Spring 2022

USF Pediatrics Spring 2022

Chair's Message

Every day at work, we are faced with hassles – some are big and some small, yet all create frustration. Most jobs have parts that are tedious. But when we’re feeling like all we do is check the box or click another Epic tab, it is important to take a moment to remember our WHY. Watching the nightly news these past few weeks shows us the power of WHY. Seeing the Ukrainian people united in a single cause to protect their country and their freedom is inspirational. Whether it is President Zelensky or an elderly woman on the street, they all have the same message, the same cause. 

Business leadership author Simon Sinek talks about knowing your WHY. Why you work in the job you do and what your passion is that helps you get through some of the hassles or mundane parts of the job. No matter how great your job is, working together for a common cause makes it more fun and so much easier. When I reflect on this time of the year and review this newsletter, it reminds me of our WHY. Watching our students match and seeing our residents and fellows move onto the next phase of their careers reminds me that academic education is what differentiates us. Each of us plays a part in our department’s overall mission. Whether you are writing curricula, scheduling patients and fielding phone calls or coordinating complex care for a patient, you are part of the fabric of our department and contribute to our noble cause. For me the WHY is advancing the health of children in our community through collaboration, innovation, and most importantly, education. You are all part of my WHY and I hope you feel the same pride when you see what faculty, staff and learners are doing in pursuit of their WHY. 

Kudos

• The USF Health Doctoral Internship in Professional Psychology was awarded full accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation. The committee applauded the quality of the program, citing “The personal commitment and support of administration to develop and maintain the best possible quality of graduate education and training in psychology.” Congratulations to Dr. Heather Agazzi and the developmental psychology team!
• Dr. Terri Ashmeade and our primary care champions at 17 Davis (Dr. Lana Soylu and Raquel Dennis-Boring) and STC (Dr. John McCormick and Jill Barrera) were awarded a Medical Stars award from Florida Blue Medicare.
• Dr. Tara Randis was elected to be a Council Member in the Perinatal Research Society.
• Kevin Espinal RN, BSN was recognized with a Culture Coin for outstanding patient care in the Adolescent Medicine Division. He was nominated by Dr. Cameron Nereim for a “tremendous job” working with patients and their families, especially during the pandemic. Read more about the accomplishment here.
• Our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Team has performed notable teamwork for an exit procedure on a neonate and the infant’s journey. Our high-risk obstetrics program and NICU are amazing! Thank you to Dr. Jamie Flores Torres who oversees the fetal care consults for our neonatology group. You can view the Tampa General patient story here.
• Dr. Patricia Emmanuel was elected to be a Fellow with the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
• Dr. Adam Lewin has taken on a new service role as President Elect with the American Board of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology.
• Dr. Adam Lewin has been granted Fellow status with the American Psychological Association for outstanding contributions and performance in the field and for work that has had a national impact on the field.
• USF President Rhea Law commended Dr. Joe Puccio and the Student Health Services staff for their tireless dedication, especially in response to COVID-19.
• Dr. Panida Sriaroon became a U.S. citizen and Krisztian Csomos and Boglarka Ujhazi both got their U.S. Permanent Residency!
• Dr. Jennifer Takagishi was a guest on the American Academy of Pediatrics’ podcast episode Parental Leave for Pediatric Trainees, Pandemic’s Effect on Children with Special Needs- Episode 105, where she spoke about recommended changes to support young families. Listen to the episode here.
• Gastroenterology dietician Nicole Misner was accepted to the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition (NASPGHAN) Nutrition University as one of only 10 dietitians nationwide who are accepted each year.
• Dr. Carina Rodriguez was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal for a story about Novavax Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine. Read the article here.
• Dr. Terri Ashmeade has been appointed Chief Medical Officer for USF Health and Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs for the Morsani College of Medicine. She will also serve as the Co-Vice President for Clinical Affairs for USFTGP. 
• We are grateful to our many providers who are recognized by their patients for their outstanding and quality care. Winners from the 2020-2021 Patient Experience Awards Ceremony include the following: 

