2023 Department of Pediatrics Academic Annual Report

INFECTION CONTROL The Infection Control and Prevention team, which includes the medical director, the nurse manager and three infection prevention nurses, work together to identify, investigate and develop processes to prevent infections acquired in the hospital. • Over the past three years, they have worked closely with multidisciplinary Solutions for Patient Safety teams to develop and educate the hospital staff about process bundles to prevent four of the hospital-acquired conditions that are a focus of this nationwide collaboration, CLABSI, SSI, CAUTI and VAP. NEW PROGRAMS The Division of Infectious Diseases was fortunate to recruit two new faculty members in 2023, Stephen Obaro, M.D., Ph.D., and Maria Rueda-Altez, M.D. Dr. Obaro is a senior scientist with an established global health program in Nigeria. His clinical and laboratory work focuses on the epidemiology of bacterial infections and their prevention in young children. Dr. Rueda-Altez is re-establishing a pediatric immunocompromised host service to provide outstanding care for children undergoing transplantation or receiving medications that compromise a child’s ability to fight infection. Emerg Infect Dis. 2023 Dec;29(12):2461-2470. Cross-Sectional Study of Soil-Transmitted Helminthiases in Black Belt Region of Alabama, USA. Claudette Poole, Troy Barker, Richard Bradbury, Drew Capone, Amy Hutson Chatham, Sukwan Handali, Eduardo Rodriguez, Yvonne Qvarnstrom, Joe Brown. Int J Infect Dis. 2023 Jan 3;S1201-9712(22)00680-4. Comparative Effectiveness of Oseltamivir versus Peramivir for Hospitalized Children (ages 0-5 years) with Influenza Infection. Ming Xu, Ting Cai, Tingting Yue, Pan Zhang, Jie Huang, Qi Liu, Yue Wang, Ruping Luo, Zhengqiu Li, Linli Luo, Chunyi Ji, Xinrui Tan, Yanling Zheng, Richard Whitley, Erik De Clercq, Qiang Yin, Guangdi Li. J Pediatric Infect Dis Soc. 2023 Mar 4;piad013. Urine and Saliva Viral Load in Children with Congenital Cytomegalovirus Infection. Nazia Kabani, Swetha Pinninti, Suresh Boppana, Karen Fowler, Shannon Ross. JCI Insight. 2023 Jan 31;e149648. Murine cytomegalovirus reactivation concomitant with acute graft-versus-host disease is controlled by antibodies. Martina Seefried, Nadine Hundhausen, Irena Kroeger, Maike Büttner-Herold, Petra Hoffmann, Matthias Edinger, Evelyn Ullrich, Friederike Berberich-Siebelt, William J Britt, Michael Mach, Thomas H Winkler. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2023 Jun;22(6):449-475. Therapeutic strategies for COVID-19: progress and lessons learned. Guangdi Li, Rolf Hilgenfeld, Richard Whitley, Erik De Clercq. Nature. 2023 Mar 30. Adeno-associated virus type 2 in US children with acute severe hepatitis. Venice Servellita, Alicia Sotomayor Gonzalez, Daryl M Lamson, Abiodun Foresythe, Hee Jae Huh, Adam L Bazinet, Nicholas H Bergman, Robert L Bull, Karla Y Garcia, Jennifer S Goodrich, Sean P Lovett, Kisha Parker, Diana Radune, April Hatada, Chao-Yang Pan, Kyle Rizzo, J Bradford Bertumen, Christina Morales, Paul E Oluniyi, Jenny Nguyen, Jessica Tan, Doug Stryke, Rayah Jaber, Matthew T Leslie, Zin Lyons, Hayden D Hedman, Umesh Parashar, Maureen Sullivan, Kelly Wroblewski, M Steven Oberste, Jacqueline E Tate, Julia M Baker, David Sugerman, Caelin Potts, Xiaoyan Lu, Preeti Chhabra; Pediatric Hepatitis of Unknown Etiology Working Group; L Amanda Ingram, Henry Shiau, William Britt, Luz Helena Gutierrez Sanchez, Caroline Ciric, Christina A Rostad, Jan Vinjé, Hannah L Kirking, Debra A Wadford, R Taylor Raborn, Kirsten St George, Charles Y Chiu. Open Forum Infect Dis. 2023 Jan 11;10(1):ofad009. Impact of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Variants on Short- and Mid-term Cardiac Outcomes in Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children. Swetha Pinninti, Camden Hebson, Jacqueline Collins, Connie Trieu, Sushma Boppana, Markus Buchfellner, Cathy Seripin, April Yarbrough, Claudette Poole, Shannon Ross, Scott James, Cecelia Hutto, Suresh Boppana. PLoS Pathog. 2023 Apr 14;19(4):e1011316. SOX2 downregulation of PML increases HCMV gene expression and growth of glioma cells. Le Wen, Xian-Zhang Wang, Yong Qiu, Yue-Peng Zhou, Qing-Yang Zhang, Shuang Cheng, Jin-Yan Sun, Xing-Jun Jiang, Simon Rayner, William J Britt, Jian Chen, Fei Hu, Fang-Cheng Li, Min-Hua Luo, Han Cheng. Sci Transl Med. 2023 Jul 26;15(706):eadh9917. Signatures of AAV-2 immunity are enriched in children with severe acute hepatitis of unknown etiology. Moriah M Mitchell, Yumei Leng, Suresh Boppana, William J Britt, Luz Helena Gutierrez Sanchez, Stephen J Elledge. 2023 PUBLICATIONS HIGH-IMPACT PUBLICATIONS

Click here for the full list of publications from the division faculty in 2023.

EXTRAMURAL AWARDS, RECOGNITION & LEADERSHIP ROLES

Karen Fowler, M.D., was awarded the 2023 National CMV Foundation Professional Impact Award. David Kimberlin, M.D., appointed to the NIH Advisory Committee as the Deputy Director for Intramural Research (DDIR). Dr. Kimberlin was elected to the Association of American Physicians. Scott James, M.D., was selected for the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) Leadership Institute: Community of Leaders.

Dr. James was named Fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Dr. James was named Fellow of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society.

2023 Academic Annual Report

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