Please join us in welcoming Assistant Professor, Brandi McClain Pernell, DNP, to the Department of Pediatrics and the division of Pediatric Hematology & Oncology.
Brandi McClain Pernell, DNP, joins us from Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN. Dr. Pernell earned her undergraduate degree in nursing from Tennessee State University. She received a Master of Science in Nursing from Vanderbilt University and UAB. She earned her Doctorate of Nursing Practice & Nursing Education from Johns Hopkins University. Her research interests include clinical and translational research in children with sickle cell disease with and without comorbid pulmonary complications.
Brandi McClain Pernell, DNP, joins us from Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN. Dr. Pernell earned her undergraduate degree in nursing from Tennessee State University. She received a Master of Science in Nursing from Vanderbilt University and UAB. She earned her Doctorate of Nursing Practice & Nursing Education from Johns Hopkins University. Her research interests include clinical and translational research in children with sickle cell disease with and without comorbid pulmonary complications.
Bill Britt, M.D., Pediatric Infectious Disease, is the recipient of the 2017 Graduate Dean’s Award for Excellence in Mentorship. Dr. Britt will be honored at an awards ceremony in April 2017. The Graduate Dean’s Excellence in Mentorship Award recognizes UAB faculty members who have demonstrated exceptional commitment as mentors of graduate students and/or postdoctoral fellows. Click here to read more about this award.
Health Services Foundation (HSF) will have an awards ceremony today to celebrate HSF Service Awards. The Department of Pediatrics has numerous employees being recognized. HSF employees with 20 plus years of service include: Steven Baldwin, Judson Barber, Peter Glaeser, William McMahon, Margaret Thiele, Carolyn Ashworth, Wally Carlo, Carl Coghill, Alana Davis, Crayton Fargason, Walter Johnson, Vinit Mahesh, Marsha Sturdevant, Robert Pass, Joseph Phillips, Sergio Stagno, and Richard Whitley. To see a full list of Department of Pediatrics employees being recognized with 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 years of service, click here.
Susan Walley, M.D., Pediatric Hospital Medicine, is one of three winners who will share $40,000 in grants for quality improvement projects from the first SPARC (Sourcing Progress & Advancing Research Collaboration) competition, a UAB Medicine and Medscape innovation initiative. Dr. Wally and her collaborator, Kathy Harrington, PhD, MPH, won with their project: Improving Patient Access to Tobacco Use Treatment During Hospitalization.
Drs. Walley and Harrington’s project aims to increase systematic screening for tobacco use among adult and adolescent patients at Children’s of Alabama and University Hospital in addition to increasing tobacco dependence treatment resources at both hospitals. Other project aims include adding electronic cigarette/vaping to tobacco screening, as e-cigarettes are now the most common tobacco product used by youth “We are pleased to receive this funding to increase tobacco-use screening, including electronic cigarettes, and to promote dependence treatment at University Hospital and Children's of Alabama,” Walley says. “Our goal is to improve not only the health of an individual tobacco user by treating their dependence, but to improve the health of their family and the entire community.”
For more information, click here.
Drs. Walley and Harrington’s project aims to increase systematic screening for tobacco use among adult and adolescent patients at Children’s of Alabama and University Hospital in addition to increasing tobacco dependence treatment resources at both hospitals. Other project aims include adding electronic cigarette/vaping to tobacco screening, as e-cigarettes are now the most common tobacco product used by youth “We are pleased to receive this funding to increase tobacco-use screening, including electronic cigarettes, and to promote dependence treatment at University Hospital and Children's of Alabama,” Walley says. “Our goal is to improve not only the health of an individual tobacco user by treating their dependence, but to improve the health of their family and the entire community.”
For more information, click here.
Children’s will be hosting the 4th Annual “Genetics and Genomics in Day to Day Medical Practice” Rare Disease Symposium in the Bradley Lecture Center from 8 a.m. till 3:30 p.m. on Friday, March 3, 2017. Cost to attend is $35. Register at www.childrensal.org/genetics. Keynote address by Dr. Deborah Krakow of UCLA. Contact Shaila Handattu with questions at hande@uab.edu. More information is available here.
Mark your calendars for the 2017 Pediatric Intensive Nutrition Course on February 22-24! This year's course focuses primarily on the critical adolescent period and as always provides up to 20 CEUs for RDs and RNs. As you will see, the agenda includes an interdisciplinary cadre of experts spanning many topics directly and indirectly related to nutrition for the adolescent. To download the 2017 Annual Pediatric Intensive Nutrition Course brochure, click here. Please contact Sheila Coleman with questions. Additional information is available on the website.
During this season of giving, the UAB Department of Pediatrics is thankful for the contributions that we have been fortunate enough to make throughout 2016. Whether it has been donating goods for back-to-school, giving items to hurricane victims in Haiti or flood victims in Louisiana, participating in the Spring Scramble, giving to the Benevolent Fund, partaking in the residency’s Coat of Arms program, or helping out a long-time patient in one of our clinics after a devastating house fire, we have been fortunate to give in these situations. This is not to mention what each of you contribute to your favorite organizations year-round.