Division of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics

Dr. Denise Edwards

Dr. Nathan Brinn

Dr. John McCormick

Dr. Megan Spiewak

Division of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics

Dr. Eliana Piedrahita- Llano

Dr. Laura Weathers

Division of Pulmonology

Dr. Marisa Couluris

Grants

• Dr. Jolan Walter has been granted $25,000 by Severe Combined Immune Deficiency (SCID) Angels for Life Foundation for the project titled Predicting the clinical phenotype and increasing awareness of a novel RAG1 p.C167F founder variant causing atypical SCID with variable immune dysregulation in U.S. Mennonite communities.
• Drs. Claudia Gaviria-Agudelo, Jennifer Takagishi and Sara Garcia and Med-Peds residents Drs. Hannah Shin and Sherri Huang have been granted $25,000 from the AAP through the FCAAP for the flu vaccine hesitancy project titled Vaccinate with Confidence- Influenza Vaccine Project.
• Dr. Tara Randis has been granted $20,000 from the USF Microbiome Research Award program for the project titled Maternal Dietary Intervention to Reduce Late-onset GBS Disease in Infants.
• Dr. Larry Dishaw has been granted $74,750 by the National Institutes of Health for the project titled Functional Consequences of Bacterial-Fungal dysbiosis in E/VLBW Infants. 

Transitions

Welcome New Faculty

We are excited by the recent appointment of Dr. Sharon Albers as Director of Pediatric Dermatology in USF’s Department of Internal Medicine. She completed medical school at USF, her residency at USF and a fellowship in pediatric dermatology in 1998 at the University of Toronto. Prior to joining USF, she was an Associate Professor of Dermatology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She will be seeing pediatric dermatology patients at the 17 Davis Clinic and the Morsani Center. Please call 813-821-8008 to schedule an appointment with Dr. Albers. She will have clinic at our 17 Davis and Morsani locations starting in April. 

We welcome three new faculty to USF Pediatrics who have been appointed as assistant professors in the newly created Critical Care Division:

• Dr. Sunita Bhandare completed medical school at the University of Pune, India, and her pediatric residency at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center. Since completing her critical care fellowship at the University of Maryland she has served as assistant professor at Louisiana State University, as a pediatric intensivist/hospitalist at Lawnwood Regional Medical Center in Ft. Pierce, FL, and since 2015 as a critical care physician at Florida Pediatric Associates in St. Petersburg.
• Dr. Dennrick Abrahan returns to Tampa after completing his pediatric residency at USF in 2017. He attended medical school at the University of Central Florida and completed his pediatric critical care fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic in 2020. He served as a critical care physician at Florida Pediatric Associates in St. Petersburg before joining the USF faculty.
• Dr. Raymond Rios completed medical school at the University of Puerto Rico and his pediatric residency and pediatric critical care fellowship at the University Miami. Since completing his fellowship in 2020 he has served as a critical care physician at Florida Pediatric Associates. 

Welcome New Employees

• Taylor Waller, RN, 17 Davis Pediatric Clinic
• Sabine Premier, Clinic Secretary, 17 Davis Pediatric Clinic
• Heather Huyser, APRN, Division of Allergy and Immunology

Faculty Promotions

Congratulations to recently promoted faculty!

Promoted to professor:

• Dr. Maya Balakrishnan, MD, Neonatology
• Dr. Valerie Panzarino, MD, Nephrology
• Dr. Amarilis Sanchez-Valle, MD, Genetics and Metabolism

Promoted to associate professor:

• Dr. Thao (Tina) Ho, DO, Neonatology
• Dr. Jaime Flores-Torres, MD, Neonatology
• Dr. Sagarika Nallu, MD, Neurology
• Dr. Kris Rooney, MD, Lehigh Valley

Clinical Team Members of the Month

Black History Month

Shout out to those in our department who participated in the USF Black Faculty & Staff Annual Welcome Breakfast on February 18, 2022 hosted by the USF Black Faculty & Staff Association. Thank you to Cheryl Lawson Young from our Child Protection Team for doing an outstanding job moderating the event.

