, 3rd year Pediatric Resident, and Anisha Gerber, MD, 3rd year Pediatric Nephrology Fellow.

Congratulations, we are so proud of you!

ACGME Grateful to McNeal-Trice

The ACGME recently highlighted the work Dr. Kenya McNeal-Trice as a member of the ACGME Review Committee. The ACGME is the national organization that accredits and oversees the quality of education in the more than 13,000 graduate medical education (GME) programs, and of more than 800 institutions that sponsor those programs. As a not-for-profit organization, the ACGME relies heavily on the expertise of nationally renowned physician leaders who volunteer a significant amount of both time and energy in this peer review effort.

The insights and judgement of experts, like Dr. McNeal-Trice are:

the basis for important recommendations and decisions affecting more than 150,000 residents and fellows who serve millions of patients each year. The work of the past year has been challenging and significant, dealing with the challenges of the post­-pandemic period, isolated hospital closures, and the addition of many new programs. The decisions made by the ACGME Review Committees will have an impact for many years to come.

The workload for faculty members in responding to this extraordinary three­-year national crisis, coupled with the challenges associated with the recovery, was matched by their resolve and demonstrated by the time and expertise they dedicated to support the work of the ACGME in addition to their responsibilities at home. For that, all of us involved in GME across the nation are eternally grateful.

Thank you for all you do, Kenya!!

Drs. Yang and Tangredi at the Arts for Epilepsy gala in Raleigh

UNC Child Neurology and “Arts for Epilepsy”

The Epilepsy Alliance of NC hosted the “Arts for Epilepsy” gala on Friday June 21st at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh.

Dr. Bob Greenwood, Carolyn Zook PNP, Jennifer Harrell RN, and Dr. JoJo Yang attended from UNC Child Neurology. Dr. Christine Tangredi attended from Nunnelee Pediatric Specialty Clinic in Wilmington.

The Epilepsy Alliance North Carolina is dedicated to supporting those impacted by epilepsy in local communities by confronting the spectrum of challenges created by seizures. Efforts to accomplish this lofty goal include education, advocacy, support and research which might accelerate ideas into therapies.



Providing support to 90 percent of the counties of North Carolina as well as crossing over into South Carolina, the Epilepsy Alliance North Carolina exists to help anyone who battles the effects of epilepsy. From assisting with payment for medications to connecting people to doctors across the state, the alliance fields 8,000 to 10,000 phone calls each year and is here to support families as a locally based resource with a long, proud history of service in North Carolina.

Dr. Bianca Allison – General Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine – published:

Increasing access to LARC removal in pediatrics to support adolescent reproductive justice in the United States. Hartheimer JS, Allison BA, Perry MF. Perspect Sex Reprod Health. 2024 Jun 4. doi: 10.1111/psrh.12270. Online ahead of print. PMID: 38837867.

The perceived impact of a post-Dobbs landscape on U.S. adolescents and young adults. Allison BA, Vear K, Hoopes AJ, Maslowsky J. Contraception. 2024 Jun 13:110513. doi: 10.1016/j.contraception.2024.110513. Online ahead of print. PMID: 38879071.

Dr. Stephanie Borinsky – Gastroenterology – had an article, Weight gain during diet therapy linked to ‘worse EoE outcomes’ no matter baseline weight, focusing on her research highlighted by the American Gastroenterological Association.

Dr. Neal deJong – General Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine - published Pediatric Mental Health Care and Scope-of-Practice Expansions. Hughes PM, Graaf G, Gigli KH, deJong NA, McGrath RE, Thomas KC. Adm Policy Ment Health. 2024 May;51(3):384-392. doi: 10.1007/s10488-024-01342-w. Epub 2024 Feb 13. PMID: 38349470.

Dr. Elizabeth Fitzgerald and Dr. Tisu Mvalo - General Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine – published Comprehensive assessment of pediatric acute and inpatient care at a tertiary referral hospital in Malawi: opportunities for quality improvement. Fitzgerald E, Ciccone EJ, Mvalo T, Chiume M, Mgusha Y, Mkaliainga TB, Tilly AE, Chen J, Bell G, Crouse H, Robison JA, Eckerle M. BMJ Paediatr Open. 2024 May 7;8(1):e002404. doi: 10.1136/bmjpo-2023-002404. PMID: 38719563.

Dr. Lauren Frazer - Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, was awarded a Center for Gastrointestinal Biology and Disease Pilot Award for her proposal, “Identification of diagnostic and predictive markers for necrotizing enterocolitis.” This proposal seeks to improve the diagnosis, prognostication, and treatment of infants with NEC. 

