UPMC Children’s Pediatric Nephrology/NICU Fellow Tara Beck Awarded MWRI-Clinical Trainee Research Award
January 18, 2024
Congratulations to pediatric nephrology/neonatology PGY-5 fellow Tara Beck, DO, for receiving a Magee-Womens Research Institute Clinical Trainee Research Award in December 2023. The highly competitive award is designed to support clinically-oriented research being conducted by trainees within the broader UPMC system.
Dr. Beck’s research project is titled “Fluid Management on ECMO: A Review of UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Fluid Management and Outcomes of Neonates Requiring ECMO.”
For her research project, Dr. Beck aims to evaluate fluid management in patients on ECMO, and how it affects patient outcomes such as mortality, duration on ECMO, mechanical intubation time, and acute kidney injury. Part of Dr. Beck’s research will work to determine if net positive fluid balance negatively impacts outcomes. Additionally, her project is comparing the effectiveness of continuous ultrafiltration (SCUF) against pharmacotherapy in managing fluid accumulation in ECMO patients, and whether or not the use of SCUF leads to lower fluid accumulation compared to pharmacotherapy. Dr. Beck’s mentor for the grant is Burhan Mahmood, MD, FAAP, associate professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Newborn Medicine and medical director of the Newborn Medicine ECMO and Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Programs.
Dr. Beck is mentored in her fellowship training by Dana Y. Fuhrman, DO, MS, associate professor of Critical Care Medicine and Pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Nephrology, and associate program director of the Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Fellowship.
More About Dr. Beck
Dr. Beck is a dual pediatric nephrology and neonatology fellow at UPMC Children’s. She earned her undergraduate degree in neuroscience from the University of Delaware, followed by her doctorate in osteopathic medicine from Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine in New Jersey. Dr. Beck’s residency training in pediatrics was conducted at Nemours Children’s Health in Delaware.
She became interested in neonatology and nephrology during residency and focused her research work on fluid management in neonates of extremely low gestational age. Her dual fellowship training in neonatology and nephrology will allow her to pursue clinical practice and research in critical care nephrology when she completes her training.
