Explore UAB

This year, Christmas and New Year’s Day occur on Wednesdays and are designated holidays. In addition to Dec. 25, 2019 and Jan. 1, 2020, President Ray Watts and Health System CEO Will Ferniany have decided to observe additional holidays to provide employees additional time to spend with their families and friends. We will also follow this lead in the Department of Pediatrics, however, DOP clinics will be OPEN on Monday, Dec. 23, 2019 to serve our patients. Please see below how this will impact your Workgroup. If you are not sure which Workgroup you are a part of, visit the UAB Workforce Assignment website for more information. 

• Workgroup C: Dec. 24 and Dec. 31 will be designated holidays for staff in Workgroup C. The Kirklin Clinic and other ambulatory clinics, e.g. Children’s of Alabama Clinics, will be open Dec. 23, and staff with clinical and patient care responsibilities will be needed to care for those patients. UAB Department of Pediatrics ambulatory clinics at COA will also be open on Dec. 23.

• Workgroup F (Faculty): Dec. 23, Dec. 24 and Dec. 31 will be designated holidays for faculty in Workgroup F. Faculty with clinical responsibilities should consult with their leadership.  Clinics will be open.

• Workgroup A: Dec. 23, Dec. 24 and Dec. 31 will be designated holidays for staff in Workgroup A.

Erinn Schmit, M.D., Pediatric Hospital Medicine, named the new director of Children's of Alabama/UAB Pediatric Medical Grand Rounds. Dr. Schmit began her new role in October 2019. 

​​​​Dr. Schmit is an assistant professor in the UAB Department of Pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Hospital Medicine and an adjunct faculty for Meharry Medical College. She completed her residency and fellowship training at UAB. She will be completing her Master of Education degree from the University of Cincinnati in December 2019. Dr. Schmit has served in many leadership roles in the Department of Pediatrics including chief resident, assistant program director for the Pediatric Hospital Medicine Fellowship Program and chair of COA’s Safe Sleep Task Force. "We are excited to see the educational opportunities she brings to our grand rounds audience," said Dr. Brad Troxler, chair of CME at Children's of Alabama/UAB. 

Congratulations to our faculty who were promoted effective Oct. 1, 2019! 

Promoted to Professor

Cason Benton, M.D., Academic General Pediatrics
Sahar Fathallah-Shaykh, M.D., Pediatric Nephrology
Leslie Hayes, M.D., Pediatric Critical Care
DeeAnne Jackson, M.D., Academic General Pediatrics
Wendy Landier, Ph.D., Pediatric Hematology/Oncology
Kimberly Whelan, M.D., Pediatric Hematology/Oncology

Promoted to Associate Professor

Heather Austin, Ph.D., Adolescent Medicine
Stephanie Berger, M.D., Pediatric Hospital Medicine
Tom Harris, M.D., Pediatric Pulmonology
Traci Jester, M.D., Pediatric Gastroenterology
Charitharth Lal, M.D., Neonatology
Maran Ramani, M.D., Neonatology
Will Sasser, M.D., Pediatric Critical Care
Paul Scalici, M.D., Pediatric Hospital Medicine
Hayden Zaccagni, M.D., Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care

The Alabama Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) hosted its annual awards dinner on Saturday, Sept. 28 in Birmingham, Alabama. Cason Benton, M.D., Academic General Pediatrics, and Ed Colvin, M.D., Pediatric Cardiology, were among those honored.

Pictured: Drs. Marsha Raulerson and Cason BentonDr. Benton received the Marsha Raulerson Advocacy Award. This award recognizes service to children through dedication to better policies for improved child health. The award is named in honor of Marsha Raulerson, M.D., FAAP, of Brewton, who has worked tirelessly for children in Alabama during her more than 30 years of practicing community pediatrics through consistent and effective advocacy for children’s programs and policies at the local, state and national levels. Dr. Benton states, “It is both an honor and humbling to receive an award named for Dr. Raulerson, one of my pediatric heroes. I hope to continue in her footsteps.” 

Pictured: Drs. Sergio Stagno and Ed ColvinDr. Colvin received the Wallace Alexander Clyde Distinguished Service Award. "To have my name on a list with the previous recipients, my teachers and heroes, my esteemed colleagues with whom I have shared patients over the years, is a great honor," said Dr. Colvin. "I am proud to be a member of the Alabama Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. I’m extremely proud that the Children’s Hospital, started by pediatricians, supported by the University, and the community, has grown to be such a fabulous resource for the children of our state and the region."

