Department Newsletters

PDF version

Items to be covered in this edition:

1. Important Dates
2. Faculty Promotions
3. Faculty News
4. Premiere of New Pediatric Infectious Diseases Journal
5. Faculty Publications and Presentations

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR

Dear Colleagues,

In addition to this month’s news, you will also find the list of Department of Pediatrics Faculty presenting at the Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting in Boston this year.  We again have an impressive number of faculty, fellows, and residents representing our Department and Seattle Children’s.  We hope you will take a minute to look through the list and note the outstanding research projects being conducted at our institutions.

If you are planning to attend the PAS meetings we hope that you will have the opportunity to support some of your colleagues at their presentations, and stop by the UW Department of Pediatrics & Seattle Children’s Faculty and Alumni Reception at the PAS Meetings, Saturday, April 28th at the Sheraton Boston Hotel*.

It’s truly great to work with such a talented group of academic pediatricians.

Sincerely,

F. Bruder Stapleton, MD
Professor and Chair, Department of Pediatrics
Associate Dean, University of Washington School of Medicine
Chief Academic Officer and Senior Vice President
Seattle Children's Hospital

I.          IMPORTANT DATES

SATURDAY, APRIL 28: Children’s/UW Department of Pediatrics Reception at PAS Meeting in Boston.  8:00-10:00PM at Sheraton Boston Hotel, Berkley Room. This will be a dessert themed reception with live music.  No RSVP required. Questions? Contact Jeneen.Coydan@seattlechildrens.org.

May 10: CCTR Science Day. 9:30AM-4:00PM. Center for Urban Horticulture, NHS Hall. A highlight of recently completed and ongoing research projects conducted by investigators and staff from the Center for Clinical and Translational Research and a forum for collaboration and exchange of ideas. The keynote Speaker is Janine LaSalle, PhD presenting “Epigenetics at the interface of genetic and environmental risk factors for autism.” Questions? Contact CCTR@seattlechildrens.org or call 206-884-7469.

May 12: Neuroscience in Anesthesiology Research Day. 8:00AM-3:00PM. Orin Smith Auditorium, South Lake Union. Presenters include Drs. Monica Vavilala, Nino Ramirez and Ryan McAdams. The keynote speaker is Nabil Alkayed, PhD, MD. Questions? Contact sburkhar@uw.edu.

May 17: Chair's Grand Rounds. 8:00-9:00AM in Wright Auditorium at SCH. "Creating a wider circle both locally and nationally: A pediatric department committed to inclusiveness" presented by Bruder Stapleton, MD. Questions? Contact Kathie.Kohorn@seattlechildrens.org.

June 12: Department of Pediatrics Faculty Meeting. 5:15-8:00PM in Wright Auditorium at SCH.  A social gathering with appetizers from 5:15-5:45 will be followed by the regular meeting from 5:45-8:00 PM. Questions? Contact Diane.Wade@seattlechildrens.org.

June 15: Resident Graduation and End-of-Year Banquet.  Mark your calendars for graduation ceremonies from 8:00-10:00AM  in  Wright  Auditorium  at  SCH.  The  banquet  will  be  at  6:30PM.   More  information  will  be forthcoming.  Questions? Contact Scott.Olson@seattlechildrens.org.

June 29: Special retirement event for Dr. Jean Sanders.  The Clinical Research Division at the Hutchinson Center and the UW Department of Pediatrics are planning a special retirement event for Dr. Jean Sanders to recognize her pioneering contributions to pediatric oncology and HSC transplantation. Please reserve the date and plan  to  join  us  at  the  Hutchinson  Center  campus  on  South  Lake  Union to  celebrate Jean's career  and  her retirement.  The  event  will  include  an  afternoon  seminar  starting  at  1pm.  An  invited  panel  of  speakers  will present followed  at  5pm by  a special reception  with  refreshments  and  food.  More  information  forthcoming. Questions? Contact  aoconnor@fhcrc.org

July 27-28: Pediatric Bioethics Conference. “The thin ethical line: When professional boundaries and personal interests collide” at Bell Harbor International Conference Center. Registration and more information online.

July  31:  Annual  Department  of  Pediatrics  Faculty  &  Family  Picnic.  6:00-8:00PM  at  Gas  Works  Park.  More information to follow. Questions? Contact Diane Wade, dmw@uw.edu.

II.         FACULTY PROMOTIONS

These faculty promotions were recently approved to be effective July 1, 2012:

III.        FACULTY NEWS

Dr. Laurie Eldredge’s (R3) abstract was chosen for oral presentation at the 2012 American Thoracic Society (ATS) International Conference in San Francisco from May 18-23. Dr. Eldredge was additionally granted a $500 Travel Award to from the Assembly on Allergy, Immunology and Inflammation (AII) to offset some of the cost of attending.

Dr. Amber May (R3) was awarded a 2012 Community Access to Child Health (CATCH) Resident (cycle 2) Funds grant to finish her Pathway Project on internet-based health resources for homeless teens.

