Features

Filling the Pipeline for Behavioral Health Professionals
Filling the Pipeline for Behavioral Health Professionals 150 150 Abbie Miller and Shannon Caldwell

Brittany Schaffner, IMFT-S, LPCC-S, shares how a new college course and professional resources are helping more students meet the need for behavioral health care in pediatrics. Tell us about your role at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. I’m a behavioral health clinical training supervisor here at Nationwide Children’s. I facilitate training programs for a wide range of…

Nephrotoxic-Associated Acute Kidney Injury (NAKI) Is Avoidable
Nephrotoxic-Associated Acute Kidney Injury (NAKI) Is Avoidable 375 280 Pam Georgiana

Quality improvement initiative at Nationwide Children’s Hospital leads to significant reductions in NAKI. Nephrotoxic-associated acute kidney injury (NAKI) — an under-recognized but serious risk in pediatric hospital care — affects up to 25% of hospitalized children. It occurs when medications or toxins reduce kidney function by disrupting blood flow, damaging renal cells or triggering inflammation.…

Meet Prof Eileen Africa: Fulbright Scholar and Sports Medicine Expert
Meet Prof Eileen Africa: Fulbright Scholar and Sports Medicine Expert 1024 683 Abbie Miller

Prof Eileen Africa, an associate professor in the Division of Movement Science and Exercise Therapy in the Department of Exercise, Sport, and Lifestyle Medicine at Stellenbosch University in South Africa and a Fulbright scholar, recently visited Nationwide Children’s to work with Dr. James MacDonald and the Sports Medicine Team conducting research about the effectiveness of…

Meet Antonio Cabrera, MD, Chief of Cardiology at Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Meet Antonio Cabrera, MD, Chief of Cardiology at Nationwide Children’s Hospital 150 150 Abbie Miller

Antonio Cabrera, MD, FAAP, FAHA, FACC, FHFSA, is the division chief of cardiology and co-director of the Heart Center. He is a professor of pediatrics at The Ohio State University and currently holds the Nationwide George H. Dunlap Endowed Chair in Pediatric Cardiology. Previously, Dr. Cabrera served as the L. George Veasy Presidential Professor at…

The Current and Future State of Scoliosis Care and Research
The Current and Future State of Scoliosis Care and Research 1024 683 Madison Storm

In the United States alone, scoliosis affects an estimated 7 million people – just under twice the population of Los Angeles – according to the Scoliosis Research Society. Each year, an estimated 30,000 children begin wearing braces for treatment.  Over time, the treatments available for different types of scoliosis have continued to advance, in large…

4 Things to Know About Bladder Exstrophy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital
4 Things to Know About Bladder Exstrophy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital 1024 734 Abbie Miller

Led by V. Rama Jayanthi, MD, and Peter Cuckow, MB, BS, FRCS, the Bladder Exstrophy Program at Nationwide Children’s is poised to launch a new era of care for children in the United States. When Drs. Jayanthi and Cuckow start talking about their new program, their excitement is palpable. “We’re so excited to bring this…

Meet David Axelson, MD, Chief of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health
Meet David Axelson, MD, Chief of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health 1024 647 Shannon Caldwell

Dr. Axelson and his team have achieved amazing things in the last decade, from more than doubling the volume of patients served to establishing a new research institute for mental and behavioral health, and they’re not slowing down. We recently sat down to talk with Dr. Axelson about his time at Nationwide Children’s and his…

Treating Obesity With GLP-1s — Finding the Way Forward
Treating Obesity With GLP-1s — Finding the Way Forward 150 150 Abbie Miller

Using lessons learned from medicating mental and behavioral health conditions, Stephen Cook, MD, offers suggestions about how medications approved for adolescents with obesity should become part of care.   For most of the time in Western medicine, people have treated obesity like a choice — not a disease. Like other conditions now understood to be…

