Dear Friends,
I hope each of you had some time to relax with family and friends this past Memorial Day weekend!
We are excited to share our newly renovated Department of Pediatrics website. We believe the new format will provide more up to date information on Children’s related news, upcoming events, better connectivity between Pediatrics and UNC Children’s, and reinforce our commitment to our mission and vision. A special thank you to Charlotte Weaver who led this important project!
As highlighted last week, Dr. William Mills has been appointed as our Pediatrics Director of Medical Student Education. We are excited about William serving in this leadership role. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to Rick Hobbs who served in this role since 2014. We will soon be asking for letters of interest from those who may be interested in serving as the Pediatrics Associate Director of Medical Student Education.
Dr. Nancie MacIver will be joining us at the end of this month as our Endocrinology Division Chief. Please see the previous announcement. We are thrilled to have Nancie serving in this role and very, very grateful for Ali’s service over the past 2 years. Thank you Ali!!
The clinical work of the department continues to expand. The Raleigh Children’s Specialty Clinic has been the busiest clinic for UNC Children’s this year and FY22 will have more visits than any year in the history of pediatrics care at UNC. We continue to work on new collaborations with Novant Health in Wilmington and Charlotte and are re-establishing some collaborations with Mission Children’s in Asheville. We truly are the children’s hospital for the state.
Lastly, our research mission has grown rapidly over the past two years. A special thank-you to Mandy DuPont and Kira Frediani who have helped with pre- and post-award work while our Contracts and Grants team is being restructured.
There are many exciting things happening for UNC Children’s. Thank you for all that you do to promote child health.
Gratefully,
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UNC Children's Missions Update |
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Please Welcome our New Children's Providers! |
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Renee A. Ducatte, BSN, RN, CCRN
Advanced Practice Provider
Pediatric Critical Care Medicine
Renee Ducatte joined the Department of Pediatrics on May 17th. Ms. Ducatte completed her BSN at UNC-Chapel Hill in 2016 and went on to completed her MSN at the Duke University School of Nursing in 2020. Beginning in 2016, she worked for 2 years as a nurse in the PICU at Duke University and then in the Cardio Vascular Intensive Care Unit at Levine Children’s Hospital, in Charlotte. Ms. Ducatte will be joining the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care team. Welcome Renee!
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Children’s Hospital’s Association IPSO 2020 Executive Report
Our Children’s Sepsis Program team would like to thank you for your support and provide you with an update on our work. Since last quarter’s update the Children’s Pediatric Sepsis Committee lead by April Glick has:
- Increased output of electronic communications containing important sepsis treatment educational reminders.
- Collaborated with Children’s Hospital expert educators to revamp the yearly nursing learning module [coming soon in Q4].
- Continued to adapt to sepsis quality improvement with nursing efforts, steps to establish strong relationships and to intentionally advocate building our sepsis core team with subject matter experts from each unit.
- Developed a fine-tuned process for internal case reviews of UNC’s sepsis hospital onset and severe sepsis deaths. In this process identified gaps between physician documentation and reported Vizient deaths. Currently, facilitating cross-departmental resources to work together in a new process to educate improving physician documentation that affects coding outcomes.
- Strategized a focused approach for increasing physician huddle documentation to motivate uptake with the use of a dotphrase in Epic. While concurrently collecting performance measurement data with these efforts.
- Worked towards revising the Children’s Sepsis Program Charter to realign all stakeholders and highlight our priorities & barriers for FY22.
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Assistant Professor of Surgery
Nominated by
Monica Mohe, MSN, RN, NE-BC
Patient Services Manager III
7 Children’s-Pediatric Surgery, Trauma, and Burns
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We have lots of great providers! Here's just one physician making a difference - making UNC Children's a great place!
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I am taking a moment to convey my deepest appreciation and admiration for Dr. Michael Phillips. This recognition is long overdue, but necessary. Dr. Phillips is one of the best physicians I have ever had the pleasure of working with. Even before I started at UNC he made an effort to make me feel part of the team by having a barbeque at his house where I had the opportunity to meet the Peds Surgery Team.