Dr. Matthew Laughon – Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine – published Indomethacin Prophylaxis in Preterm Infants: Changes over Time. Curtis SF, Cotten CM, Laughon M, Younge N, Peterson J, Clark RH, Greenberg RG. Am J Perinatol. 2024 May;41(S 01):e680-e688. PMID: 35973793.

Dr. Jennifer Law – Endocrinology- is part of the International Turner Syndrome Consensus Group, who recently published Clinical practice guidelines for the care of girls and women with Turner syndrome. Gravholt CH, Andersen NH, Christin-Maitre S, Davis SM, Duijnhouwer A, Gawlik A, Maciel-Guerra AT, Gutmark-Little I, Fleischer K, Hong D, Klein KO, Prakash SK, Shankar RK, Sandberg DE, Sas TCJ, Skakkebæk A, Stochholm K, van der Velden JA; International Turner Syndrome Consensus Group; Backeljauw PF. Eur J Endocrinol. 2024 Jun 5;190(6):G53-G151. doi: 10.1093/ejendo/lvae050. PMID: 38748847.

Dr. Tisu Mvalo – General Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine – published The Association Between Breastfeeding and Growth Among Infants with Moderately Low Birth Weight: A Prospective Cohort Study. North K, Semrau KEA, Bellad RM, Dhaded SM, Das L, Behera JN, Hoffman I, Mvalo T, Kisenge R, Sudfeld CR, Somji S, Mokhtar RR, Vesel L, Goudar S, Vernekar SS, Siddhartha ES, Singh B, Koujalagi MB, Panda S, Kafansiyanji E, Nyirenda N, Phiri M, Saidi F, Masoud NS, Moshiro R, Tuller DE, Israel-Ballard K, Duggan CP, Lee ACC, Mansen KL, Young MF, Manji K; LIFE study team. J Pediatr. 2024 Jun;269:114003. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2024.114003. Epub 2024 Mar 4. PMID: 38447758.

Dr. Jackie Patterson – Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine – published Delayed cord clamping and the response to bradycardia immediately after birth. Patterson J, Niermeyer S. Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed. 2024 Jun 19;109(4):346-347. PMID: 38641420. 

Dr. Mike O’Shea – Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine – recently published:

Neurodevelopmental Outcomes After Late Preterm Antenatal Corticosteroids: The ALPS Follow-Up Study.  Gyamfi-Bannerman C, Clifton RG, Tita ATN, Blackwell SC, Longo M, de Voest JA, O'Shea TM, Bousleiman SZ, Ortiz F, Rouse DJ, Metz TD, Saade GR, Rood KM, Heyborne KD, Thorp JM Jr, Swamy GK, Grobman WA, Gibson KS, El-Sayed YY, Macones GA; Eunice Kennedy Shriver Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units Network. JAMA. 2024 May 21;331(19):1629-1637. PMID: 38656759. 

Intrapartum exposure to synthetic oxytocin, maternal BMI, and neurodevelopmental outcomes in children within the ECHO consortium. Kurth L, O'Shea TM, Burd I, Dunlop AL, Croen L, Wilkening G, Hsu TJ, Ehrhardt S, Palanisamy A, McGrath M, Churchill ML, Weinberger D, Grados M, Dabelea D. J Neurodev Disord. 2024 May 26;16(1):26. PMID: 38796448.

Mechanisms and timing of brain injury among persons with cerebral palsy. O'Shea TM. Dev Med Child Neurol. 2024 Jul;66(7):829-830. PMID: 38238983. 

Associations between neighborhood characteristics and child well-being before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: A repeated cross-sectional study in the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program.  Zhang X, Blackwell CK, Moore J, Liu SH, Liu C, Forrest CB, Ganiban J, Stroustrup A, Aschner JL, Trasande L, Deoni SCL, Elliott AJ, Angal J, Karr CJ, Lester BM, McEvoy CT, O'Shea TM, Fry RC, Shipp GM, Gern JE, Herbstman J, Carroll KN, Teitelbaum SL, Wright RO, Wright RJ; of collaborators for the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes program. Environ Res. 2024 Jul 1;252(Pt 1):118765. PMID: 38548252.

Health-related quality of life at age 10 years in children born extremely preterm. Call C, Oran A, O'Shea TM, Jensen ET, Frazier JA, Vaidya R, Shenberger J, Gogcu S, Msall ME, Kim S, Jalnapurkar I, Fry RC, Singh R. J Perinatol. 2024 Jun;44(6):835-843. PMID: 38760579.

