Explore UAB

Shannon Ross, M.D., Pediatric Infectious Disease, is a member of the inaugural Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) Leadership Institute. The IDSA gathered 30 diverse leaders from across the United States (and Malawi) for the launch of the inaugural IDSA Leadership Institute in early May. As the first program of its kind, designed exclusively for infectious diseases and HIV specialists, attendees built upon existing leadership skills common to the ID professional and developed new tools to enhance their leadership capacity.

Over two-and-a-half days, attendees engaged with a curriculum built on daily themes: Personal Leadership, Team Leadership, and Accountability. On the first day, attendees worked to come to a better understanding of their knowledge and opinions concerning organizational and individual leadership. On the second day, they examined strategies for integrating contemporary leadership theory and practice into the teams they manage. Finally, they explored tools and practices for evaluating and communicating the necessity of their work to individuals who do not share in their expertise.

Read more here

The Chu Family has generously donated funds to Children's of Alabama and the Department of Pediatrics to support educational initiatives. A portion of this donation has been set aside for the pediatric fellows to fund scholarships for fellows who apply. The selection committee for the Chu Family Educational Scholarship recently met on Friday, May 17th, and selected two fellows to receive this scholarship. Candidates were selected on a competitive basis. These awards will provide funds for tuition, books and fees related to their educational endeavors.

Please join us in congratulating the Chu Family Educational Scholarship recipients for the 2019-2020 academic year:

Jennifer Hoefert, M.D. – Upcoming Second Year Pediatric Hospital Medicine Fellow.
Dr. Hoefert will use the scholarship towards completing a UAB Quality Academy Certificate Course.

Hannah Hulsey, M.D. – Upcoming Second Year Adolescent Medicine Fellow.
Dr. Hulsey will use the scholarship towards completing an Individualized Curriculum to enhance health disparities education which includes Community Engagement Training and conferences directed at health disparities and health equity.

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham have been awarded a $6.38 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to determine the long-term burden of morbidity borne by blood cancer patients treated with or without blood or marrow transplantation, or BMT.  

In 2018, an estimated 175,000 individuals were diagnosed with a hematologic malignancy — or blood cancer, such as leukemia, myeloma or lymphoma — in the United States. Such cancers are typically managed through high-intensity chemotherapy with or without radiation. Patients with progressive disease or high risk of relapse are treated with even higher-intensity chemotherapy/radiation and BMT.

“Survival rates after BMT are improving at the rate of 10 percent per decade — steady improvements in outcome have resulted in a growing number of BMT survivors, a population uniquely vulnerable to long-term life-threatening chronic morbidity,” said Smita Bhatia, M.D., Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, principal investigator of the study, director of the Institute for Cancer Outcomes and Survivorship, and senior scientist in the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center. “A better understanding of post-BMT health care needs could result in the deployment of targeted strategies that yield better quality of survival and reduced utilization of health care resources.”

The study will construct a cohort of more than 10,000 patients treated with BMT between 1974 and 2014 at three transplant sites — UAB, University of Minnesota and City of Hope — as well as a cohort of 3,000 patients treated with conventional therapy without BMT, which will amount to the largest cohort ever studied.

Read full story at UAB News

James Statler, M.D., First Year Fellow-Pediatric Emergency Medicine, was awarded a Society for Pediatric Sedation Scholarly Grant for the Intranasal Versus Intravenous Ketamine for Procedural Sedation in Children with Non-Operative Fractures: A Prospective Randomized Study. Co-authors include Christopher Pruitt, M.D., Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Judson Barber, M.D., Pediatric Emergency Medicine and Nipam Shah, Scientist, Pediatric Emergency Medicine. The grant provides $10,000 to support their study.

Congratulations!

The Dixon Foundation supports the Dixon Pediatric Fellowship training program for fellows who intend to pursue an academic career with a research emphasis in approved pediatric subspecialties. As part of this prestigious award, recipients benefit from salary support and an additional $5,000 per year discretionary fund to support research and continuing education activities. The selection committee for the Dixon Fellowship recently met and selected three fellows. Candidates were selected on a competitive basis. 

