The Department of Pediatrics would like to formally announce its recently launched Developmental Medicine Clinic (DMC). The clinic, which is located in Clinic A at Children’s of Alabama’s Park Place Building, serves children of all ages for whom parents, health care providers, or other caregivers have identified concerns related to development, behavior, social skills, and/or learning. Drs. Justin Schwartz and Snehal Khatri, developmental-behavioral pediatricians, staff the clinic and provide expertise in conditions such as:
- Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
- Autism Spectrum Disorder
- Intellectual Disabilities
- Learning Disabilities
- Developmental Delays
- Developmental or behavioral assessment of children with genetic conditions (e.g. Down syndrome, Williams syndrome, Prader-Willi, etc.) or other medical conditions
- Management of common behavioral conditions (sleep, toileting, etc.)
Congratulations to Trent Tipple, M.D., Neonatology, and Gregory Friedman, M.D., Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, on their recent election to the Society of Pediatric Research (SPR).
The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) recently awarded Alexandra Martin, M.D., and Ken MCormick, M.D., Pediatric Endocrinology, a grant for their clinical research trial titled, "The Effect of GABA or Combination GABA/GAD on the Progression of Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus in Children." The project is funded for $612,000.
The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) project, “Decreasing Hospital Length of Stay for Post-operative Adolescent Spinal Fusion Patients,” was selected as one of three finalists in the Children’s Hospital Association (CHA) Pediatric Quality Award (PQA) in the category of Waste Reduction/Improved Efficiency. This project represents an inter-professional effort led by Leslie Hayes, M.D., in concert with PICU nursing, PICU nurse practitioners and Joe Khoury, M.D., from the Children's of Alabama orthopedic group. All semifinalists present their projects at the National CHA Quality and Safety Conference in New Orleans, LA in March 2016, where the overall winner will be selected.
The UAB Pediatrics division of Emergency Medicine received funding from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for a community project called Sound Off. The project led by Kathy Monroe, M.D., and Michele Nichols, M.D., is a starter site for the Sound Off FEMA Grant, which works with Birmingham Fire and Rescue and a local school to provide fire safety education.
Click here to read the article in Alabama Newscenter, Sickle Cell Disease Cure in Sights of UAB Stem Cell Institute, which features sickle cell researchers, Tim M. Townes, director of UAB Stem Cell Institute and Fred Goldman, M.D., director of the Lowder Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program at Children’s of Alabama.
Between Children’s of Alabama and the UAB Department of Pediatrics, over 90 faculty members were recognized in B-Metro’s Top Doctors magazine. More than 2,600 local physicians voted online answering which doctors they would refer a family member to in a variety of specialties. To see the doctors recognized by their peers and the community, click here to view the issue
Congratulations to Susan Walley, M.D., lead author for the AAP Policy Statement calling on pediatricians to ask about use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) when screening for tobacco use and exposure. The policy statement was included in theOctober 2015 AAP Journal. Dr. Walley’s paper will be published in the November issue of Pediatrics. Dr. Walley was also co-author on the Clinical Policy Statement and the supporting Technical Report.Click here to read the front-page article in APP News this month, AAP Policy Cites Harms of e-Cigarettes; Urges Screening.
Click here to view the Clinical Practice Policy to Protect Children From Tobacco, Nicotine and Tobacco Smoke.
The Alabama Child Health Improvement Alliance, in partnership with the University of Alabama at Birmingham Division of eLearning and Professional Studies and the UAB Division of Continuing Medical Education, has become the first organization in Alabama to offer performance improvement continuing medical education for exclusively practice-based physicians through its current developmental screening project, Help Me Grow/Project LAUNCH. Click here to continue reading the press release on AL.com or UAB News.
David Askenazi, M.D., Pediatric Nephrology and Ambalavanan Namasivayam, M.D.,Neonatology hosted the Neonatal Kidney Collaborative (NKC) Steering Committee for a two day meeting on Oct. 4 - 6, 2015. The long-term goal of the NKC is to improve the understanding and ultimately improve the lives, health and well-being of newborns at risk for kidney disease by assembling an alliance of neonatologists and pediatric nephrologists who can perform clinically-relevant hypothesis driven studies. This collaborative will follow a birth cohort through adulthood in order to fully understand the long-term renal consequences of perinatal disease