Mohini Gunnett, M.D., First Year Fellow, Pediatric Pulmonology, was awarded the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation 1st/2nd year Clinical Fellowship Award, which began July 1, 2019 and runs through June 30, 2021.
This competitive award supports fellows who intend to make cystic fibrosis a priority in their academic careers. As part of this award, recipients benefit from salary support and travel funds to attend the North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference each year of the 2-year award period. The award promotes the training of leaders in cystic fibrosis care and research.
Congratulations Dr. Gunnett!
Girish Dhall, M.D., Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, has joined the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB. Dr. Dhall has been appointed as a Senior Scientist in the Neuro-Oncology Program.
Congratulations Dr. Dhall!
Children’s of Alabama and the Kaul Pediatric Research Institute (KPRI) are pleased to announce the 2019 awards. The major goal of the KPRI quality and safety grant program is to allow teams to identify and address specific quality and safety issues that cannot easily be addressed using existing operational resources or structures.
This year, three grants were awarded. All funded applications are directed toward the improvement of child health care. Thank you to all who submitted applications! Congratulations to the following awardees.
Michael Seifert, M.D., Pediatric Nephrology - Reducing residual cardiac risk after pediatric kidney transplantation
Betsy Hopson, MSHA - QI project to improve bowel management in Spina Bifida Clinic
Avi Madan-Swain, Ph.D., Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, and Margaux Barnes, Ph.D., Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition - Improving family centered psychosocial screening
Hannah Hulsey, M.D., Adolescent Medicine Fellow, received the 2018-2019 Spring Research Roundtable/Fellow Core Conference Attendance Award. This allows Dr. Hulsey to attend a scientific meeting of her choice within the continental United States.
The next award will be presented at the end of December 2019 for the fellow with the highest attendance at Fellows’ Research Roundtable and Fellow Core Conferences from July – December 2019. Thank you to all of the fellows who have been dedicated to attending these conferences.
Congratulations Dr. Hulsey!
The UAB Department of Pediatrics welcomes two new faculty members during the month of June. Please join us in making them feel at home!
Jonathan Byrnes, M.D., Associate Professor in Cardiac Critical Care
Girish Dhall, M.D., Professor in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology
Jonathan Byrnes, M.D., Associate Professor in Cardiac Critical Care, earned his medical degree from the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi. Dr. Byrnes completed his pediatric residency at the University of Mississippi. He completed a combined pediatric cardiology and pediatric critical care fellowship at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock, Arkansas. Prior to joining UAB, Dr. Byrnes was an associate professor in pediatric cardiology and pediatric cardiac intensive care at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital/University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio. Dr. Byrnes will be the CVICU ECMO medical director. Dr. Byrnes is active in clinical and translational research involving extracorporeal life support that would benefit critically ill children. This research is primarily focused on the biocompatibility of the patient/device interface and the associated interaction of the coagulation and inflammatory pathways. The aim of these endeavors is to ultimately decrease the incidence of end organ dysfunction and stroke associated with these therapies.
Girish Dhall, M.D., Professor of Pediatrics and Director, UAB Division of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology, and Blood & Marrow Transplantation, earned his medical degree from Grant Medical College in Mumbai, India. Dr. Dhall completed his pediatric residency training New York Medical College in Valhalla, New York followed by pediatric hematology/oncology fellowship at the New York University (NYU) School of Medicine in New York, New York and his pediatric neuro-oncology fellowship at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, California. Prior to joining UAB, Dr. Dhall was an Associate Professor at the University of Southern California and the Director of Neuro-oncology Program at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles (CHLA)/USC. His major area of research interest is clinical research in CNS germ cell tumors and infant medulloblastoma and designing early phase clinical trials for patients with pediatric brain tumors.
Congratulations to Colm Travers, M.D., Pediatric PGY-3, on winning the 2019 Quality Improvement Project Award for his project titled "Reducing Severe Intracranial Hemorrhage and Death Among Extremely Preterm Infants." His resident team: Drs. Simi Kuye, Gabriel Lugo, Dave Sanford, and Austin Wheeler
His mentors on this project were Drs. Lindy Winters and Vivek Lal Neonatology.
David Kimberlin, M.D., Pediatric Infectious Diseases, will receive the 2019 Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (PIDS) Distinguished Service Award at this year's IDWeek in Washington D.C. starting on October 2.
Congratulations Dr. Kimberlin!
The Emergency Department presented Shreyas Makwana, M.D., Plastic Surgery with the Friend of the ED Award. Dr. Makwana is a plastic surgery resident who goes above and beyond for our pediatric patients and families. A thank you note from one of our ED patients is evidence of his excellence
Congratulations Dr. Makwana!
For the 10th consecutive year, Children’s of Alabama is ranked among the nation’s best children’s hospitals by U.S. News & World Report.
Six of Children’s pediatric specialty services – Cancer, Cardiology & Heart Surgery, Neonatology, Nephrology, Neurology & Neurosurgery and Pulmonology – are among the top 50 in the United States in the magazine’s 2019-20 Best Children’s Hospitals rankings. Currently, U.S. News & World Report ranks 10 specialties. The complete listing and corresponding rankings may be found at http://www.usnews.com/best-hospitals.
Read the full story at https://www.childrensal.org/body.cfm?id=1730&action=detail&ref=787.
It is with great sadness that we inform you of the passing of Mark Prichard, Ph.D., Pediatric Infectious Diseases. He died peacefully at home with his entire family present. We must all remember Mark for the real joy he brought to our lives. His continuing smile through trying times will be remembered by all of us and never forgotten. Further, Mark was a true scholar. As his family loved him, so did all of us. He leaves behind his wife and two sons.
Mark joined the Department of Pediatrics in 2003. He ascended to the rank of Professor and, recently, was awarded Emeritus status by the UA Board of Trustees. He was responsible for the Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory. He directed a laboratory that evaluated new drugs to treat viral infections. He published over 150 peer reviewed publications. He will be greatly missed.
Rich Whitley