Please join us in congratulating the recipients for the 2019-2020 academic year:

Aditi Dhir, M.D., Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Title: Combination of epigenetic modifiers with tyrosine kinase inhibitors in flt3-itd acute myeloid leukemia. She will be investigating the potential synergy of epigenetic molecules with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in FLT3- ITD mutated AML) with the eventual goal of translating the findings from the lab to clinical trials that could benefit patients in the near future. Her mentor is Dr. Ravi Bhatia, Director, UAB Division of Hematology/Oncology. 

Veronica Godsey, M.D., Pediatric Critical Care, Title: Deliberate Practice to improve interdisciplinary communication- a pilot study. She will be working closely with resident physicians and teaching Verbal Juda, a unique conflict management technique by using deliberate practice in a simulated environment. Her mentors are Dr. Chrystal Rutledge, Program Director of the COACHES program and Dr. Nancy Tofil, Division Director of Pediatric Critical Care.
 
Charles Schlappi, M.D., Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Title: Oncolytic HSV against pediatric brain tumor. His research involves evaluating the role of immunotherapy for highly fatal brain tumors, high grade gliomas and diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG). His mentor is Dr. Gregory Friedman, Director of Developmental Therapeutics, Neuro-Oncology Program

Those continuing their Dixon Fellowship are:
 
Nazia Kabani, M.D., Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Neonatology, and Abdulsalam Alsulami, M.D., Pediatric Infectious Diseases.

Graduating Dixon Fellows are:
 
Neha Gupta, M.D., Pediatric Critical Care, is joining to Oklahoma University Children’s as an assistant professor
Samantha Hill, M.D., MPH, Adolescent Medicine, will be joining our Division of Adolescent Medicine in July as an assistant professor
Cali Reynolds, M.D., Pediatric Allergy & Immunology, who will be joining a practice in New York City. 

Ed Colvin, M.D., Pediatric Cardiology, was selected for the 2019 Dean's Excellence Award in Service, Senior Faculty. Dr. Colvin is one of eighteen outstanding faculty members named as recipients of the 2019 Dean’s Excellence Awards, an honor recognizing exceptional contributions made by School of Medicine faculty in service, teaching, research, diversity enhancement and mentorship. All recipients will be honored at a reception on Tuesday, June 11 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Barbara and Edward Partridge Atrium. 

Click here to see the complete list of winners.

Congratulations Dr. Colvin! 

Julie Wolfson, M.D., Pediatric Hematology Oncology, serves as the pediatric hematology/oncology editor (section expert) for the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) Resident 360 Platform for rotation prep. Her team recently launched the rotation prep content for both pediatric hematology and oncology. Several UAB trainees provided significant contributions to this content. Aman Wadhwa, M.D., Third Year Fellow-Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, served as a writer and Charlie Schlappi, M.D., Second Year Fellow-Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Aditi Dhir, M.D., Second Year Fellow-Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Anna Hoppmann, M.D., First Year Fellow-Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, and Spencer Poore, M.D., 2017-2018 Chief Resident, served as peer reviewers. 

Click here for the general content for Resident 360
Click here for the oncology content 
Click here for the hematology content

Congratulations to Drs. Wolfson, Wadhwa, Schlappi, Dhir, Hoppmann and Poore!

We are pleased to announce that Elizabeth “Liz” Worthey, Ph.D., will be joining the Department of Pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology as the director for the Center for Genomic Data Sciences in the Departments of Pediatrics and Pathology in the School of Medicine. She will join UAB at the beginning of June 2019. As part of her secondary appointment in the Department of Pathology, Dr. Worthey will serve as the director of the Bioinformatics Section in the Division of Genomics Diagnostics and Bioinformatics. She will also serve as the associate director for the Hugh Kaul Precision Medicine Institute.

