• Hooven Laboratory Receives First NIH R01 Grant for Research into Group B Streptococcus Infections in Newborns. UPMC Newborn Medicine Program researcher Thomas Hooven, MD, was awarded his first National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01 grant in May 2024 for his research into the molecular interactions of Group B Streptococcus (GBS) infections in pregnancy and neonates and the search for potential therapeutic targets common to all GBS strains for which a vaccine could be developed. Dr. Hooven is an assistant professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Newborn Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and he also is an R.K. Mellon Institute Research Scholar at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.
  
  
  • Dr. Hooven also received a second NIH R01 grant in mid-2024. This project, “Signal Transduction, Metabolic Shifts, and Host Interactions During Group B Streptococcus Infection.” This research project is designed, “to understand why group B Streptococcus (GBS), a type of bacteria that causes severe pregnancy complications such as stillbirth and preterm labor, can be harmless in the gut and vagina of healthy adults yet catastrophically dangerous in the amniotic fluid surrounding a fetus. We hypothesize that when GBS moves into the amniotic fluid, it experiences a lack of essential nutrients that are typically present in the digestive and vaginal tracts, and that this nutrient deprivation activates bacterial stress responses. These stress responses may include increased expression of harmful molecules that trigger the maternal and fetal immune system, ultimately causing tissue damage and threatening the pregnancy. 
    
    
• New Review Article Published on AKI, Fluid Overload, and the Use of CRRT in Pediatric/Neonatal ECMO Patients. The new review provides clinicians with an in-depth analysis of AKI and FO epidemiology.

   

• Clinical and economic impacts of a modified-observational screening approach to well-appearing infants born to mothers with chorioamnionitis. Liang CS, Sebastian A, McKennan C, Bertoni CB, Hooven TA, Kish M, Schwabenbauer K, Yanowitz T, King BC. J Perinatol. 2024 Jul;44(7):1042-1049.

   

• Diet influences community dynamics following vaginal group B streptococcus colonization. Megli CJ, DePuyt AE, Goff JP, Munyoki SK, Hooven TA, Jašarević E. Microbiol Spectr. 2024 Jun 4;12(6):e0362323.

   

• Transcription modulation of pathogenic streptococcal and enterococcal species using CRISPRi technology. Alexander NG, Cutts WD, Hooven TA, Kim BJ. PLoS Pathog. 2024 Sep 19;20(9):e1012520.

   

• Initial surgery for spontaneous intestinal perforation in extremely low birth weight infants is not associated with mortality or in-hospital morbidities. Hair AB, Sullivan KM, Ahmad I, Zaniletti I, Acker SN, Premkumar MH, Reber K, Huff KA, Nayak SP, DiGeronimo R, Kim J, Roberts J, Markel TA, Brozanski B, Sharma J, Piazza AJ, Yanowitz TD; Children’s Hospitals Neonatal Consortium Necrotizing Enterocolitis Focus Group. J Perinatol. 2024 Jul 12. doi: 10.1038/s41372-024-02037-8. Online ahead of print.

   

• Neonatology Staffing Practices: An In-Depth Exploration of Leaders' Perspectives. Machut KZ, Bishop CE, Miller ER, Dammann CEL, Cuevas Guaman M. J Pediatr. 2024 Oct 18;276:114363.

   

• Early Ventilator Management for Infants With Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia: Impact of a Standardized Clinical Practice Guideline. Lichtsinn KC, Church JT, Waltz PK, Azzuqa A, Graham J, Troutman J, Li R, Mahmood B. J Pediatr Surg. 2024 Mar;59(3):451-458.

   

• Doulas as family partners in the neuro neonatal intensive care unit. Ragavan MI, Oghifobibi O, Salter CL, Patel M, Anderson B. Pediatr Res. 2024 Sep;96(4):823-825.

   

• Inhaled bronchodilators for the prevention and treatment of chronic lung disease in preterm infants. Ng G, Bruschettini M, Ibrahim J, da Silva O. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2024 Apr 9;4(4):CD003214.

   

• Interdisciplinary clinical bronchopulmonary dysplasia programs: development, evolution, and maturation. House M, Lagoski M, DiGeronimo R, Eldredge LC, Manimtim W, Baker CD, Coghill C, Fernandes CJ, Griffiths P, Ibrahim J, Kielt MJ, Lagatta J, Machry JS, Mikhael M, Vyas-Read S, Weems MF, Yallapragada SG, Murthy K, Nelin LD. J Perinatol. 2024 Jul 17.

