News | Page 13 | Pediatrics

A pledge of support for transgender youth: providing gender-affirming care and rejecting fear and hate

March 9, 2022

As one of the nation’s largest and most comprehensive medical systems, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Weill Cornell Medicine’s mission statements aim to provide the highest quality and most compassionate care to all those who seek it. Medical providers take a pledge to “respect the autonomy and dignity of our patients” and “maintain the utmost respect for human life without considerations of age, disease or disability, creed, ethnic origin, gender, nationality, political affiliation, race, sexual orientation, or social standing”. Statements targeting the care of transgender youth, like those made by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, run in stark and direct contrast to the ethos of medicine, our mission statements, and professional values. These politically motivated calls to criminalize gender-affirming care pose a direct threat to the health and well-being of the entire transgender community, and we reject them wholeheartedly.

In support of the transgender community, we pledge to continue providing individualized and personalized care plans to fit the unique needs of our gender-diverse youth. Instead of portraying their health care as criminal and abusive, we pledge to continue offering our trans youth evidence-based medical assessments and treatments which are supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Endocrine Society, the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine, the American Medical Association, and the American Psychological Association.

Dr. Timothy Clapper Awarded Grant to Study the Use of His Evidence-based Training Model to Improve Delivery of Bad or Difficult News for Residents

March 8, 2022

Director of Education for the Weill Cornell Medicine/NewYork-Presbyterian Simulation Center, Dr. Timothy Clapper received a grant from the NewYork-Presbyterian (NYP) MDxPx Program for his research, “An innovative instructional design model to improve delivery of bad or difficult news for PGY-2 residents across multiple specializations.”

The award follows the NYP Patient Experience Group’s awarding Dr. Clapper funding to support the successful implementation of delivering bad or difficult news training for interdisciplinary fellows from five adult and pediatric subspecialty training fellowships.

He and his co-researchers, including faculty and staff from our Department of Pediatrics (Aliza Solomon, DO; Christine Joyce, MD: Kevin Ching, MD; Winnie Shen, and Kyle P. Burns) found significant improvements in fellow’s ability to deliver difficult news and value for the evidence-based, innovation framework that includes targeted feedback.

Dr. Camilia Martin Named Chief of Newborn Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian Komansky Children’s Hospital

March 8, 2022

This article was originally posted on WCM Newsroom.

NEW YORK (March 8, 2022)—Dr. Camilia Martin, an esteemed physician-scientist who combines clinical care and innovative research on neonatal nutrition to improve outcomes for premature and newborn babies, has been named chief of the Division of Newborn Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian Komansky Children’s Hospital, effective May 1.

Emily Coppedge Named Chief Nurse Practitioner for Pediatric Subspecialty Practice

February 23, 2022

The Department of Pediatrics is pleased to announce the promotion of Emily Coppedge, NP to Chief Nurse Practitioner for the Pediatric Subspecialty Practice at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. In this role, Ms. Coppedge will work with the Medical Director and Practice Administrator of the Pediatric Subspecialty Practice to enhance patient care in the unified practice.

As Chief Nurse Practitioner, Ms. Coppedge will serve as a clinical, educational, and administrative resource to nursing personnel and oversee patient care delivery and management. She will work in collaboration with attending physicians and multidisciplinary health care teams to optimize patient care and team performance.

Ms. Coppedge received a Bachelors in Nursing from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Masters in Nursing from New York University. She is board certified as an advanced practice nurse specializing in pediatrics and brings 16 years of pediatric nursing experience to this role. As a registered nurse, Ms. Coppedge worked a variety of inpatient and outpatient roles and after extensive training in diabetes care, obtained her certified diabetes educator certification.

New Study Aims to Address the Needs of Black Adolescent Girls with Prediabetes

February 16, 2022

Marisa Censani, MD, associate professor of clinical pediatrics and Director of the Pediatric Obesity Program in the Division of Pediatric Endocrinology, is co-investigator on a newly funded NIH study titled, “The preliminary efficacy of a culturally tailored, telehealth lifestyle intervention for Black adolescent girls with prediabetes: a pilot randomized controlled trial” (R21MD016986). The principal investigator is Tashara M. Leak, PhD, RD, an assistant professor in the Division of Nutritional Sciences (Cornell University, Ithaca, NY). For 12 weeks participants will engage in a weekly virtual wellness session focusing on mindfulness and nutrition, an at-home cooking experience preparing healthy ethnic meals, and a virtual Afrocentric dance class. The overall aim of the study is to improve diet quality, increase physical activity, and improve glycemic measures.

Dr. Priyanka Mehrotra Receives Bronze Snapshot Research Award from Society of Critical Care Medicine

February 15, 2022

Pediatric ICU Fellow, Dr. Priyanka Mehrotra has received the Bronze Snapshot Research Award from the Society of Critical Care Medicine for her study, “Timing of Tracheostomy in Critically Ill Infants and Children with Respiratory Failure: A PHIS Study."