Dr. Keisha Adams from the Division of Adolescent Medicine and Michelle McKinney from the Ybor Youth Clinic are pictured together here at the event. 

Residency News and Match Day

Match Day was an exciting day for all, and we are so proud of the applicants and their work.  

Congratulations to our residents who successfully matched into fellowship spots here and around the country! Thank you to all the faculty who advised and supported these residents.

• Tasnia Osmani, Taylor Wiseman, and Kelsey Coombs - Neonatology at USF
• Carlos Sanchez Parra - Pediatric Cardiology at Baylor
• Natalia Pineros Plott- Pediatric Gastroenterology at Indiana University
• Brandy Compton - Hospitalist at University of Colorado 
• Alicia Lew - Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Stanford

Rocky D. Bull visited with our residents Drs. Amneris Hernandez and Jacob Miller alongside Health Park staff at the Pediatric Center at Health Park for the holidays where patients were given stuffed animals. 

USF Health Research Day

Thank you to everyone who came out to USF Health Research Day and congratulations to award winners!

Posters

• Carre C, Compton B, Blanco M, Soylu L, & Straub D won Best Poster in the field of Other Clinical Research for the poster titled Evaluating the Effectiveness of Educational Interventions in Improving Recognition and Diagnosis of Pediatric Hypertension.
• Huang E, Sanders L, Lim A, & Emmanuel P won Best Poster in the field of Other Research for the poster titled Improving Participant Diversity in HIV Prevention Trials. 
• Wiseman T, Lew H, Hentschel A, Oasmani T, Patel C, Alvarez B, Soviravong S, Bini J, Patel C, Zabalo C, Hukill J, Tragesser T, Trasmonte K, Takagishi J, & Weiss A won Best Poster in the field of Health Services Research for the poster titled Fresh Start: A Collaborative Effort to Improve Pediatric Exercise and Nutrition Education.
• Atkinson C, Natarajan O, & Dishaw L won Best Poster in the field of Immunology and Microbiology for the poster titled Elucidating the Effects of Increased Heat on Lysogenic Phage Infection and Temperate Phage Gene Expression. 

Oral Presentation

• Shin H, Timothy P, Illes P, Ujhazi B, Gordon S, Bence N, Alas E, Sullivan S, Miranda M, Duff C, Nieves D, Cruz R, Farmer J, Sriaroon P, Szymanski A, Csomos K, Westermann-Clark E, Dasso J, & Walter J presented Comparing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on patients with pathogenic variant of Nuclear Factor Kappa B Subunit 1 (NFKB1) and Cytotoxic T Lymphocyte Antigen 4 (CTLA4).

Publications

• Chitty-Lopez M, Duff C, Vaughn J, Trotter J, Monforte H, Lindsay D, Haddad E, Keller M, Oshrine B, & Leiding J. Unmanipulated matched sibling donor hematopoietic cell transplantation in TBX1 congenital athymia: A lifesaving therapeutic approach when facing a systemic viral infection. Frontiers in Immunology. Jan 2022.
• Piacentini J, Wu M, Rozenman M, Bennett S, McGuire J, Nadeau J, Lewin A, Sookman D, Lindsey Bergman R, Storch E, & Peris T. Knowledge and competency standards for specialized cognitive behavior therapy for pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder. Psychiatry Research. May 2021. 
• Sriaroon P, Ledford D, & Lockey R. Anaphylaxis is a continuum and should be treated with epinephrine early. Immunology Allergy Clinic North America. Feb 2022. 
• Dominguez K & Randis T. Toward the development of a protein-based group B Streptococcus vaccine. Cell Reports Medicine. Feb 2022. 
• Gonzalez J, Ballow M, Fairchild A, & Runken C. Primary immune deficiency: Patients’ preferences for replacement immunoglobin therapy. Frontiers in Immunology. Feb 2022. 