Combining developmental and sleep health measures for autism spectrum disorder screening: an ECHO study. Shuffrey LC, Rennie B, Li X, Galai N, Pini N, Akbaryan A, Alshawabkeh A, Aschner J, Vargas JC, Costello L, D'Sa V, Deoni S, Dunlop A, Elliott AJ, Fifer WP, Hash J, Koinis-Mitchell D, Lai JS, Leventhal BL, Lewis J, Lucchini M, McArthur KL, Morales S, Nozadi SS, O'Connor TG, O'Shea TM, Page GP, Propper C, Sania A, Shuster C, Zimmerman E, Margolis AE; ECHO Cohort Consortium.Pediatr Res. 2024 Jun 12. PMID: 38867029.

Neonatal neurobehavior associated with developmental changes from age 2 to 3 in very preterm infants. Craft AL, Camerota M, Loncar C, Carter BS, Check J, Helderman JB, Hofheimer JA, McGowan EC, Neal CR, O'Shea TM, Pastyrnak SL, Smith LM, Dansereau LM, DellaGrotta SA, Marsit C, Lester BM. Early Hum Dev. 2024 Jul;194:106039. PMID: 38759420.

Development and Validation of a Novel Placental DNA Methylation Biomarker of Maternal Smoking during Pregnancy in the ECHO Program. Shorey-Kendrick LE, Davis B, Gao L, Park B, Vu A, Morris CD, Breton CV, Fry R, Garcia E, Schmidt RJ, O'Shea TM, Tepper RS, McEvoy CT, Spindel ER; program collaborators for Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes. Environ Health Perspect. 2024 Jun;132(6):67005. PMID: 38885141. 

Dr. Keia Sanderson – Pediatric Nephrology and Dr. Mike O’Shea– Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine – published Adolescent Kidney Outcomes after Extremely Preterm Birth and Neonatal Acute Kidney Injury: There May be More to the Story. Lupo R, Chang E, Bjornstad EC, O'Shea TM, Sanderson KR. Am J Perinatol. 2024 May;41(S 01):e3319-e3325. PMID: 38195965.

Dr. Mike Steiner – General Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine – published Outcomes associated with initial narrow-spectrum versus broad-spectrum antibiotics in children hospitalized with urinary tract infections. Markham JL, Burns A, Hall M, Molloy MJ, Stephens JR, McCoy E, Ugalde IT, Steiner MJ, Cotter JM, House SA, Collins ME, Yu AG, Tchou MJ, Shah SS. J Hosp Med. 2024 May 12. doi: 10.1002/jhm.13390. Online ahead of print. PMID: 38734985.

Dr. Yamini Virkud - Allergy/Immunology – was recently awarded an Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Award (R21) through the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for her project titled, “Metabolomics of Food Allergen Immunotherapy.”

Dr. Rebecca Vitale – Endocrinology – published Lower Independent Self-Care Readiness Persists over Time in Teens with Type 1 Diabetes and Executive Function Challenges. Vitale RJ, Tinsley LJ, Volkening LK, Laffel LM. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2024 Jun 12:dgae391. doi: 10.1210/clinem/dgae391. Online ahead of print. PMID: 38864451. 

Elijah 'Eli' Sean DesJardin was born in early May, weighing in at 7 pounds, 3 oz. and measuring 20 inches. Congratulations to Katie DesJardin, NNP with Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, and her family on Eli's's birth—all are doing well!

Adorable!

Jack Curran, MHA

Associate Chair for Administration

Nominated by: Stephanie D. Davis, MD

Our Associate Chair for Administration, Jack Curran, has been an earnest leader of our administrative core and dedicated member of the department's leadership team. He began his work at the UNC School of Medicine in 2021. During his time with the department, he oversaw the continued substantial growth of pediatrics faculty, the integration of the Wilmington subspecialty division, and other financial initiatives. We appreciated the care he has taken with our finances and the attention he's given to our HR and other administrative priorities.

Jack received his BS in health information management from Saint Louis University College of Health Sciences and his MHA from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. Prior to his time at UNC-Chapel Hill, he served as the administrative director for the Department of Pediatrics at The Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City from 2009 to 2021. He will be joining the University of Florida as the Director of Administration for the Department of Psychiatry on July 23.

Spencer Brady, MHA, will serve as interim associate chair for administration for the Department of Pediatrics beginning July 22. Brady currently serves as manager of academic financial analysis and will step away from this role through the interim period.

Many thanks, Jack!!