Approaching Uncertainty in Medicine With a Growth Mindset
Approaching Uncertainty in Medicine With a Growth Mindset 1024 531 Abbie Miller

In baseball, a really good batting average is .333 — which means the batter hits the ball and gets to first base a third of the time. That also means they miss —they fail — two-thirds of the time. Medical providers are expected to get things right 100% of the time,” says Michael Patrick, MD,…

Weight-Based Stigma and Its Impact on Children With Obesity
Weight-Based Stigma and Its Impact on Children With Obesity 1024 376 Alaina Doklovic

More children in the United States live with obesity than any other chronic condition. The obesity rate among U.S. children and teens has more than tripled since 1980, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Although there are numerous efforts underway to help children and adults reach and maintain a healthy weight,…

Virtual Surgical Planning for Musculoskeletal Oncology
Virtual Surgical Planning for Musculoskeletal Oncology 150 150 Abbie Miller

CT of pelvis showing tumor MRI of pelvis showing tumor Step 1: Data acquisition: Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance images (MRI) are obtained during the same visit with markers used to help align the scans to create the composite image. That composite is used to develop the virtual model. Step 2: The 3D Printing and Innovations…

Biofilms: The Good, the Bad & the Groundbreaking
Biofilms: The Good, the Bad & the Groundbreaking 1024 615 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

Decades of research into the structure and function of bacterial biofilms have begun to pay off in the form of imminent clinical applications capable of harnessing both the protective and problematic aspects of this universal phenomenon. Imagine a hospital emergency department filled with patients — those with painful ear infections, recurrent urinary tract infections, fevers…

From Scan to Plan: Making Virtual Surgical Planning the Standard of Care for Ortho-oncology Operations
From Scan to Plan: Making Virtual Surgical Planning the Standard of Care for Ortho-oncology Operations 1024 281 Abbie Miller

“We deal in rarities,” says Thomas Scharschmidt, MD, director of the Pediatric Orthopedic Oncology Program at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and professor of Orthopedics at The Ohio State University. “When you consider that across the entire U.S. population, we have between 2,500 and 3,000 cases of primary malignant bone tumors each year, and only half of…

Lessons Learned: From First Gen Student to Chief Scientific Officer
Lessons Learned: From First Gen Student to Chief Scientific Officer 1024 683 Nationwide Children's

Joanne Turner, PhD, chief scientific officer at the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, shares what it’s like to go from first gen college student to academic leadership.    What inspired you to go to college and pursue a bachelor’s degree in science? When I was in school, college never came up as…

Empowering Therapists With Better Tools
Empowering Therapists With Better Tools 1024 481 Wendy Margolin

New research director sets out to improve mental and behavioral health care with assessments.  Providing mental or behavioral health care without simple, effective clinical assessment tools is like trying to lose weight without access to a bathroom scale, says Eric Youngstrom, PhD, the new director of the Institute for Mental and Behavioral Health Research at…

Has the Next Generation of Gene Therapy Arrived?
Has the Next Generation of Gene Therapy Arrived? 1024 683 Wendy Margolin

Researchers crack the code to deliver dual gene therapy in preclinical studies – with promises of wider applications. In a gene therapy breakthrough, a Nationwide Children’s Hospital researcher has successfully used an adeno-associated virus (AAV) to introduce two genes into cells with a single vector. Paul Martin, PhD, created a new dual gene vector approach…

Extended Reality Offers New Ways to View Congenital Heart Disease
Extended Reality Offers New Ways to View Congenital Heart Disease 1024 577 Mary Bates, PhD

Researchers are evaluating the technology’s potential to improve clinical practice, trainee and family education, and patient outcomes. What if you could put on a headset and teleport inside a model of a patient’s beating heart? What if you could interact with that heart — touch it with your fingertips, zoom in or out or view…