Poster Presentations

American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI)

Annual Meeting February 25 – 28, 2022 in Pheonix, Arizona



• Walter J presented Effects of Mavorixafor on functional impairments due to a novel missense CXCR4 mutation in a patient with WHIM-Like Syndrome.
• Sullivan S, Potts D, Yilmaz M, Palmer K, Miranda M, Timothy P, Duff C, Gretchen V, Sunkersett G, Deepak C, Oshrine B, Sriaroon P, Cowan M, Puck J, Abraham R, Leiding J, Goldman S, & Walter J presented Diagnostic and therapeutic challenges for infantsa with Radiosensitive (RS)- SCID identified by newborn screening.
• Illes P, Dasso J, Csomos K, Ujhazi B, Nagy B, Alas E, Gordon S, Timothy P, Miranda M, Sullivan S, Sriaroon P, Szymanski A, & Walter J presented The humoral immune response to SARS-CoV-2 Infection and/or immunization in immunocompromised versus immunocompetent individuals.
• Bindernagel C, Sullivan S, Miranda M, Timothy P, Wetzstein G, Sriaroon P, & Walter J presented Use of ASCENIV in a young male with immune abnormalities and multiviral induced respiratory failure. 
• Timothy P, Illes P, Ujhazi B, Gordon S, Nagy B, Eugenia A, Sullivan S, Miranda M, Duff C, Farmer J, Sriaroon P, Szymanski A, Csomos K, Westermann-Clark E, Dasso J, & Walter J presented Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on a group of patients with pathogenic variant of cytotoxic T-lymphocyte associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) in a tertiary center in Florida. 
• Shin H, Timothy P, & Imanirad D presented A case report: Secondary functional immunodeficiency in the setting of severe malnutrition. 
• Wang C, Ujhazi B, Perez Diez A, Gordon S, Xiangdong L, Butte M, Kumanovics A, Csomos K, Sereti I, & Walter J presented Prevelance of anti-lymphocyte antibodies in patients with good syndrome and partial RAG deficiency. 

Oral Presentations

• Dr. Heather Agazzi gave the keynote speech Creating a Safe Cell for Mothers and Babies at the Program for the Best Practice Conference on December 7^th at the Anadolu Hotel in Ankara, Turkey.
• Dr. Tara Randis presented Deciphering the Mucosal Immune Response to GBS Intestinal Colonization as an invited speaker for the International Symposium on Streptococcus Agalactiae Disease (ISSAD) on November 4^th in Colorado.

USF 2022 Symposium Update in Allergy and Immunology January 21-22, 2022 in Tampa, Florida

• Dr. Jolan Walter: Adaptive Immune Deficiencies Problem-Based Learning
• Dr. Panida Sriaroon: Overview of Food Allergy
• Dr. Mandel Sher: The pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of acute rhinosinusitis
• Dr. Mark Ballow: Evolving story on COVID-19

American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) Annual Meeting February 25 – 28, 2022 in Phoenix, Arizona

• Dr. Mary Ann Miranda: Autoimmune Manifestations in a Cohort of Female X-linked Chronic Granulomatous Disease Carriers
• Dr. Alex Wonnaparhown, Dr. John Sleasman, Katrina De Paris, Kristina Curtis, Alan Dale, Dr. Bernard Fischer, Dr. Jolan Walter, & Dr. Terri Tarrant: T Cell Responses to SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination and Infection in Antibody Deficiency Diseases
• Dr. Mark Ballow: Difficult Cases
• Dr. Panida Sriaroon: Autoimmune round table discussion on Palforzia (peanut Oral Immunotherapy)

Save the Date

• April 4 - April 8, 2022 USF Giving Week
• April 7, 2022 Barness Lectureship
• April 7, 2022 Fellows Forum
• May 6, 2022 Morsani College of Medicine (MCOM) graduation
• May 24, 2022 faculty development retreat
• June 19, 2022 resident graduation
• Please participate in our diaper drive in collaboration with Mary Lee's House in April by donating diapers, pacifiers and newborn onesies at one of our donation bins. Date and location details to be released soon!

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Please send content for the next newsletter to [email protected] by 6/23/2022