Kristin Deneen, 2019 Russell Cunningham Memorial Research Scholar, received second place for her poster in the category of Public Health at the UAB Medical Student Research Day Wednesday, Sept. 18. The title of her poster was “Differences in time to diagnosis among cSLE patients with and without lupus nephritis within the Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance (CARRA) Registry."

As part of her Russell Cunningham Memorial Research scholarship, Kristin worked on the “Evaluating Care and Outcomes in Childhood-Onset Systemic Lupus Erythematosus” project in Rheumatology with Emily Smitherman, M.D., Pediatric Rheumatology. 

Congratulations Kristin!

David Kimberlin, M.D., Pediatric Infectious Diseases, has been named chair of the newly established Human Research Advisory Committee (HRAC) at UAB. Dr. Kimberlin will serve a two-year term as committee chair. The HRAC will provide a forum for increasing transparency and seeking input from stakeholders engaged in human subjects research at UAB in order to identify opportunities for improvement in our human research protection program.

Congratulations Dr. Kimberlin!

Randy Cron, M.D., Pediatric Rheumatology, and his former trainee, Ed Behrens, M.D., Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, are co-editors of the first-ever textbook devoted to Cytokine Storm Syndrome. This textbook, titled "Cytokine Storm Syndrome" consists of 35 chapters and 617 pages and covers the history, clinical and lab features, diagnosis, immunology, genetics, murine models, associated diseases and infections, and treatment of macrophage activation syndrome, hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, and related cytokine storm syndromes.

The UAB Department of Pediatrics welcomes one new faculty member during the month of September. 

Stephanie Moore, Ph.D., Instructor, in Pediatric Infectious Diseases

Stephanie Moore, Ph.D., Instructor in Pediatric Infectious Diseases, earned her Bachelor of Science at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. Moore completed her Doctor of Philosophy in molecular and cellular pathology at UAB. She is also the associate director of the Alabama Drug Discovery Alliance. Her research interests include facilitating drug discovery initiatives to my fellow researchers. 

Stephanie Berger, M.D., Pediatric Hospital Medicine, received the Caduceus Club Award for Excellence in Clinical Education on the Birmingham Campus at the Argus Award Ceremony on Friday, Sept. 20. For the second year in a row, the Department of Pediatrics has received the Argus Award for Best Clinical Department on the Birmingham campus.  This prestigious award is a great acknowledgment for all of the faculty in pediatrics who inspire, motivate and teach our medical students. "I am proud to celebrate our faculty and educators. They are a bedrock of what we do and part of our fundamental mission," said Mitch Cohen, chair of the Department of Pediatrics about the department's recognition. "Thank you and congratulations to the Hussein Abul-Latif, Stephenie Berger, Will Sasser and ALL of the faculty who make our clinical clerkship teaching program so strong. We are not only best in Birmingham, we are also among the best in the country." 

The Argus Awards were created in 1996 to give medical students the chance to honor their mentors, professors, courses and course directors for outstanding service to medical education. Faculty members are nominated by course evaluations, and students vote to select award winners in each category.

Alan Percy, M.D., Pediatric Neurology, has been appointed the first holder of the Sarah Katherine Bateh Endowed Professorship for Rett Syndrome in the UAB School of Medicine. Dr. Percy is a leading expert on this neurodevelopmental disorder and is a national leader in pediatric neurology and genetics. He runs the UAB Rett Syndrome Clinic at Children’s of Alabama, one of the few centers in the United States that specializes in the diagnosis and care of individuals with the disorder, conducts clinical and basic research, and works to educate and promote Rett Syndrome awareness. "We have been investigating Rett syndrome for more than 35 years, particularly since 1992 at UAB," said Dr. Percy. "This honor recognizes both this dedication and our continued progress and provides us with a pathway to promoting exemplary care and exploring effective disease-modifying treatment." Children’s of Alabama, together with the Suki Foundation, provided the supporting funds.

The Suki Foundation was established in 2012 in honor of Sarah Katherine Bateh with the goal of making a difference in the lives of children diagnosed with Rett syndrome through the raising of funds to expand and accelerate research efforts and work toward a better understanding, new treatments, and a potential cure.