4 Questions With Jeffrey Leonard, MD
4 Questions With Jeffrey Leonard, MD 1024 683 Abbie Miller

Jeffrey Leonard, MD, is chief of Neurosurgery and the Robert F. & Edgar T. Wolfe Foundation Endowed Chair in Neurosurgery at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. He is also a principal investigator in the Center for Childhood Cancer Research in the Abigail Wexner Research Institute and a professor of Neurological Surgery at The Ohio State University College…

Optimizing Prenatal and Neonatal Care for Infants With Treatable Rare Diseases
Optimizing Prenatal and Neonatal Care for Infants With Treatable Rare Diseases 1024 619 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

As new treatments emerge and diagnostics improve, earlier interventions offer infants with rare metabolic and neurodegenerative conditions a future wildly different than ever before. Not long ago, a diagnosis of molybdenum cofactor deficiency (MoCD) type A meant death before kindergarten. Since the FDA approval of NULIBRY® (fosdenopterin) in 2021, however, children diagnosed with MoCD type…

Turning Complications into Fuel for a New Approach to Better Outcomes
Turning Complications into Fuel for a New Approach to Better Outcomes 1024 418 Alaina Doklovic

A new web application enhances Morbidity and Mortality data storage and actively improves patient care. Morbidity and Mortality (M&M) Conferences are mandated meetings that occur regularly at all academic medical centers and are powerful opportunities for learning and reflection. These conferences have been around for decades and provide opportunities to learn from medical errors, complications…

Accelerating Advances in Epilepsy Surgery
Accelerating Advances in Epilepsy Surgery 1024 683 Abbie Miller

One program is bringing together clinical care, surgery and research to create a brighter future for children with intractable epilepsy. Childhood-onset epilepsy affects 1% of children worldwide. Up to a third of patients with epilepsy will have medically refractory epilepsy, continuing to have seizures despite using two or more antiseizure medications. Options for this group…

New Frontiers for Data Science in Pediatric Research
New Frontiers for Data Science in Pediatric Research 1024 577 Peter White, PhD

From discovery science to population health, researchers generate masses of data that hold immense potential to transform pediatric research, diagnostics, treatments and even guide disease prevention strategies. To make sense of this data deluge, we’ve been harnessing the power of cloud computing and cutting-edge data science techniques, such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML)…

Unraveling the Genetic Mystery Behind a Rare Pediatric Disease
Unraveling the Genetic Mystery Behind a Rare Pediatric Disease 980 429 Wendy Margolin

Prune belly syndrome (PBS) is a rare, congenital urologic disease, affecting an estimated 1 out of 50,000 births. While most urologists will see fewer than three cases of PBS in their careers, Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s Linda Baker, MD, has treated more than 50 patients and met and counseled nearly 200 in the last 15 years.…

The First 3 Years With PBS: Bryson’s Story
The First 3 Years With PBS: Bryson’s Story 953 269 Wendy Margolin

The first time Andrea Williams met her new baby was four days after his birth. Baby Bryson was born with the rare congenital disorder, prune belly syndrome (PBS), and was rushed to the Nationwide Children’s Hospital NICU immediately after birth. His enlarged belly meant he was delivered by C-section at 37 weeks, and it wasn’t…

Practical Advice for Investigator-Initiated Trials
Practical Advice for Investigator-Initiated Trials 1024 363 Lauren Dembeck

Investigator-initiated trials play a crucial role in advancing medical research and contributing to evidence-based medicine. These trials are initiated, designed and conducted by researchers, often physicians or scientists, rather than by pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies. They allow researchers to explore specific hypotheses, novel interventions or unique patient populations that may not be addressed in industry-sponsored…

New National “Vital Signs” to Measure Population-wide Pediatric Health
New National “Vital Signs” to Measure Population-wide Pediatric Health 1024 683 Jeb Phillips

In 2017, an opinion piece in JAMA Pediatrics started this way: “We call for a national effort to develop a parsimonious set of quality and outcome measures for (all) children.” And now, for perhaps the first time in American pediatrics, that “parsimonious set: has been laid out to guide communities and health systems across the United…