She is currently a faculty investigator and director of Software Development and Informatics at the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology in Huntsville, Alabama. Prior to her position at HudsonAlpha, Dr. Worthey served as an assistant professor in pediatrics and the director of Genomic Informatics for the Human and Molecular Genetics Center at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Dr. Worthey received her Ph.D. at the Imperial College London in London, England and completed her postdoctoral training at the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute and the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. Her research interests include the development and application of omic, informatic, and data science based methods and technologies in order to identify and understand causal molecular variation in rare, undiagnosed or misdiagnosed disease. Her lab also focuses on the identification and study of variation that alters an individual's response to therapeutics or modifies clinical presentation, progression, and/or outcome.

We are excited for Dr. Worthey to bring her expertise in diagnostics, genome informatics and data science to UAB and the Departments of Pediatrics and Pathology and look forward to her leadership in expanding our informatics and precision medicine goals to improve the clinical care of the children of Alabama.  

Congratulations to our UAB Pediatric Fellowship Class of 2019. Thank you to all who helped us celebrate the graduates at a reception in their honor on May 30th. Please see below where they will be going after completing fellowship training.

Shaundra Blakemore, M.D. - Pediatric Emergency Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Heather Choat, M.D. - Pediatric Endocrinology, Private Practice, Dothan, AL
Matt Clark, M.D. - Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Leslie Collins, M.D. - Pediatric Cardiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Jacinta Cooper, M.D., Ph.D. - Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Emory/Children’s Hospital, Atlanta, GA
Courtney Crayne, M.D. - Pediatric Rheumatology, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Kalsang Dolma, M.D. - Neonatology, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL
Karisa Grizzle, M.D. - Pediatric Hospital Medicine, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
Neha Gupta, M.D. - Pediatric Critical Care, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, OK
Samantha Hill, M.D., MPH - Adolescent Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Jason Payne, M.D., MSPH - Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA
Cali Reynolds, M.D. - Allergy and Immunology, Private Practice, Manhattan, NY
Brandon Seay, M.D., MPH - Pediatric Pulmonology/Sleep Medicine, Private Practice, Atlanta, GA
Jennifer Smedley, DO - Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Children’s Hospital of Colorado, Denver, CO        
Thanh Summerlin, M.D. - Neonatology, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Sai Surapa Raju, M.D. - Pediatric Critical Care, Cardiac Critical Care Fellowship, UAB, Birmingham, AL
Saurabh Talathi, M.D., MPH - Pediatric Gastroenterology, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, OK
Aman Wadhwa, M.D., MSPH - Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Lauren Wagner, DO - Pediatric Hospital Medicine, Beverly Knight Olson Children’s Hospital, Macon, GA
Hansa Wongprasert, M.D. - Neonatology, Private Practice, Mercy Medical Center, Merced, CA

2019 CHIEF RESIDENTS
John Mark Bouchillon, M.D. - General Pediatrics, Colorado Springs, CO
Robert Sellers, M.D. - General Pediatrics, Birmingham AL
Karlene Walker, M.D. - Fellowship, Behavioral & Development Pediatrics, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC

We are excited to welcome Andrea Martin as the Senior Director of Development for Pediatrics. For the last two years, Andrea, in her previous role with the Children’s Foundation, has been partnering with UAB to raise support for the Department of Pediatrics. In her new position, Andrea is now dedicated 100% to our department and pediatric initiatives. Her 15-plus years of development experience with the Children’s Foundation and 11 years at UAB previously, uniquely positions her to take on the task of building philanthropy for our department. This change is a value-add to the great work the Children’s Foundation is already doing for the DOP. You may reach Andrea at amartin@uab.eduor 4-9303 with any development needs.

The Department of Pediatrics is pleased to announce the 2019 Russell Cunningham Memorial Research Program recipients Kristin Deneen and Avery Newcomb. 

Kristin Deneen will work on the “Evaluating Care and Outcomes in Childhood-Onset Systemic Lupus Erythematosus” project in Rheumatology with Emily Smitherman, M.D., Pediatric Rheumatology. 