Drs. Margaret Adam and Sandra Juul have joined the Department of Pediatrics Promotion Committee.

Dr. Monica Vavilala is featured in the March 30th edition of UW Medicine Online News for her research on pediatric traumatic brain injuries. Read more here.

From Dr. Tim Cox’s lab:
1. Jonathan An (DDS/PhD student) was awarded the 2012 AADR Johnson & Johnson Healthcare Hatton Award at the 41st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Dental Research (ADDR) in Tampa, Fl (March, 2012) for his research “Modulation of the fetal alcohol face by vitamin A derivatives”. As part of his award, Jonathan received a scholarship to attend the 2012 International Association of Dental Research Annual Meeting to be held in Iguacu Falls, Brazil  in June where he will represent the US in the 2012 IADR/Unilever Hatton Competition.

2. Alexa Baja (Undergraduate Research Assistant/Senior, UW), who is graduating this Spring with a B.S. was awarded the UW’s 2011-2012 DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) Graduate Scholarship. Alex will undertake a year-long research project with the Institute for Cardiovascular Prevention (IPEK) at the Ludwig- Maximilans University in Munich before returning to pursue a career in Medicine.

Congratulations to the winners of the 2012 Fellow and Resident Research Day Awards:

IV.          PREMIERE OF NEW PEDIATRIC INFECTIOUS DISEASES JOURNAL

Dr. Janet Englund announces the new pediatric infectious diseases journal—Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society—which had its first issue last week. Our department and Seattle Children’s are well-represented in this first issue: The cover art is done by former Seattle Children’s patient Peter Scott (Dr. Englund’s son) and a description of Seattle Children’s Hospital is on the bottom of the first page. Dr. Englund, who is the president of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society provides an editor’s note and Dr. Danielle Zerr, who is on the Editorial Board, has one of the leading publications that she did with colleagues Drs. Howard Jeffries and Gordon Cohen describing reduction in surgical site wound infections. Check out the first pages of the journal which are attached and make sure to look for one of the free copies being given away at the upcoming PAS meeting. Keeping reading, as the next issue will feature publication describing a new human enteric virus, human parechovirus, in children attending daycare—research from Dr. Englund’s group.

V.            FACULTY PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS

Dr. Stephen Luber: Comparative immunogenicity and safety of different multivalent component pertussis vaccine formulations and a 5-compoenet acellular pertussis vaccine in infants and toddlers: A randomized, controlled, open-label, multicenter study. Chatterjee A. O’Keefe C, Varman M, Klein NP, Luber S, Tomovici A, Noriega F. Vaccine. Available online 1 April 2012.

Dr. Monique Burton: Long-term treatment of concussion. Burton, MS. In: Pediatric and Adolescent Concussion: Diagnosis, Management, and Outcomes. Apps JN, Walter KD. New York, NY: Springer; 2012: 107-115.

Dr. Shilpi Chabra: Concept of gestational age in "completed weeks": lost in translation. Chabra S. Obstet Gynecol. 2012 Jan;119(1):183-4.

Drs. Harvey Chiu, Srinath Sanda, Patricia Fechner and Catherine Pihoker: TSH correlation with the risk of pediatric thyroid carcinoma. Chiu HK, Sanda S, Fechner PY, Pihoker C. Clinical Endocrinology. Accepted manuscript online: 9 March 2012.

Dr. Tamara Simon: Pediatric hospital medicine and children with medical complexity: past, present, and future. Section in Improving Inpatient Pediatric Healthcare Quality, Education and Research: The Past, Present, and Inspired Future of Pediatric Hospital Medicine. Current Problems in Pediatric and Adolescent Health Care. May/June 2012;42(5):113-119. PMID: 22483081.

Tamara Simon, Kathryn Whitlock, Margaret Rosenfeld and Nicole Mayer Hamblett: Revision surgeries are associated with significant increased risk of subsequent cerebrospinal fluid shunt infection. Simon TD, Whitlock KB, Riva-Cambrin J, Kestle JR, Rosenfeld M, Dean JM, Holubkov R, Langley M, Hamblett NM. Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal. February 10, 2012 DOI: 10.1097/ INF.0b013e31824da5bd. Print version planned for June 2012.

Drs. James Stout, Chuan Zhou, Michelle Garrison and Rita Mangione-Smith: Learning from a distance: Effectiveness of online spirometry training in improving asthma care. Stout JW, Smith K, Zhou C, Solomon C, Dozor AJ, Garrison MW, Mangione-Smith R. Academic Pediatrics. March–April 2012;12(2):88-95.

Drs. Pooja Tandon, Chuan Zhou and Dimitri Christakis: Frequency of parent-supervised outdoor play of US preschool-aged children. Tandon PS, Zhou C, Christakis DA. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. Published online April 2, 2012. doi:10.1001/archpediatrics.2011.1835

Please let us know of your latest publications, awards, and honors by emailing Brooke Freed: brooke.freed@seattlechildrens.org