June 2020
Dear Colleagues,
It’s time for summer and new learners! While on inpatient service last week, I was energized by our inquisitive and compassionate residents and fellows. We are excited to have our new medical students, residents and fellows join us and I am confident we are all up to the task of teaching and mentoring our bright and talented trainees through these unusual circumstances. 
 
Please stay tune for upcoming Town Halls led by the Pediatric Diversity Council. 
 
I also want to thank all of you for the multidisciplinary approach to caring for our patients with COVID. UNC Children’s has seen the highest number of COVID and MIS-C patients than any other children’s hospital in North Carolina. A special thank you to our COVID-response team!
 
As many of you are aware, the Children’s Hospital has been at capacity this week. The nursery and NICU have been especially busy. A special thank you to Benny Joyner, Karen Wood and Melanie Dawes for managing these inpatient issues! 
 
I am sure many of you are planning to take some much deserved time away during the holiday weekend. Please enjoy your time with family and friends over the coming weeks!. 
 
Gratefully,
UNC Children's Missions Update
Please Welcome our New Children's Providers!
Lauren M. Hughes, MSN, NNP
Advanced Practice Practitioner
Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine

Lauren Hughes joined the Department of Pediatrics on June 29th. She will be working as a Nurse Practitioner in the North Carolina Children’s Hospital’s Newborn Critical Care Center (NCCC). Ms. Hughes earned her undergraduate degrees from Duke University. She spent several years working as a CN II at Duke Medical Center, and worked as a contract nurse for multiple NICUs across the US. In 2020, she earned her Masters of Nursing from East Carolina University.
Children's AirCare Leadership Changes
For many years, Karen Wood, MD , Professor of Pediatrics in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, has been the Medical Director for Children's AirCare . I would like to thank Dr. Wood for her strong leadership and dedication to this program, which has significantly grown under her tenure. Furthermore, under her leadership, the pediatric/neonatal transport team was chosen to receive the Association of Air Medical Services Neonatal and Pediatric Award of Excellence in 201 7.  Please thank Dr. Wood for her hard work, dedication and outstanding accomplishments. 
When Dr. Wood let us know she was interested in focusing her attention on her role as Medical Director of the Neonatal Critical Care Center, we embarked upon a lengthy application and review process to identify new leadership for this essential program. We are excited to announce that two leaders have been selected to serve as Co-Medical Directors for the air transport program for children. They begin these new roles on July 1st.
Andrea Trembath, MD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in Neonatal Perinatal Medicine. Her primary focus will be on neonates.
Dan Lercher, MD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics & Anesthesiology in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine. His primary focus will be on older children.
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Familiar Faces in New Leadership Roles
Peds and Med-Peds Chief Residents for 2020-2021
Let's All Welcome Our 2020-20201 First Year Residents!
Congratulations to This Year's Education Awardees!
FACULTY AND NURSING AWARDS
C. Richard Morris Faculty Teaching Award
– Eric Zwemer
Walter W. Tunnessen Faculty Clinician Award
–  Tom Belhorn
Nursing Awards  
–  Nateefa Wade & Lisa Sullivan
 
RESIDENT AWARDS
WakeMed Intern and Resident of the Year Award
– Michelle Gorecki & Blaire Hanvey
Harvey J. Hamrick Outstanding Teaching Resident Awards
–  Christel Wekon-Kemeni, John Barber, Chris Iskander, & Joelle Kane
Campbell W. McMillan Pediatric Intern Award
– Erin Dunneback
William Gronemeyer Resident Award  
–  Stephanie Toder
Edward C. Curnen Resident Award
–  Andy Liu
Floyd W. Denny Pediatric Society Resident Award  
–  Blaire Hanvey

RESIDENT AWARDS
Evening of Scholarship Awards 
Best Student Research Award
– Wesley Sayre
Harvey Hamrick Award for Best Case Report
–   Michelle Gorecki
Jud Van Wyk Award for Best Basic Science Research
– Nikki Worthington
Walter Tunnessen Award for Best Clinical Science Research
– Michael Rogers
Jerry Fernald Award for Best QI Research
– Erin Orth
Alan Stiles Award for Best Resident Research
– Zach Pettigrew
Johnny Carson Award for Best Overall Research
– Laura Lemley
Amal Murarka Teaching Fellow Award
              – Catherine Habashy

Congratulations to our new ACCLAIM Faculty!