In addition, the department has partnered with Booker T. Washington Elementary School (just 1.5 miles away from Children’s) to provide two programs to these students.
Read to Lead is a program where interested faculty, staff, and trainees can volunteer time on the first and third Fridays of each month to spend one-on-one time reading with first grade students. If you are interested in participating in this program, click here.
HERO (Health Explorers Realizing Opportunities) is a program in which UAB Pediatrics faculty and trainees conduct monthly (3rd Fridays) interactive sessions to stimulate interest in health and health care careers among middle school children. Topics covered, to date, have included sickle cell disease, nutrition, and smoking. If you are interested in participating in this program, click here.
To view more photos from these initiatives, click here.
These have been very rewarding initiatives and we look forward to continuing and expanding upon these in 2017. As we reflect on the season of giving, let’s allow the holidays to be a starting point to a life of year-round giving. Continue to check FYI Fridays for more opportunities and become engaged with your colleagues in their organizations. As always, thank you for all you do to contribute to your community and your everyday work to improve the lives of the children of Alabama and beyond.
In addition, the department has partnered with Booker T. Washington Elementary School (just 1.5 miles away from Children’s) to provide two programs to these students.
Read to Lead is a program where interested faculty, staff, and trainees can volunteer time on the first and third Fridays of each month to spend one-on-one time reading with first grade students. If you are interested in participating in this program, click here.
HERO (Health Explorers Realizing Opportunities) is a program in which UAB Pediatrics faculty and trainees conduct monthly (3rd Fridays) interactive sessions to stimulate interest in health and health care careers among middle school children. Topics covered, to date, have included sickle cell disease, nutrition, and smoking. If you are interested in participating in this program, click here.
To view more photos from these initiatives, click here.
These have been very rewarding initiatives and we look forward to continuing and expanding upon these in 2017. As we reflect on the season of giving, let’s allow the holidays to be a starting point to a life of year-round giving. Continue to check FYI Fridays for more opportunities and become engaged with your colleagues in their organizations. As always, thank you for all you do to contribute to your community and your everyday work to improve the lives of the children of Alabama and beyond.
The Drucker Institute at Claremont Graduate University announced that the ImproveCareNow Network is the winner of the 2016 Drucker Prize. Our division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, & Nutrition has an ImproveCareNow team. Traci Jester, M.D., RD, is the physician leader with her partner Jeanine Maclin, M.D. Their focus is on quality care and improvement efforts for our pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease patients and to participate in research through ImproveCareNow.
The Drucker Prize, considered by some the Nobel Prize of management, is awarded annually to one non-profit organization that meets Drucker’s definition of innovation: “change that creates a new dimension of performance.” ImproveCareNow was selected for this award from among 495 applicants and will receive a $100,000 prize and well-deserved recognition.
ImproveCareNow is a network of care centers with clinicians, researchers, patients, families and improvers working together to transform the health, care and cost for children and youth with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Currently, there are 92 centers, with 790 pediatric gastroenterologists and 26,000 patients with IBD, in ImproveCareNow.
The Drucker Prize, considered by some the Nobel Prize of management, is awarded annually to one non-profit organization that meets Drucker’s definition of innovation: “change that creates a new dimension of performance.” ImproveCareNow was selected for this award from among 495 applicants and will receive a $100,000 prize and well-deserved recognition.
ImproveCareNow is a network of care centers with clinicians, researchers, patients, families and improvers working together to transform the health, care and cost for children and youth with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Currently, there are 92 centers, with 790 pediatric gastroenterologists and 26,000 patients with IBD, in ImproveCareNow.
Wendy Landier, Ph.D., RN, Pediatric Hematology & Oncology, was recently selected for funding of her project titled: A Nurse-Led Structured Discharge Teaching Intervention for Parents of Newly Diagnosed Pediatric Oncology Patients. This grant is awarded onbehalf of the Board of Directors and the Nursing Advisory Board of Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer (ALSF). This grant is in the amount of $100,000 for the period of 1/15/2017 to 1/14/2019.
Since 2005, the McNulty Civitan Scientist Award has been awarded to outstanding scientists with a long-term career commitment to research on developmental disabilities. The award is given each year in honor of the McNulty family who were long-time members of the Chesapeake District of Civitan International. Tom and Mary McNulty with their son Tommy were the driving force behind the creation of the Civitan International Research Center and the research focus of Civitan International Foundation. To date, the award has provided support for a number of successful research projects and helped to develop successful clinical programs benefitting individuals with developmental disorders.
Fred Biasini, Ph.D., director of the UAB Civitan-Sparks Clinics, is the 2016-2017 recipient of the coveted McNulty Civitan Scientist Award. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and he is the director of the Lifespan Developmental Psychology Program. His research and teaching interests include autism spectrum disorder, developmental disability, social development and children of substance abusers.
Fred Biasini, Ph.D., director of the UAB Civitan-Sparks Clinics, is the 2016-2017 recipient of the coveted McNulty Civitan Scientist Award. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and he is the director of the Lifespan Developmental Psychology Program. His research and teaching interests include autism spectrum disorder, developmental disability, social development and children of substance abusers.