Avery Newcomb will work on the “Cardboard Cot in Neonatal Thermoregulatrion (CCot): A Randomized Crossover Trial” project in Neonatology with Wally Carlo, M.D., Neonatology.

For more information about the Russell Cunningham Memorial Research Program, click here.

Children’s of Alabama and the Kaul Pediatric Research Institute (KPRI) are pleased to announce the 2019 awards. The major goal of the KPRI grant program is to allow investigators to obtain data that will advantage applications for additional extramural funding. This will bring new knowledge to the care of children, leverage the investment of the KPRI, and allow projects to be competitive for the very best science on the national stage. A second, but important, goal is to ensure that a dedicated funding source is available to unique segments of the pediatric research, education, and quality improvement enterprise.

This year, two categories of grants were funded: New Investigator Awards, and Established Investigator Awards. All funded applications are directed toward the improvement of child health care. Thank you to all who submitted applications! Congratulations to the following awardees.

New Investigator Awards

Ammar Alishlash, M.D.
Assistant Professor
Pediatric Pulmonary & Sleep Medicine 
Prostacyclin Agonist Therapy for Acute Chest Syndrome in Sickle Cell Mouse Model

Emily E. Johnston, M.D., MS
Assistant Professor
Pediatric Hematology/Oncology
End-of-Life Care of AL Children with Cancer: Disparities and Parent Priorities

Michael A. Lopez, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Pediatric Neurology
Smad8 in Dystrophic Muscle Disease & Its Role in MicroRNA Regulation & Disease

Donna L. Murdaugh, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Pediatric Hematology/Oncology
A Longitudinal Pilot Study Examining Neurocognitive Outcomes in Survivors of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Before and After a Cognitive Remediation Program 

Gabriela R. Oates, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Pediatric Pulmonary & Sleep Medicine
Technology-Enabled Patient Support System for Self-management of Pediatric Cystic Fibrosis 

Swetha G. Pinninti, M.D.
Assistant Professor
Pediatric Infectious Disease
Significance of co-infection with CMV and STI’s during pregnancy

Aman Wadhwa, M.D.
Instructor (7/1/2019)
Pediatric Hematology/Oncology
Body Composition and Adverse Outcomes in Childhood Cancer

Established Investigator Award

Shannon A. Ross, M.D., MSPH
Associate Professor
Pediatric Infectious Disease
Neuroimaging Findings and Hearing Outcome in Asymptomatic Congenital CMV Infection

Tamera Coyne-Beasley, M.D., Adolescent Medicine, was nominated and appointed to a consensus study committee on Applying Lessons of Optimal Adolescent Health to Improve Behavioral Outcomes for Youth with the Board on Children, Youth and Families at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM). The NASEM received and considered over 180 nominations for this consensus comittee. Congratulations Dr. Coyne-Beasley!

Mary Lynch, M.A., Ph.D. student and member of the REACH Lab, was named one of three College of Arts and Sciences' 2019 Dean's Award Graduate recipients. Recipients of this highly competitive award represent the very best that UAB can achieve. This award honors the work and research the students have produced with so much passion, dedication and hard work and recognizes their unique and outstanding academic accomplishments. The outstanding students and Dean’s Award recipients will be honored and recognized at Honors Convocation on Tuesday, April 16 at 4 p.m. at the Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center. Congratulations Mary!

Last Saturday, February 2, the Practical Day of Pediatrics conference returned to the Bradley Lecture Center for the first time in over a decade. More than 70 primary care pediatricians and nurse practitioners from around the state learned about topics relevant to everyday situations seen in their practices. Local pediatricians were surveyed last year to gauge their main areas of interest. The topics included: Red Book Update and Vaccines with David Kimberlin, M.D., Pediatric Infectious Disease; Preventing and Managing Food Allergies with Amy CaJacob, M.D., Pediatric Allergy and Immumology; Endocrine roundtable discussions with Pallavi Iyer, M.D., Pediatric Endocrinology, (Puberty – Normal, Early and Delayed), Ambika Ashraf, M.D., Pediatric Endocrinology, (Dyslipidemia in Children With and Without Diabetes) and Mary Lauren Scott, M.D., Pediatric Endocrinology, (Type 2 Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome); Pain Control and Opioid Use Disorder with Garrett Hurst, M.D., UAB Palliative Care; and Functional Neurological Disorders and Functional Pain with Aaron Fobian, Ph.D., UAB Psychology.

