Volume 2 | Issue 6 - December 2019

Peds R Us Department of Pediatrics Rutgers RWJMS

Enjoy our updated Quarterly newsletter. Your feedback and comments are welcomed!

Dr. Larry Kleinman elected to the American Pediatric Society The American Pediatric Society (APS) formally elected Dr. Kleinman to active membership with the society. Active membership in the APS is reserved for individuals residing in the United States or Canada who have distinguished themselves as child health leaders, teachers, scholars, policymakers, and/or clinicians and whose important contributions are recognized nationally or internationally. Congratulations Dr. Kleinman!

Dr. Weller Leads AAP's NJ Chapter in Emphasizing Importance of Immunization and Updating Vaccination Requirements As president of the New Jersey chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Alan Weller, MD, MPH , associate professor of pediatrics and a Rutgers Health pediatrician here, is playing a significant role in spreading the academy's message of the importance of childhood immunizations for children's and the community's health. This week, an op/ed column by Dr. Weller was published in The Star-Ledger and on NJ.com, which calls for N.J. lawmakers to pass legislation that would allow only a medical exemption from vaccinations. Currently, state legislators are reviewing a bill that would eliminate all non-medical exemptions, a move Dr. Weller notes "will serve as a crucial step toward making our schools, communities and, most of all, children safer." Dr. Weller's column can be read here. T aken from the Dean's weekly 8/30/19

Off-label Medication Orders on the Rise for Children, New Study Finds

Physicians in the United States are increasingly ordering medications for children for conditions that are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration, according to a new study led by Daniel B. Horton, MD, MSCE , assistant professor of pediatrics and epidemiology and a pediatric rheumatologist. The study, published in the journal Pediatrics , revealed that for about 19 percent of office visits studied, doctors ordered one or more off-label systemic drugs, often for common conditions such as respiratory infections, asthma or mental health disorders. In visits with at least one drug order, doctors ordered drugs off-label in about 83 percent of newborn visits, 49 percent of infant visits and about 40 percent of visits for other ages. In addition, among visits with at least one ordered drug, the rates of ordering off-label increased from 42 percent in 2006 to 47 percent by 2015. Findings highlight the need for more education, research and policies addressing effective, safe pediatric drug prescribing, researchers say. In addition to Dr. Horton, study authors include Brian L. Strom, MD, MPH , chancellor, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences; Divya Hoon and Pooja Kapadia at the medical school; and Matthew Taylor and Tobias Gerhard, BSPharm, PhD, of Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research. Learn more in this Rutgers Today article. Taken from the Dean's weekly 9/20/19

Racial Disparities in Survival for Some Pediatric Cancer Patients Rahul Parikh, MD; Karishma Khullar, MD; Sachin R. Jhawar, MD; Richard Drachtman, MD ; and Peter D. Cole, MD

In what is believed to be the largest dataset study to date examining the role of race on survival outcome for pediatric patients with Hodgkin lymphoma, investigators at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey have found that black patients have significantly worse overall survival at five years than white patients when accounting for all available clinical variables. The work was presented as part of a mini oral presentation at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) in Chicago. Click here to read article . Taken from the Dean's weekly 9/20/19

2019 Population Health Summit: Maternal Outcomes Matter Barbara Ostfeld, PhD , professor and program director, SIDS Center of New Jersey in the Department of Pediatrics, participated in the N.J. Dept. of Health's 2019 Population Health Summit: Maternal Outcomes Matter panel on Eliminating Infant Health Disparities.  Taken from the Dean's weekly 9/27/19

Patricia Whitley-Williams, MD shares Importance of Flu Vaccine during National News Conference click here to read Health Officials: It's Time to Give Flu Vaccine Another Shot -- Patricia Whitley-Williams, MD -- wnbcmiami.com, wkbn.com, among others   Children lead flu immunization rates, but gaps remain -- Patricia Whitley-Williams, MD -- aappublications.org   Taken from the Dean's Weekly 9/27/19

October is SIDS Awareness Month

Click here to read the article on SIDS awareness

Niel Miele, MD , associate professor in pediatric emergency medicine was recognized by the American Pediatric Association(APA) for his contributions as a Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) Meeting Reviewer, since 2006. Dr. Miele provides abstract and workshop reviews for Pediatric EM, General Pediatrics and Quality Improvement. Dr. Miele is a valued contributor to the Academic Pediatric Association! In the current academic medicine environment, competing priorities place significant pressure and time constraints on faculty. We appreciate the time and expertise Dr. Miele has provided to the APA. The APA is an organization dedicated to nurturing the academic success and career development of child health professionals to enhance the well-being of all children. It is only with the contributions of esteemed faculty like Dr. Miele that we can achieve this goal.

Dr. Lewis Speaks at National Retreat Michael Lewis , PhD , university distinguished professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry, and director of the Institute for the Study of Child Development, was invited to speak during Renaissance Weekend in Ojai, California, October 11 - 13, 2019 . Dr. Lewis' Cornerstone Lecture was entitled Altering Fate, Lessons for Adult Development.   Renaissance Weekends are non-partisan retreats designed to build bridges among innovative leaders from diverse fields by discussing pertinent questions of today and essential issues of human experience.

