Congratulations to Randy Cron, M.D., Pediatric Rheumatology, on being selected to chair the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Rheumatology Research Foundation (RRF) Pediatric Rheumatology Visiting Professorship Selection Committee. The commitee matches up selected pediatric rheumatologists with pediatric programs across the United States that do not have a pediatric rheumatology prescence for a three to four day educational visit. Dr. Cron will serve a three year term.
Please join us in congratulating Nazia Kabani, M.D., Combined Peds ID and Neonatology Fellow, on receiving the 2017-2018 Spring CHIF/Fellow Core Conference Attendance Award. This allows her to attend a scientific meeting of her choice, within the continental United States.
Our next award will be presented at the end of December 2018 for the fellow with the highest attendance at Fellows’ Research Roundtable and Fellow Core Conferences from July – December 2018.
Thank you to all of the fellows who have been dedicated to attending these conferences!!
More great news for fellows! The Child Health Investigative Forum (CHIF) will be replaced by the Fellows’ Round Table. The Fellows’ Round Table will be an interactive session for pediatric fellows from all divisions to present their scholarly work (either planned, ongoing, or completed) and receive feedback from other fellows and faculty, in order to improve research proposals, develop presentation skills, and promote cross-divisional interactions and collaborations.
The Round Table will be held in the Bradley Center from 12-1 p.m. two Fridays per month (usually the first and third Fridays). All fellows are expected to attend the Round Table, unless they are post-call or in alternate essential clinical or academic activities, if permitted by their Fellowship Program Director. Round Table sessions will be structured to include two brief fellow platform presentations, each followed by group discussions focused on strengths, areas needing improvement and future directions/opportunities for collaboration.
As with CHIF, one fellow will be selected annually for the Fellow Core Conference Attendance Award. This allows the fellow to attend a scientific meeting of their choice, within the continental United States. The Department will reimburse expenses for registration, airfare, food and lodging up to a maximum of $1500.
The UAB Pediatric Residency Program is hosting a reunion for residency alumni and friends of the program. The reunion will be on Saturday, August 25 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the Bradley Lecture Center. Click here to RSVP for the reunion!
Children’s of Alabama and the Kaul Pediatric Research Institute (KPRI) have released the announcement and guidelines for the 2019 KPRI grant application process. This year there are two grant categories that will be funded: Established Investigator Awards and New Investigator Awards. A new round of Quality/Safety/Educational Awards will be announced at a later date. The major goal of the New and Established Investigator 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. Awards are open to all faculty in pediatric disciplines and all employees at Children’s of Alabama.
Established Investigator Awards: Up to two awards will be funded, one named in honor of Dr. Sergio Stagno and one named in memory of Dr. Rud Polhill, each at an amount of $50,000 per year for a maximum of two years.
New Investigator Awards: Up to five awards will be funded, each at an amount of $35,000 per year for a maximum of two years.
To ensure accuracy, completeness, and proper processing through UAB OSP – all KPRI applications from Department of Pediatrics faculty (ONLY) should be submitted to Carla Parrish for internal review on or before Wednesday, September 9. Investigators must submit final applications by email to Mary Aiken by 4:30 p.m. on Friday, September 28.
The PRO is available to assist all investigators with application development. Please do not hesitate to contact Cheryl Perry, Melissa McBrayer or David Ingram with questions.
Application guidelines and forms, along with an FAQ section, can be found on the Pediatric Research Office (PRO) website or download FAQ here.
On June 24, a team from UAB Department of Pediatrics and the School of Medicine traveled to Livingston, Alabama for a third year as Workshop Presenters with rising high school juniors in the West Alabama Rural Health Initiative's health career exploration experience. Attendees hail from Choctaw, Marengo and Sumter Counties in the Alabama Black Belt where infant mortality and life expectancy are among the worst in the nation. They will be first in their families to attend college and from our trainees, received living proof and true encouragement they can change the outcome as adults. Faculty, residents and students then visited the Rush Rural Medical Group's Livingston Clinic where providers Todd Vaughan, M.D. and Sharon Henson, FNP discussed the eye opening unpredictable challenges of primary care delivery in a harshly underserved area along with the immense rewards.
Attendees included: Morissa Ladinsky, M.D., Academic General Peditrics, Tina Simpson, M.D., Adolescent Medicine, Jaime McKinney, M.D., Academic General Pediatrics, Derrill Wilson, Patient Relations, David Windler, M.D., MedPeds PGY-4 Resident, Leen Matalka, M.D., Pediatric PGY-3 Resident, Catherine Gooch, M.D., PedsGenetics PGY-3 Resident, and students from the UAB Schools of Medicine and Public Health.
Congratulations to Claire Keith, M.D., Pediatric PGY-3, on winning the 2018 Quality Improvement Project Award for her project titled Use of Quality Improvement Process to increase influenza Vaccination in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients. Her mentor on this project was Traci Jester, M.D., Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition.
Pictured L to R: Drs. Susan Walley, Claire Keith and Traci Jester
Congratulations to the recipients of the 2018-2019 Founder's Fund Grants!
The Founders' Fund was established by the UAB Department of Pediatrics to honor the exceptional lifetime achievements of the founders Drs. John W. "Bill" Benton, Ralph E. Tiller and Paul A. Palmisano. For more than a decade, the Founders' Fund has been used to encourage and support educational endeavors in the Pediatric Residency Program through educational grants. These educational grants support new, innovative educational research or programs related to the curriculum or quality and outcomes research of the residency program.
11 Founders' Fund Awards were given this year:
Principal Investigator and Project Titles
Emily Bufkin, M.D.- Creating a Medical Home for Children with Medical Complexity within Primary Care Clinic.
Eunice Dixon, M.D.- Infant Safe Sleep QI: Exit Counseling to Reduce Unsafe Sleep Habits.
Austin Doss, M.D.- Procedural Competence in Pediatric Residents.
Eric Jorge, M.D.- Improving Firearm Safety Counseling in Primary Care Clinic.
Will Sasser, M.D.- Introduction of an Ultrasound Fundamentals Training Session to the Pediatric Intensive Care Education Curriculum Supplemented with a Vascular Access
Training Model.
Kristyn Jeffries, M.D.- All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) Injury Prevention through Education in Schools.
Sai Surapa-Raju, M.D.- Teaching residents Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) cardiac arrest guidelines using Rapid Cycle Deliberate Practice (RCDP).
Rashmi Patil, M.D.- Baby Shower for Young Mothers Program.
Kristyn Jeffries, M.D.- Pediatric Research Academic Program (Pediatric RAP).
Candice Dye, M.D.- Use of Mental Health Simulation to Improve Pediatric Primary Care, Resident Reflection on Suicide Prevention, and Development of Support Groups.
Michele Nichols, M.D.- Spanish Class for Residents.
Congratulations to William Britt, M.D., Pediatric Infectious Disease, and Waldemar Carlo, M.D., Neonatology! Both were appointed as Distinguished Professors in the School of Medicine in recognition of their outstanding academic accomplishments and peer recognition.
Congratulations to Carolyn Ashworth, M.D., Academic General Pediatrics, on being appointed as Professor Emerita in the School of Medicine! She was appointed to this role in recognition of her outstanding service and years of dedication to the Department of Pediatrics.