When I eventually started at UNC he met with me frequently. He consistently asked how I was doing; how I was acclimating to UNC; if there was anything he could do to support me as I transitioned into the manager role on 7CH. When speaking about 7CH he spoke with passion and sincerity and I knew we would be a great team!
It is an understatement to say the transition of NCCC to 7CH was difficult on staff and truly tested my leadership skills. It is because of the support I received from Dr. Phillips that I was able to lead my team through some of the hardest times. He met with me every week and the first question he asked was “how is the team?”. He rounded with staff and not just when he was on service, but any time he was in the hospital. It was meaningful to them and went a long way in building their trust. When staff started resigning (multiple resignations over the last year), I could see and feel his genuine concern. When it came time to choose service line goals, he knew the importance of rebuilding our team and focusing on resilience and work culture.
It has been almost a year since we made that goal and our staff is definitely in a much better place. I see them laughing on the unit together; supporting one another when we have difficult families; and they stop by my office when Dr. Phillips is visiting to just chat. It warms my heart that the staff have a physician leader they trust and respect.
This email doesn’t do it justice, but the progress 7CH has made over the last year is in large part to the leadership of Dr. Phillips. Every year we give staff superlatives and this year Dr. Phillips won the Patch Adams Award. The picture above is Dr. Phillips with staff and his award. It’s a plate with his picture and of course, he’s holding a Diet Coke!
Simply put, he’s the best! With gratitude...Monica
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Dr. Hernandez on WRAL: Recruiting kids for vaccine trial...
As the wait for federal approval to to start vaccinating children against COVID-19 continues, researchers at UNC Health are wasting no time with the Novavax vaccine. UNC's vaccine trial will start enrolling children ages 12 to 17 on Thursday....
Read more
www.wral.com
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Pediatric Diversity Town Hall
Meeting number (access code): 160 361 2354
Meeting password: 2BnkFPDAw35
Please Mute Your Microphone
Thursday, June 2 @ 12:00p - 1:00p
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Martha Kenney, MD was named a 2021 UNC Simmons Scholar! The Simmons Scholar Career Development Program, which was founded in 1994 by former Dean Michael Simmons, provides three to five years of salary support, structured mentorship and career and leadership development opportunities. Dr Kenney will be using this support to continue her research in sickle cell disease and acute sickle cell pain.
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Concetta Lupa, MD was recently appointed as the Vice Chair for Faculty Development for the Department of Anesthesiology. Dr Lupa will also now serve on the School of Medicine Committee to Review Promotions of Fixed Term Faculty as a representative of both the Department of Anesthesiology and the Children's Hospital.
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Martha Perry, MD was accepted to the Advanced Improvement Methods (AIM) program with the Cincinnati Children’s James M Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence. AIM is a highly competitive program for physicians, nurses and non-clinical leaders. In her leadership roles as the Associate Program Director of the UNC Pediatrics Residency Program and Medical Director of the UNC Children's Primary Care Clinic and UNC Adolescent Specialty Clinic, we are excited to see Dr. Perry apply what she learns to quality improvement at UNC Children’s.
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Janey Phelps, MD was recently promoted to Full Professor of Anesthesiology and Pediatrics. Dr Phelps has been an engaged member of the UNC Faculty since 2007. In addition to her clinical work as a pediatric anesthesiologist, she serves as the Medical Director for the Pediatric Sedation Service and as the Director of UNC Global Anesthesia.
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Aliese Sarkissian, MD, MBOE, and Martha Perry, MD, have been recognized in the Rheumatology Advisor article The Power of Asking: Mental Health Screening in Pediatric Rheumatology for their hard work and efforts on the American Board of Pediatrics’ Roadmap Project. The Roadmap Project is a national effort to improve support for the emotional needs of pediatric patients with chronic conditions, and their families. Review the article and read more about their achievements!