What Features Make Virtual Reality Effective in Pain Management?
What Features Make Virtual Reality Effective in Pain Management? 934 401 Mary Bates, PhD

Game realism, fun and engagement all impact pain perception during burn dressing changes. Researchers from Nationwide Children’s Hospital show that three key features of a virtual reality intervention (game realism, fun and engagement) influence self-reported pain scores during burn dressing changes. The findings provide insight into the potential mechanisms through which virtual reality affects pain…

Gene Therapy for the Masses?
Gene Therapy for the Masses? 1024 683 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

Long-lived financial and logistical hurdles make bringing new gene therapy products to market a major challenge. To help bring more of these medical miracles to fruition, experts across industry, regulatory review, science and medicine have begun to problem solve together.  With the approval of the gene therapy Kymriah® (tisagenlecleucel) in 2017, the Food and Drug…

Innovations in Pediatric Cancer and Transplants: Q&A With Sara K. Rasmussen, MD, PhD
Innovations in Pediatric Cancer and Transplants: Q&A With Sara K. Rasmussen, MD, PhD 150 150 Pam Georgiana

Sara K. Rasmussen, MD, PhD, is a transplant and pediatric surgeon in the Department of Abdominal Transplant and Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery and an associate principal investigator in the Center for Clinical and Translational Research in the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. She earned both her medical and doctoral degrees from West Virginia University…

The Endocrinologists’ Role in Caring for TPIAT Patients
The Endocrinologists’ Role in Caring for TPIAT Patients 1024 500 Lauren Dembeck
illustrated cross section of islets from pancreas

Children with recurrent acute or chronic pancreatitis often suffer debilitating pain and may endure an impaired quality of life. They may be frequently admitted to the hospital, disrupting their daily routines and activities. Patients may undergo medical and endoscopic interventions for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes and may be offered surgical interventions. Total pancreatectomy with…

Changing the Landscape of Blood Disorder Treatments: A Long Time Coming
Changing the Landscape of Blood Disorder Treatments: A Long Time Coming 150 150 Alaina Doklovic

New therapies, from virus-mediated gene therapy to CRISPR-based treatments, are poised to change the clinical landscape of blood disorder treatments and outcomes. For more than two decades experts have been searching for curative therapies for blood disorders. They have invested time, money and expertise to bring these therapies to fruition, something that the Division of…

Meet Toni Pearson, MD: Pediatric Movement Disorders Expert
Meet Toni Pearson, MD: Pediatric Movement Disorders Expert 150 150 Pam Georgiana

Toni S. Pearson, MD, joined Nationwide Children’s in 2022 as an attending pediatric neurologist and professor of pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. She specializes in childhood movement disorders, such as dystonia, chorea, parkinsonism, ataxia, myoclonus, tremors, tics, and spasticity. Dr. Pearson is also developing a fellowship training program for a new…

Innovative Gene Therapy Approach for Treating Patients with Tuberous Sclerosis Type 2
Innovative Gene Therapy Approach for Treating Patients with Tuberous Sclerosis Type 2 150 150 Lauren Dembeck

Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a devastating genetic disease that affects nearly 1 in every 5,500 newborns and approximately 2 million people worldwide. The disease is characterized by the formation of non-malignant tumors throughout multiple organs, including the kidney, lungs, eyes, and heart, but predominantly the brain. It is typically diagnosed in infants and young…

Accelerating Pediatric Medical Device Innovation 
Accelerating Pediatric Medical Device Innovation  150 150 Erin Gregory

The Midwest Pediatric Device Consortium (MPDC) is a unique collective led by Nationwide Children’s Hospital and The Ohio State University, designed to facilitate the development, production, and distribution of pediatric medical devices. Comprising a diverse group of leaders in universities, healthcare systems, community organizations, and industry partners across Ohio, the MPDC is committed to transforming…