 Practical Day of Pediatrics is a collaboration of the UAB Department of Pediatrics, Children’s of Alabama and the Jefferson County Pediatric Society. Members of the organizing committee (pictured) are: Christina Cochran, M.D., Pediatric Emergency Medicine (not pictured), Liesel French, M.D., Community Physician, Brian Dudgeon, M.D., Community Physician, Erinn Schmit, M.D.,Pediatric Hospital Medicine, Adolfo Molina, M.D., Pediatric Hospital Medicine,  Tiffany Kaczorowski, COA Corporate Communications and Bob Pass, M.D., Pediatric Hospital Medicine.

Namasivayam Ambalavanan, M.D., Neonatology, has been named the first recipient of the Virginia Walker Jones Endowed Chair in Neonatology. The chair honors the outstanding contribution of Dr. "Ambal", both locally and nationally, as well as the long-standing service of Virginia Walker Jones to the Children's of Alabama Board of Trustees. Congratulations to Ambal and Walker!

Wendy Landier, Ph.D., RN, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, has been chosen as the recipient of the 2019 UCLA School of Nursing Distinguished Alumni Award for Excellence in Research, Platinum Bruin. Dr. Landier was selected for conducting an outstanding and renowned program of research, and advancing the practice of nursing health and healthcare through scholarly research. Honorees in this category exemplify the highest caliber associated with a UCLA School of Nursing degree and excellence and dedication in the profession. An acceptance ceremony will be held on April 27 in Los Angeles, California at the UCLA Luskin Center. 

Matthew Alexander, Ph.D., Pediatric Neurology, has been selected as Pittman Scholar in the UAB School of Medicine. This esteemed group was created to honor the legacy of Dr. James A. Pittman, Jr., the longest-serving dean in our School’s history. Dr. Pittman was an outstanding physician and scientist, and is also remembered as a lively and energetic teacher and mentor of students and faculty. As a Pittman Scholar, Dr. Alexander will receive funding to support his research or scholarly enrichment. Click here for the other Pittman Scholars. 

Congratulations Dr. Alexander!

The Department of Pediatrics is now seeking applications for the Dixon Fellowship Training Program for the 2019 academic year. Candidates will be selected on a competitive basis and upon a Review Committee’s analysis of the written application. As part of this prestigious award, recipients benefit from salary support and an additional $5,000 per year discretionary funds to support research and continuing education activities. For the academic year starting in July 2019, we will select up to three candidates who will be starting their second or third year of training. The initial award is for a period of one year with continued support contingent upon annual review of the fellow’s progress.

Applications should be emailed or delivered to Clare Mallette in 5 Dearth Tower, Suite 5606, no later than Friday, April 12, 2018. Scholarship recipients will be announced by the end of May.

Questions? Contact Michele Kong, M.D., Pediatric Critical Care or Clare Mallette.

Deadline: Friday, April 12 | More information

The Pediatric Fellowship office is seeking applications for the Chu Family Educational Scholarship for Fall 2019. Candidates will be selected on a competitive basis and upon a Review Committee’s analysis of the written application. For the academic year starting in July 2019, one to two candidates will be selected to receive a $5000 scholarship for their chosen educational endeavor.

Applications should be emailed or delivered to Ronda Chandler in the Sergio Stagno Center, 4th Floor Dearth Tower, no later than Friday, April 12, 2019. Scholarship recipients will be announced late May or early June.

Questions? Contact Ann Klasner, M.D. or Ronda Chandler.

Deadline: Friday, April 12 | More information