On behalf of the Department of Pediatrics and Children’s of Alabama, Happy Holidays. Thanks for all you have done this past year, all that you are doing now and all that you will do in the next year for the children of Alabama.
A group of people with fatal H1N1 flu died after their viral infections triggered a deadly hyperinflammatory disorder in susceptible individuals with gene mutations linked to the overactive immune response, according to a study in The Journal of Infectious Diseases. Randy Cron, M.D., Ph.D., pediatric rheumatology, is a senior investigator on this study. Researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, the University of Alabama Birmingham and Children’s of Alabama led the study, published online Nov. 23. They suggest people with other types of infections and identical gene mutations also may be prone to the disorder, known as reactive HLH (rHLH), or hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis.
To continue reading the article on UAB News, click here.
Click here to view the blog post from Matthew Stoll, M.D., Ph.D., MSCS, pediatric rheumatology, which discusses the Pediatric Spondyloarthritis Clinic at Children's of Alabama.
Edward Colvin, M.D., pediatric cardiology, was recently honored at the Just Keep Smiling annual dinner and live auction. Dr. Colvin played a key role, particularly at the beginning stages of the organization, and his contributions were essential in jump starting this impactful organization, which has made the trauma of having a sick child easier for many families in our community. Just Keep Smiling is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Just Keep Smiling is a local organization that exists to help support families with seriously ill children. Over the 10 years, they have disbursed more than $450,000 in monetary support and helped over 2000 families.
Click here to visit the Just Keep Smiling website and find out more about their mission.
The Southern Society of Pediatric Research (SSPR)/Academic Pediatric Association (APA) announced the 2015 Trainee Travel Award Recipients. Among the winners: Shae A. Duerring, M.D., pediatric emergency medicine fellow, and Aaron Yee, M.D., neonatology fellow. The Trainee Travel Award program aims to encourage meeting attendance by students, house officers, and fellows
The Southern Society for Pediatric Research (SSPR) selected Charitharth 'Vivek' Lal, M.D., neonatology, as one of three finalist for the SSPR Clinical Science Young Investigator Award. For more information about the Young Investigator Award, click here.
UAB Hospital is now recognized as Baby-Friendly Designated birth facility. This prestigious international recognition comes from Baby Friendly USA’s Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative, a global program that encourages and recognizes hospitals and birthing centers that offer an optimal level of care for breastfeeding mothers and their babies by practicing the World Health Organization’s Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding. This collaborative three year effort involves everyone who cares for pregnant or post-partum women and newborns from pre-natal clinics to Labor and Delivery through providers on the Mother Baby Unit, Newborn Nursery, and the Regional Newborn Intensive Care Unit/Continuing Care Nursery. Through this effort exclusive breastfeeding rates for healthy term newborns increased from 6.8% in 2012 to 50% currently.
The Southeast U.S. has the lowest breastfeeding rates in the country and the highest rates of adverse health conditions associated with lack of breastfeeding such as childhood obesity and diabetes. UAB Women and Infants services will continue to use the skills gained through this initiative to further increase breastfeeding rates for our patients and to serve as a community leader and resource for positive change where breastfeeding becomes the cultural norm for newborn nutrition. Further information can be found here.
Congratulations to Brian Sims, M.D., Neonatology, on his recent election to the Society of Pediatric Research (SPR). Dr. Sims joins Drs. Trent Tipple and Gregory Friedman as this year's new SPR members from UAB.
Congratulations to Jeffrey Lebensburger, M.D., Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, for his invitation from the American Society of Hematology (ASH) Clinical Research Training Institute (CRTI) to be a 2016 CRTI Summer Workshop Faculty Member. Jeff attended this workshop as a trainee. As a successful faculty member, he is now being asked to give back! This is a special honor!
We are very excited to report that 100 percent of our 2015 Med-Peds and Pediatric Graduates have passed the American Board of Pediatrics Certification Exam on their first attempt---for the 4th year in a row! We are extremely proud of our graduates, and the hard work they have invested. We want to thank our awesome Faculty and Fellows for their strong dedication and commitment to helping our residents accomplish their goals.