Probiotics Delivered in Biofilm State Protect the Intestines and Brain in NEC Model
Probiotics Delivered in Biofilm State Protect the Intestines and Brain in NEC Model 898 504 Abbie Miller

Biofilm formulation of Limosilactobacillus reuteri protects against necrotizing enterocolitis in piglet model.  Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a debilitating and deadly condition affecting infants born preterm. In NEC cases, intestinal tissues become inflamed, and in severe cases, there is ischemia and death of the involved intestines. Treatment for NEC often involves surgery to remove the dying…

Building Hope, Recovery, and Life Beyond Substance Use Disorder
Building Hope, Recovery, and Life Beyond Substance Use Disorder 1024 702 Abbie Miller

Five years ago, Pediatrics Nationwide dedicated its fall issue to a comprehensive look at the effects of the opioid crisis on children and families. At that time, Sarah Parker was working hard to stay sober, recovering from the very crisis holding the nation’s attention. Parker grew up in Chillicothe, Ohio, halfway between Portsmouth, Ohio, the…

Whole Child, Whole Family Care
Whole Child, Whole Family Care 150 150 Abbie Miller and Jeb Phillips

Meeting the needs of children and caregivers with evidence-based programming and intentional support for access. Parenting a young child can be tough in the best circumstances. But when you overlay poverty, inequity, and concerns about employment and education on top of it, parenting a young child can feel overwhelming. Whitney Raglin Bignall, PhD, has dedicated…

Tissue Engineered Trachea: State of the Research
Tissue Engineered Trachea: State of the Research 150 150 Lauren Dembeck

The promise of tissue-engineered trachea grafts is moving closer to the clinic, as recent preclinical studies have shown successful implantation and neovascularization. Breathing is an essential biological function that provides our bodies with the oxygen necessary for survival. However, most of us rarely think about the biological structures that make it possible. The trachea, commonly…

Caring for Incarcerated Children
Caring for Incarcerated Children 1024 537 Jeb Phillips

Young people in juvenile detention centers need health care. In fact, decades of studies show they most often need it more urgently than their peers who are not involved in the justice system – nearly 70% of “confined youth” have an unmet health care need (2010 study). So it makes some sense that “urgent care”…

Preventing Accidental Ingestion of Marijuana
Preventing Accidental Ingestion of Marijuana 1024 683 Abbie Miller

If you are a child, and you find a bag of fruit snacks — you don’t eat just one piece. The THC/marijuana products on the market today have an average of 10-20 mg in one serving. That’s one square of a chocolate bar, one gummy (which looks like a fruit snack) or one chip. “THC…

Growing Clinical Research at Nationwide Children’s With Cynthia Gerhardt, PhD
Growing Clinical Research at Nationwide Children’s With Cynthia Gerhardt, PhD 1024 683 Cynthia Gerhardt, PhD and Natalie Wilson

Dr. Gerhardt was appointed Chief Clinical Research Officer at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in April 2023. With integrating clinical care and research at the heart of the hospital’s strategic plan, she has big plans for ensuring our clinical research infrastructure continues to grow and evolve to support the best bench-to-bedside-and-back science for best outcomes. Learn more…

Implementation Science to Expand Contraception Access for Adolescents Hospitalized with Mental Health Issues
Implementation Science to Expand Contraception Access for Adolescents Hospitalized with Mental Health Issues 1024 575 Pam Georgiana
Black and white image of teen girl posing outside

Research has documented that adolescents with mental health concerns have a higher need for contraceptive counseling and care because they are at a higher risk for unintended pregnancy.[i] [ii] Unintended pregnancies can make mental health symptoms worse, especially depressive symptoms. [iii] Counseling and use of contraceptives are simple evidence-based strategies to reduce unplanned pregnancies. However,…

Ask A Specialist: What Running Distances Are Safe for Children?
Ask A Specialist: What Running Distances Are Safe for Children? 1024 895 Gabriella Gonzales, MD and James MacDonald, MD, MPH