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Rebecca Smith, MD was recently promoted to Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Pediatrics. Dr. Smith has been a faculty member in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine since 2013. She is currently serving as the Interim Service Line Director, Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care Unit (PCICU). |
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Pamela Ro, MD was recently promoted to Full Professor of Pediatrics. Dr. Ro has been a faculty member in Pediatric Cardiology since 2013.
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2021 Academy of Educators Teaching Awards
The Academy of Educators has recognized 7 UNC Children’s faculty with teaching awards. Each participant was honored at the annual Alan W. Cross Evening of Scholarship on May 20th, 2021 by AOE Committee Chair Dr. Brent Senior. See the full list of recipients here. Congratulations to this year’s recipients!
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Application/Individualization Phase Clinical Preceptor Excellence in Teaching Award
Regional Campus Faculty
- Chelsea Ragland (Pediatrics)
Educational Mentor/Advisor Award
- Ria Dancel (Medicine/Pediatrics)
High Value Care Awards
- Casey Olm Shipman (Neurology)
- Erin Finn (Medicine/Pediatrics)
Scholarship Award
- Eric Zwemer (Hospital Pediatrics)
Senior Faculty Award
- Ola Akintemi (Pediatrics)
Medical Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professorship
- Neva Howard (Pediatric Emergency Medicine)
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The Academy of Educators has invited 5 UNC Children’s faculty into the 2021-22 FLAGship (Faculty/Fellow Leadership and Growth) Program cohort.
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Annika Barnett, MD (Pediatric Anesthesiology Faculty)
Katherine Jordan, MD (General Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine Faculty)
Laura Rachal, MD (Medicine/Pediatrics Infectious Diseases Fellow)
Lacey Straube, MD (Pediatric Anesthesiology Faculty)
Shiva Zargham, MD, MSc (Pediatric Emergency Medicine Faculty)
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Launched in 2019 as the Mentored Member Program, the newly rebranded AOE FLAGship Program provides cohort members, from various departments and specialties, with a community of educators and a venue to discuss leadership development, promotion and progress, and educational literature. It also affords them the opportunity to connect with mentors or to receive assistance with finding a mentor.
All participants begin an educational project (which could be research, a new teaching opportunity, etc.), attend monthly journal clubs and leadership development sessions, and present one journal club paper during the year. See the full cohort list here. Congratulations to everyone!
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Please Welcome our New Research Faculty! |
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Jaydeep Sinha, M.Pharm, PhD
Assistant Professor
Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine
Dr. Sinha joined the Department of Pediatrics on May 1st. Dr. Sinha completed his PhD in Pharmacometrics in 2019 from the Univeristy of Otago School of Pharmacy in Dunedin, New Zealand. Beginning in 2019 he has been a Post Doctoral researcher in the Eshelman School of Pharmacy at UNC. His areas of interest include clinical pharmacology modeling and simulation with major focus on pediatric populations. He is joining Dr. Matthew Laughon's research team working with the Pediatric Trials Network and the Neonatal Research Network. Welcome Jaydeep!
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Patent Ductus Arteriosus in Premature Infants: Clinical Trials and Equipoise
Join multiple international experts meeting to identify best practices to achieve equipoise in PDA clinical trials.
Wednesday, June 16 @ 2:00p - 5:00p
Zoom Meeting Details available after registration
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Check Out New Grant Awards, Presentations & Publications |
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Phillip W. Clapp, PhD - Pediataric Allegry/Immunology - has a recent successes in:
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Clapp PW, Ruzycki CA, Samet JM, Zeman KL, Berntsen J, Sickbert-Bennett E, Weber DJ, Finlay WH, Martin AR, Bennett WD, Wilson KH; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Prevention Epicenters Program. A Simple HEPA Filtering Facepiece. Am J Infect Control. 2021 May 7:S0196-6553(21)00297-2. doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2021.04.085. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33971283.