Dr. Pai Presents at State Conferences   Shilpa Pai, MD FAAP , associate professor of pediatrics, presented at state conferences, including School Food Waste Reduction Summit in July, taking place in New Brunswick, and the New Jersey Primary Care Association Meeting in October in Atlantic City. (from the Dean's Weekly 11/1/19)

Rutgers Association of Toxicology Students (RATS) Sweep Mid-Atlantic Society of Toxicology  Awards On Thursday, October 31, six of the Joint Graduate Program in Toxicology (JGPT) students swept the MASOT             awards!!!                MASOT Student Achievement Award – Alexa Murray (D Laskin Lab)             1 st  Place Poster Award – Ludwik Gorczyca (L Aleksunes Lab)             2 nd  Place Poster Award – Emily Parchuke (A Gow Lab)             3 rd  Place Poster Award – Jennifer Schaefer (A Babwah Lab)             Membership Choice Poster Award - Jeanine D’Errico (P Stapleton Lab)             Connery Berger Award – Yunqi An (J Laskin Lab)  Jennifer Schafer's photo is in the lower right hand corner of the collage. She is supervised by Drs. Babwah and Radovick.

Do You Really Need That Antibiotic Order? Any time antibiotics are used, they can cause side effects and lead to antibiotic resistance, one of the most urgent threats to the public's health.   The CDC designated Monday, November 18th-Sunday, November 24th as U.S. Antibiotic Awareness Week .   Click here for a video with Amisha Malhotra, MD , Tanaya Bhowmick, MD, and Jessica Lise, PharmD, featuring all you need to know to "Be Antibiotics Aware"!

Faculty Named Top Docs by New Jersey Monthly Congratulations to the 8 physicians in Pediatrics from Rutgers Health at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School who have been named Top Doctors in 2019 by New Jersey Monthly ! Recognition as a  Top Doc  is a point of pride as physicians are nominated by their patients and peers.  Congratulations to the following faculty members who received this recognition: Dalya Chefitz, MD , associate professor and chief of hospitalist medicine Vicki Craig, MD , associate professor of pediatrics and senior associate dean of safety, quality and clinical affairs Gary Kohn, MD , clinical assistant professor of pediatrics Soula Koniaris, MD , associate professor of pediatrics and chief of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition A misha Malhotra, MD,   associate professor of pediatrics Robert Manduley, MD , associate professor of pediatrics David Sorrentino, MD , associate professor of pediatrics and chief of neonatology Patricia Whitley-Williams, MD , professor of pediatrics and chief of pediatric allergy, immunology and infectious disease From the Dean's Weekly 11/22/19

Study Found for Children with Colds, Doctors are Increasingly Likely to Recommend Antihistamines Rather than Cough and Cold Medicine A study by lead author  Daniel Horton, MD   , assistant professor of pediatrics, found that for respiratory infections in children under 12, physicians are increasingly more likely to recommend antihistamines and less likely to recommend cough and cold medicines.  Brian Strom, MD, MPH   , chancellor, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, was a co-author of the study. Click here to read full article

Evidence Shows Shared Reading Advances Vocabulary Skills in Nearly All Children Shared reading between parents and very young children, including infants, is associated with stronger vocabulary skills for nearly all children by age 3, according to lead author Manuel Jimenez, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics, and family medicine and community health. The study was published in The Journal of Pediatrics, along with colleagues including Daniel Notterman, MD, professor of molecular biology and co-investigator of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study at Princeton University, clinical professor and former chair of pediatrics at the medical school.  Using data from the Fragile Families cohort, the team assessed the difference in vocabulary skill development based on genetic differences in two neurotransmitter systems that are associated with mental health outcomes like poor executive control, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or addictive behaviors. The study found that shared reading with children at 1 year old was associated with higher vocabulary scores on a standardized assessment at age 3, in line with previous published studies. Children with genetic variations that put them at-risk fared just as well as their peers on the assessment when shared reading was conducted at age 1. However, at-risk children who were not exposed to shared reading did poorly on the same vocabulary assessment. The research underscores the importance of a positive environment with close parental contact and its direct correlation to favorable child development, even when a child may be at-risk for learning and behavioral challenges.

Hunger Should Never Haunt A Child's Life by David Krol, MD

Click here to read the article that was originally posted in the Dean's weekly 11/22/19.

Finding and Fighting Multiple Sclerosis in Pediatric Patients Vikram Bhise, MD   Click here to read article originally published in Rutgers Today on November 6, 2019

Hand Hygiene Champion! Alan Weller, MD Dr. Alan Weller received recognition in November from RWJ Barnabas Health as a hand hygiene champion ensuring that all on the pediatric floors wash their hands upon entering and exiting a patient room. Congratulations!

New Faculty/Staff September 2019 Mark D. Baker, MD - Professor, Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Vice Chair of Clinical Affairs  Diana Cruz - Work Assistant, Division of Child Neurology  Natalie Torres Feliz, MD - Assistant Professor, Division of Critical Care Brian Greer, PhD, BCBA-D Assistant Professor, Division of Child Neurology  Anthony Helena - Community Health Worker, Division of Allergy, Immunology and Infectious Diseases Prerna Trivedy, MD - RBHS Instructor, Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine  Collette Williams - Staff Assistant, Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine/Hospitalist Medicine Maxim Yankelvich, MD - Associate Professor, Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology  October 2019 Sarmed Al-Samerria, PhD - Post Doc Fellow, Division of Endocrinology Maricel Quinones - Staff Assistant, Population Health, Quality and Implementation Sciences (PoPQuIS) Christine Reustle, APN - Clinical Instructor, Division of Critical Care Cynthia Salvant, MD, MBS - RBHS Instructor, Division of Rheumatology  Xiomara Vargas - Public Health Representative III, Division of Allergy, Immunology and Infectious Diseases Aviva Wohlgemuth, RN, BSN - Staff Nurse, Division of Rheumatology  November 2019 Nadejda Tomarev, MD - Housestaff PG IV, Division of Child Neurology