Melissa Bauserman, MD, MPH - Neonatal/Perinatal Medicine
Matthew Egberg, MD, MPH, MMSc - Pediatric Gastroenterology
Dan Park MD - Pediatric Emergency Medicine

The Academic Career Leadership Academy in Medicine (ACCLAIM), is a cross-disciplinary leadership program for faculty. The Academic Career Leadership Academy in Medicine (ACCLAIM) is a one-year program that utilizes a multi-faceted approach for leadership development, including a retreat facilitated by leadership experts and standard leadership development tools, followed by executive coaching sessions and interactive weekly presentations by experienced leaders.
Gary Beck Dallaghan, PhD
Director of Educational Scholarship
SOM Office of Medical Education


Dr. Dallaghan has been elected Treasurer of the Council on Medical Student Education in Pediatrics (COMSEP) for 2020. COMSEP is an international community of educators who are passionate about advancing the art and science of medical student education in pediatrics. COMSEP strives to be a part of a bigger community by working with other organizations to improve pediatric medical education, providing support, resources and programs to enable every member to thrive as pediatric educators, developing and sharing exemplary educational resources and practices and advancing the science of medical education.
Please Welcome our New Research Faculty!
Avinash Kollipara, MS, PhD
Assistant Professor
Pediatric Infectious Diseases

Dr. Kollipara joined the Department of Pediatrics as a member of faculty on June 1, 2020. He has been with the Darville Laboratory as a Post Doctoral Research Associate since January 2017. Dr. Kollipara earned his PhD in Microbiology and Immunology form the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, in Australia. During his post-doctoral training at Queensland University of Technology, he was involved in a variety of research on Chlamydia, including testing various adjuvant formulations for a promising recombinant Chlamydia vaccine. Currently, he is working on identifying the immunological correlates of natural immunity in women infected with Chlamydia trachomatis.
Check Out These New Awards and Publications
Marcus Carden, MD and Andrew Smitherman, MD – Pediatric Hematology/Oncology - had their pilot study, " A pilot study assessing p16 levels in adolescent and young adult patients with sickle cell disease at UNC" selected for funding with a $2k award by NC Tracs.

Ajay Gulati, MD - Pediatric Gastroenterology - had his proposal, selected for funding with a Research Project Grant (R01) through the NIH.

 Kori Flower, MD - General Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine - was first author on a recent manuscript with several colleagues in the NC Children's Hospital, including Francisco Sylvester, MD, Kellei Agostinelli, RN, MSN, and Michael J. Steiner, MD, MPH. "Improving Satisfaction and Appointment Attendance Through Navigation for Spanish-Speaking Families", published in the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved .

Edwin Kim, MD, MS – Allergy/Immunology (Adult & Pediatric) - in collaboration with UNC colleagues, including, Tim Moran, MD, PhD, Scott Commins, MD, PhD, and Evan Dellon, MD, MPH, the UNC Food Allergy Initiative was invited to participate in the New FARE Clinical Network as a Center of Distinction . The mission of the FARE Clinical Network is to bring top institutions together to ensure that patients with food allergies have access to state-of-the-art diagnosis and treatment, short-term and long-term care, and research that addresses factors from discovery to application along the entire clinical and translational spectrum.

Peyton Thompon, MD, – Pediatric Infectious Diseases - had her proposal, " Characterizing Hepatitis B Transmission in Congolese Children " selected for funding with a Career Development (K) Award through the NIH.  
Featured Awards
This year UNC was awarded all 4 of the 4 Clinical Fellowship Awards submitted to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation!

Alex Despotes, MD - Pulmonology (Med-Peds trained in combined adult/peds fellowship)
Janet Lucien, DO - Pediatric Endocrinology
Nicole Stephenson, MD & Richard De Vuyst, MD - Pediatric Pulmonology
Ryan Haushalter, RN, CPN
Embedded Epic Professional
UNC Faculty Physicians

Nominated by
Francisco Sylvester MD, Professor & Division Chief - Pediatric Gastroenterology

Ryan has been instrumental in helping us implement telemedicine in the Department of Pediatrics. Ryan is accessible, patient and informative. Ryan is pro-active. He reviews our documentation to ensure proper billing and risk management.

I can confidently state that without Ryan’s help, we would be far behind in our goal to provide telemedicine to our patients. Moreover, we would be a very frustrated bunch!

Ryan’s contributions are much appreciate by our Division and by everyone in the Department!