Despite tracheostomy’s historical depth, the growing complexity of the pediatric patient requiring long-term ventilation makes the decision of when to undergo tracheostomy challenging, creating vast variability in practice standards for timing of tracheostomy insertion in pediatric patients. In this study, Dr. Mehrotra aims to contribute to the current literature on timing of pediatric tracheostomy. She will describe the timing of tracheostomy placement, associated demographics, and clinical characteristics in a large pediatric critical care cohort using the Pediatric Health Information system database. Dr. Mehrotra will then compare the clinical outcomes based on timing of tracheostomy.

Dr. Mehrotra's overall goal is to provide more data on pediatric tracheostomy timing and associated outcomes to alleviate the shared decision-making burden amongst physicians and parents when discussing this life-altering intervention.

Dr. William Ambler Selected as NIH Metzger Scholar in Translational Research

February 14, 2022

Pediatric Rheumatology Fellow, Dr. William Ambler was selected as an NIH Metzger Scholar in Translational Research for his project, “Role of sex hormones in neutrophil sex differences in health and systemic lupus erythematosus.”

Neutrophils are a type of white blood cells, called leukocytes, that act as your immune system's first line of defense. They’re also known to display sexual differences in phenotype and function in healthy individuals. Female neutrophils are more mature, have a heightened response to type 1 interferon, and have reduced mitochondrial respiration. These differences are likely related to sex hormone exposure. In systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a disease with significant female bias, neutrophils play an important role in disease pathogenesis and disease-related tissue injury. In this study, Dr. Ambler will investigate the mechanism of sex hormonal impact on neutrophils in murine models and evaluate neutrophil sex differences in SLE patients.

By understanding the mechanisms of sex differences in neutrophils, Dr. Ambler's study will provide insight into sex differences in the immune response in SLE disease pathogenesis as well as in many other diseases.

Dr. Kalliope Tsirilakis Appointed Director of Quality and Patient Safety Ambulatory Care

February 14, 2022

The Weill Cornell Medicine Department of Pediatrics is pleased to announce the appointment of Kalliope Tsirilakis, MD as Director of Quality and Patient Safety Ambulatory Care at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian Queens.

In this role, Dr. Tsirilakis will work closely the Vice Chair of Quality and Patient Safety, Medical Director, and Department Leadership to enhance the safety and quality programs in the ambulatory setting as it relates to patient access, health equity, telehealth visit safety, and the implementation of new programs. Guided by Weill Cornell Medicine’s mission of health equity, Dr. Tsirilakis will align the quality and safety practices across NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian Queens

Dr. Kalliope Tsirilakis is an assistant professor of clinical pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine and an assistant attending pediatrician at NewYork-Presbyterian Komansky Children’s Hospital. She is also the Clinical Director of the Pediatric Asthma Programs at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian Queens.

Dr. Tiffany Schumaker Appointed as Medical Director of the Pediatric Specialty Practice

February 14, 2022

The Department of Pediatrics is pleased to announce the appointment of Tiffany Schumaker, DO as Medical Director of the Pediatric Specialty Practice at Weill Cornell Medicine. In this role, Dr. Schumaker will work with the Vice Chair for Ambulatory Care Services ‐ Access and Strategy (ACSAS) and Departmental Leadership on overseeing clinical, educational, and operational activities of physicians, advanced practice providers, and pediatric residents and specialty fellows in the Pediatric Specialty Practice.

Dr. Schumaker is an assistant professor of clinical pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine and an assistant attending pediatrician at NewYork-Presbyterian Komansky Children's Hospital. She received her medical degree from New York College of Osteopathic Medicine where she was also awarded membership to the Psi Sigma Alpha National Osteopathic Honor Society. She completed her residency in Pediatrics as Chief Resident at Cohen’s Children’s Medical Center, Long Island Jewish Hospital and her fellowship in Pediatric Endocrinology at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. She is board certified in pediatrics and pediatric endocrinology.

Neonatology Fellow Dr. Sean Cullen Awarded NIH K12 Grant

February 2, 2022

Neonatology Fellow, Sean Cullen, MD, PhD, received an NIH K12 award for his study, “Regulation of Germ Cell Small RNAs and Epigenetically-Inherited Disease by Khdc3” as the 2021 March of Dimes Scholar for the Pediatric Scientist Development Program (PSDP). Dr. Cullen will be co-mentored in this project by Matthew Smith-Raska, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine and Andrea Ventura MD, PhD, Full Member of the Cancer Biology and Genetics Program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Childhood obesity and its metabolic sequelae are among the most pressing current global health issues. Obesity and metabolic diseases are strongly heritable, yet our understanding of its inheritance is incomplete, as only a small percentage of gene-focused approaches have identified causative factors. For this study, Dr. Cullen will investigate the transmission of obesity and metabolic disease through the germ line by small RNAs in the sperm and oocyte. His work will focus on the role played by the Khdc3 gene in altering the small RNA component of germ cells in a murine model, particularly after exposure to a high fat diet, a known risk factor in the transmission of obesity.