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Congratulations to Dr. Clapp's mentee, Charlotte Love, a Toxicology PhD student, on receiving the Best Oral Presentation Award and 2nd place for the Ted Martonen Student Award at the International Society for Aerosols in Medicine conference. Her project is focused on the health effects of CBD e-cigarettes and her talk was titled, Canabidiol (CBD) in e-cigarette liquid adducts to cellular proteins, induces inflammation, and impairs cilia motility in bronchial epithelial cells.
Timothy Gershon, MD, PhD - Child Neurology - was senior author on a paper first authored by the son of Dr. Yael Shiloh-Malawsky, also of Child Neurology. Malawsky DS, Weir SJ, Ocasio JK, Babcock B, Dismuke T, Cleveland AH, Donson AM, Vibhakar R, Wilhelmsen K, Gershon TR. Cryptic developmental events determine medulloblastoma radiosensitivity and cellular heterogeneity without altering transcriptomic profile. Commun Biol. 2021 May 21;4(1):616. doi: 10.1038/s42003-021-02099-w. PMID: 34021242.
Edwin Kim, MD, MS - Pediatric Allergy/Immunology - as part of his research with the Food Allergy Institute, was recently published:
Jackie Patterson, MD, MPH - Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine - received a Saving Lives at Birth Program Award from the Laerdal Foundation ($400,000 over three years) to build a collaborative of hospitals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Make Every Newborn Resuscitation a Learning Event. This award will support the establishment of a learning collaborative, the development and pilot testing of innovative bedside tools for resuscitation and the development of a change package to increase human capacity for bedside learning.
Meghan Rebuli, PhD - Pediatric Allergy/Immunology - in collaboration with other UNC researchers, was recently published:
Genevieve Taylor, MD - Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine - in collaboration with other UNC Children's faculty, was recently published: Taylor GL, Joseph RM, Kuban KCK, Douglass LM, Laux J, Andrews B, Fry RC, Price WA, O'Shea TM. Changes in Neurodevelopmental Outcomes From Age 2 to 10 Years for Children Born Extremely Preterm. Pediatrics. 2021 May;147(5):e2020001040. doi: 10.1542/peds.2020-001040. Epub 2021 Apr 6. PMID: 33824183; PMCID: PMC8086004.
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Drs. Martin & Family Welcome New Baby Boy
Congratulations to Jamie Martin, faculty in Pediatric Emergency Medicine, and Nicole Martin, resident in Anesthesiology. The Martin family welcomed Caleb Augustine Martin on Friday, May 14. Their beautiful baby boy weighed in at 7lb 13oz and mom and baby are doing great.
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Dr. Lercher & Family Welcome New Baby Girl
Congratulations to Dan Lercher, faculty in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, and his wife, Farrell, welcomed Elizabeth Manning Lercher (Libby) into the world on Thursday, May 27. Mom and baby are doing well at home.
Welcome to the Pediatrics family, Caleb & Libby!
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Connect to UNC Children's on LinkedIn!
Let the world know where you work by editing your position on LinkedIn and choosing UNC Children's from the drop down menu! After you start typing UNC Children's, our page will automatically populate. Click it and be official!
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Brier Creek Country Club, Raleigh, NC
Monday, June 28, 2021
In honor of Carrie Ann Gilmore. Benefitting UNC Children's Hospital Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Fund. Visit www.carrieongolf.com.
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Mandy DuPont
Associate Director of Research Administration
Pediatric Research Administration Unit
Nominated by Kira Frediani
If you are involved in Departmental research, you probably know Mandy DuPont.
Mandy has been with the Department since 2014 and has worked as a research administrator. Over this period, she has supported Investigators in many different Divisions and now leads the Department's Research Administrative Unit. Mandy is incredibly knowledgeable about research administration and UNC research offices and policies.
She is able to juggle an amazing number of pre- and post-award issues simultaneously -- and is enviably calm in a crisis and when facing a deadline. She is definitely who you want on your team if last minute changes are needed with the clock ticking on your grant proposal. The Research Administrative Unit has been short-handed over recent months and Mandy has been working all-hours to cover the gaps while we recruit. We are so grateful for her heroic efforts on behalf of the Department of Pediatrics!
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