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By: Sara Davies Published Date: Jan 13 The class of 2016 resident-led quality improvement (QI) project, Documentation of Quality Measures for Patients Discharged from the Hospital with an Acute Asthma Exacerbation, was awarded MOC Part 4 credit by the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP). This project is an ongoing multidisciplinary QI collaborative to improve the care for asthma patients admitted to Children's of Alabama. By implementing a standardized history and physical template for patients admitted for asthma exacerbations, they demonstrated statistically significant improvement in several measures including assessment and treatment of chronic level of asthma severity and smoking cessation counseling. This work also has been presented at SSPR and the UAB RIME conference. Investigators included: Drs. Christina Inman, Ryan Boggs, Sam Strachan, Natalia Lotz, Rose James, Brian Donahue, Ashley Dodd, Thanh Summerlin, and Charrelle Coates, along with faculty mentor Dr. Susan Walley. 

By: Sara Davies Published Date: Jan 13 One of every four children admitted to pediatric intensive care units around the world develops acute kidney injury, which increases the risk of death and leads to longer and more intensive hospitalizations, according to a study published online in The New England Journal of Medicine. UAB in partnership with Children’s of Alabama were one of 36 hospitals across the world, representing 25 countries in 6 continents to collaborate in this Pediatric Prospective AKI (ppAKI) collaborative study.

“This is a landmark study in the field of pediatric AKI, given the global nature of the study and its important findings," said David Askenazi, M.D., director of the Pediatric and Infant Center for Acute Nephrology (PICAN) and professor in the UAB Department of Pediatrics Division of Nephrology.

Click here to read the press release on UAB news. 

By: Sara Davies Published Date: Jan 13 It is with great pleasure that we announce the selection of Drs. Jamie Powell, Robert (Rob) Sellers, and Karlene Walker as Pediatric Co-Chief Residents for the 2018-2019 academic year.

We greatly appreciate the input and recommendations from faculty and residents in this difficult selection process. It is clear that Jamie, Rob, and Karlene have the admiration and respect of our residents, fellows, and faculty and will serve as strong leaders for our residency programs.
 
Please join us in extending congratulations to Jamie, Rob and Karlene!

By: Sara Davies Published Date: Jan 06 The New York Times named The Magic City as one of its 52 Places to Go in 2017! Find Birmingham, Alabama at #45 in the NYT bucket list.
Click here to see the article highlight Birmingham's revitalization and find things to do around the world. 

By: Sara Davies Published Date: Jan 06 Matthew Kutny, M.D., Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, has been appointed to the NIH National Cancer Institute (NCI) Physician Data Query (PDQ) Pediatric Treatment Editorial Advisory Board. The NCI provides evidence-based cancer information summaries for health professionals and the public on the NCI’s website: http://www.cancer.gov. These PDQ summaries are available for the treatment of children and adults, cancer genetics, screening, prevention, supportive and palliative care, and integrative, alternative and complementary therapies. The summaries are created and maintained by Editorial Boards and the content is then reviewed and edited by advisory boards consisting of national experts in that field. Dr. Kutny was selected to the advisory board for the NCI’s recommendations for “Childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia/Other Myeloid Malignancies Treatment."

By: Sara Davies Published Date: Jan 06 A new study from the UAB Department of Pediatrics shows that national magazine advertisements and manufacturers of infant cribs continue to depict unsafe sleep environments, despite longtime guidelines established by the American Academy of Pediatrics to protect against SIDS and other sleep-related deaths.

The study published in Pediatrics, “Safe Sleep Guideline Adherence in Nationwide Marketing of Infant Cribs and Products,” analyzed 1,758 crib advertisements and 1,893 print magazine advertisements from 1992, 2010 and 2015.

Investigators on the study include Brad Troxler, M.D., assistant professor and director of the UAB Pediatric Pulmonary Center , Matthew Kreth, M.D., former fellow in UAB’s Department of Pediatrics; Tammy Shikany, RT, respiratory therapist in the UAB PPC; and Claire Lenker, LICSW, CCM, clinical social worker in the UAB PPC. 

To continue reading the UAB Press Release click here. In addition, this publication picked up press coverage from numerous national and local outlets including: MedPage, News Medical, Yahoo, Health Day, CBS News and many more. 

By: Sara Davies Published Date: Jan 06 A study recently published by Smita Bhatia, M.D., MPH, Pediatric Hematology & Oncology,  and Julie Wolfson, M.D., MSHS, Pediatric Hematology & Oncology, addresses the impact of care at comprehensive cancer centers. See the study here. 

Kaiser Health News interviewed Dr. Wolfson to give her input on access to Cancer Centers in a changing marketplace plan environment. To read the article, click the following links: Kaiser Health News, NPR, and CNNMoney.

By: Sara Davies Published Date: Dec 16 May great miracles happen here during this holiday season that will provide us with inspiration to increase health, peace, and goodwill for all in the coming year. Wishing all a very happy holiday season! 

By: Sara Davies Published Date: Dec 16 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.

By: Sara Davies Published Date: Dec 16 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. 

By: Sara Davies Published Date: Dec 16 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. 

By: Sara Davies Published Date: Dec 16 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. 

By: Sara Davies Published Date: Dec 16 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. 

By: Sara Davies Published Date: Dec 16 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.

By: Sara Davies Published Date: Dec 09 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 (3^rd 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.

By: Sara Davies Published Date: Dec 09 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.

By: Sara Davies Published Date: Dec 09
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. 

By: Sara Davies Published Date: Dec 02 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. 

By: Sara Davies Published Date: Dec 02 On Tuesday, Nov. 29, a diverse team of Children's physicians, trainees, and faculty visited Calhoun, Ala., in the heart of Wilcox County. This Black Belt region is likely the most impoverished in the U.S. Our team saw health care delivery first hand visiting the Spartan J. Paul Jones Hospital and outpatient clinics. The county has only three practicing physicians, one dentist, and no psychiatrists. Its single youth enrichment program, Bama Kids, is in dire need of literacy materials and resources. A ferry ride brought us to the history rich but resource destitute Gee’s Bend area. Our visit instilled new insights into health disparities the challenges of rural poverty, and the resilience of those who practice there. We left inspired and grateful to our Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) hosts for the venture.

By: Sara Davies Published Date: Dec 02 Congratulations to Ambika Ashraf, M.D.,Pediatric Endocrinology, Santiago Borasino, M.D., Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care, Jeffrey Lebensburger, D.O., Pediatric Hematology & Oncology, and Julie Wolfson, M.D., Pediatric Hematology & Oncology, on their recent election to the Society of Pediatric Research. The goal of the Society for Pediatric Research is to create a network of multidisciplinary researchers to improve child health. Each of these new members will contribute greatly to this mission.