   

• A quality improvement initiative standardizing the antibiotic treatment and feeding practices in patients with medical necrotizing enterocolitis. Mahmood Z, O'Donnell B, Brozanski BS, Vats K, Kloesz J, Jackson LE, Shenk J, Miller M, Pasqualicchio MB, Schmidt H, Azzuqa A, Yanowitz TD. J Perinatol. 2024 Apr;44(4):587-593.

   

• Utility of Jaundice Surveillance and Bilirubin Screening in Identifying Neonates Who Qualify for Phototherapy ≤24 Hours after Birth. Muniz GB, Saliga R, Liu H, Watchko JF, Azzuqa A. J Pediatr. 2024 Oct 16;276:114362.

• UPMC Newborn Medicine Program Faculty Part of 2024 Society for Pediatric Research New Members Class. The UPMC Newborn Medicine Program congratulates faculty members Edward Hurley, MD, and Burhanuddin Mahmood, MD, FAAP, on becoming members of The Society for Pediatric Research (SPR).

   

• Newborn Medicine Program Fellow Hayley Varela, MD, Earns Clinical Trainee Research Award. Congratulations to UPMC Newborn Medicine Program fellow, Hayley Varela, MD, (PGY-5) for receiving a Magee-Womens Research Institute (MWRI) Clinical Trainee Research Award (CTRA) in December 2023. The highly competitive award is designed to support research being conducted by trainees at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital.

   

• UPMC Children’s Pediatric Nephrology/NICU Fellow Tara Beck Awarded MWRI-Clinical Trainee Research Award. 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.”

   

• New faculty members joining the UPMC Newborn Medicine Program in 2024 were:
  • Kelsey Sullivan, MD
  • Nataly Maldonado, MD
  • Lois Bangiolo, MD, MPH
    
    
• Kalyani Vats, MD, was honored by the March of Dimes as the Southwestern Pennsylvania Physician of the Year. Dr. Vats is an associate professor of Pediatrics and she is the co-director of the Center for Advanced Fetal Diagnostics. Dr. Vats also created and is the medical director of the Delivery, Triage and Emergency Antenatal Consult Services (DTAC), which bridges as well as advances the care of critically sick newborns as they transition from delivery room to neonatal ICU.
  
  
• Among its current group of fellows, The UPMC Newborn Medicine program currently has two dual fellowship trainees. Tara Beck, DO, is a dual neonatology and nephrology fellow. Chelsea Bitler, DO, is a fellow in neonatology and clinical informatics.
  
  
• Onome Oghifobibi, MD, medical director of the APP Neonatal Fellowship Program and director of Community Engagement was selected by Carnegie Mellon University for its Executive Leadership Academy.

• Evolution and Expansion of the UPMC Newborn Medicine Program's NG Tube Home Feeding Protocol. Directing the program are Arcangela Lattari Balest, MD, assistant professor of Pediatrics and director of the Multidisciplinary Feeding Program within the UPMC Newborn Medicine Program, and John Ibrahim, MD, FAAP, assistant professor of Pediatrics, who is also the director of Quality in the division.

• UPMC Newborn Medicine Program Takes Part in OptiStart Clinical Trial. The goal of the OptiSTART study is to identify optimal target blood oxygen levels for preterm infants at birth to reduce unnecessary oxidative stress and its detrimental effects in this vulnerable population.
  
  
• Onome Oghifobibi, MD, Jacqueline Graham, CRNP, MSN, NNP-BC, and Mekayla Heinzmann, PA-C, lead the Advanced Practice Provider Neonatology Fellowship Program.

The Division of Newborn Medicine was well-represented at a number of clinical events this past year with faculty and trainees participating in the following:

• Shayla Percy, MD, MEd, received the Section on Neonatal Perinatal Medicine Young Investigator Award at the 2024 American Academy of Pediatrics conference. Dr. Percy is a PGY-6 fellow. The project she presented at AAP 2024 was titled “Reducing Metabolic Bone Disease of Prematurity.”
• UPMC Children's at AAP National Conference and Exhibition 2024
• UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh at CHNC 2024
• 15th Annual Neonatal & Pediatric ECLS Educational Conference
• UPMC Children's at PAS 2024