2023 Department of Pediatrics Academic Annual Report

Dixon Pediatric Fellowship

The Dixon Pediatric Fellowships were endowed in 1988 by the Edwin Dixon family of Birmingham, Alabama. Dixon Fellowships are competitive awards that assist in the training of fellows who intend to pursue academic careers with a research emphasis in pediatric subspecialties. Recipients receive salary support and a $5,000 per year discretionary fund to support research and continuing education activities. There are five Dixon Fellow training slots, and funding for the program is shared between the Dixon Foundation and the Department of Pediatrics. Since the establishment of the fellowship, 88 awards have been given. Of the awardees, 33 remain as active faculty within the UAB Department of Pediatrics. Among the alumni, 11 are division chiefs, eight hold endowed chairs, one serves as a clerkship director, 12 are division fellowship program directors or associate directors, four are residency training program directors, one is an associate dean and two are department chairs. The selection of fellows is made by a committee composed of Dixon family members and five former Dixon Fellows who evaluate formal proposals from applicants, along with letters from their future mentors and division directors. Awardees are announced at the end of May each year during the delivery of the Bradford Dean Dixon Memorial Lectureship. To date, 40 Dixon lectures have been presented at Children’s of Alabama Grand Rounds by notable leaders in the field of pediatrics.

2023–2024 DIXON FELLOWS

Aphton Lane, M.D. Pediatric Critical Care First-Year Dixon Fellow Title: TISS-28 Scores to Predict

Binh Vu, M.D. Neonatology

Second-Year Dixon Fellow Title: Intranasal Priming of Mucosal Immunity Is Driven by the Upper Airway Microbiota in Neonates

Outcomes in Critically Ill Children with Complex Chronic Conditions

Her mentors are Leslie Hayes, M.D., and Madhura Hallman, M.D.

His mentors are Kent Willis, M.D., and Jennifer Guimbellot, M.D., Ph.D.

Kylee Miller, M.D. Neonatology First-Year Dixon Fellow Title: Transcriptomic Evaluation of Placental Specimens with Human Cytomegalovirus Infection

Ting Wei, M.D. Neonatology

First-Year Dixon Fellow Title: Morphologic and Transcriptomic Alteration of Pulmonary Alveolar Capillary Cells after Hyperoxia Exposure

Her mentor is Nitin Arora, M.D.

Her mentor is Kent Willis, M.D.

Hugh Quach, M.D. Pediatric Critical Care

GRADUATING DIXON FELLOWS ARE:

Second-Year Dixon Fellow Title: Effect of the Sulfation Patterns of Soluble Heparan Sulfate Found in Pediatric

Audrey Lloyd, M.D., Infectious Diseases Dr. Lloyd will remain at UAB as faculty in Infectious Diseases, mainly working with the HIV population. Abbey Rocco, M.D., Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Dr. Rocco will be a first-year neuro-oncology fellow at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Zaki Yazdi, M.D., Neonatology Dr. Yazdi will remain at UAB as a faculty member in Neonatology.

Sepsis on Endothelial Thromboinflammation

His mentors are Robby Richter, M.D., and Jill Richter, Ph.D.

2023 Academic Annual Report

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