Sports Medicine experts offer advice for pediatricians about what age it is appropriate for children to run and train for races such as the 5K, 10K, half marathon and marathon. Running is a great activity! It requires very little equipment and can be done individually or with a team. Running can be beneficial for children…

Kidney Support for Babies: Building a Comprehensive and Integrated Neonatal Kidney Support Therapy Program
Kidney Support for Babies: Building a Comprehensive and Integrated Neonatal Kidney Support Therapy Program 1024 575 Lauren Dembeck
Nurse caring for infant in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)

Kidney support therapy (KST), commonly referred to as dialysis, is a life-saving procedure used to manage complications associated with acute kidney injury and kidney failure, such as fluid overload and electrolyte imbalances, or to remove toxins, such as those in patients with inborn errors of metabolism. Most KST or dialysis machines are designed for adults…

1 Year In, the Molecular Characterization Initiative Has Analyzed Samples From Over 1,000 Patients
1 Year In, the Molecular Characterization Initiative Has Analyzed Samples From Over 1,000 Patients 1024 614 Abbie Miller
abstract art of magnifying glass over DNA strand

Data from the analysis helps clinicians confirm diagnoses and identify targeted treatments. The data also support new pediatric cancer research through the National Cancer Institute’s Childhood Cancer Data Initiative.   The CCDI Molecular Characterization Initiative (MCI) is a project that aims to collect, analyze and report clinical and molecular data and is currently supporting Children’s…

Tissue Engineering and Fetal Medicine: A New Frontier for Congenital Heart Disease
Tissue Engineering and Fetal Medicine: A New Frontier for Congenital Heart Disease 1024 575 Abbie Miller
Fetus in utero receiving valvuloplasty

Procedures that utilize cardiac catheterization to improve fetal heart development are often successful, but they are not without risk. And even if they can successfully prevent the development of single ventricle disease, there is always ongoing heart valve disease (HVD). HVD may not be as life-threatening as single ventricle disease, but it requires lifelong care.…

Investigating Caregiver Disclosure of Pediatric Urologic Surgery
Investigating Caregiver Disclosure of Pediatric Urologic Surgery 1024 575 Mary Bates, PhD
Photo of a toddler playing with toys

A survey reveals most caregivers plan to disclose urologic surgery to their child but would like more guidance from providers. Some pediatric urologic surgeries are performed early in childhood and with short-term follow-up. When children have surgery before the age of memory formation, it is up to their caregiver to disclose this surgery to them.…

More Than a Building: Why Our Expanded Research Facilities Matter for Kids Everywhere
More Than a Building: Why Our Expanded Research Facilities Matter for Kids Everywhere 1024 624 Dennis Durbin, MD, MSCE

At Nationwide Children’s Hospital, we proudly acknowledge the significant role research has in improving patient care and overall child heath. The integration of research and clinical care is at the heart of the hospital’s strategic plan — a $3.3 billion investment over the next several years in our commitment to transform health outcomes for all…

How Language-Processing Technology Could Transform Medical Practice, Research and Patient Participation
How Language-Processing Technology Could Transform Medical Practice, Research and Patient Participation 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

Recent revolutions in researchers’ ability to process natural language sources, such as clinic visit notes, transcripts or medical diaries, could dramatically expand opportunities to improve health care and prevention health outreach.   Natural Language Processing (NLP) is a subfield of computer science and artificial intelligence that deals with the interaction between computers and human language.…

Advancing Genomics-Driven Precision Medicine in the NICU
Advancing Genomics-Driven Precision Medicine in the NICU 1024 683 Natalie Wilson

According to the Children’s Hospitals Neonatal Consortium, as many as half of newborns hospitalized in level IV neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) due to critical illness have an underlying genetic condition. Most don’t get their diagnosis for months or even years. However, clinical assays, new testing modalities and clinical trials are improving their care. Advanced…