Contributors

Jessica Nye, PhD, is a freelance science and medical writer based in Barcelona, Spain. She completed her BS in biology and chemistry and MS in evolutionary biology at Florida State University. Dr. Nye studied population genetics for her doctorate in biomedicine at University of Pompeu Fabra. She conducted her postdoctoral research on the inheritance of complex traits at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

Michael D. Patrick, Jr, MD is a member of the Section of Emergency Medicine, medical director of Digital Health for Nationwide Children's Hospital, and an assistant professor of Clinical Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. His clinical interests include helping sick and injured children in Nationwide Children's off-site urgent care network and the main campus emergency department. He is also interested in parent and patient education. Since 2006, he has hosted and produced PediaCast: a pediatric podcast for parents. This popular program covers news parents can use, answers listener questions, and interviews pediatric and parenting experts. PediaCast is the most-listened-to online source of pediatric information with over four million downloads to date. PediaCast is available wherever podcasts are found.

JoAnna Pendergrass, DVM, is a veterinarian and freelance medical writer in Atlanta, GA. She received her veterinary degree from the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine and completed a 2-year postdoctoral research fellowship at Emory University’s Yerkes Primate Research Center before beginning her career as a medical writer.

As a freelance medical writer, Dr. Pendergrass focuses on pet owner education and health journalism. She is a member of the American Medical Writers Association and has served as secretary and president of AMWA’s Southeast chapter.

In her spare time, Dr. Pendergrass enjoys baking, running, and playing the viola in a local community orchestra.

Jeb is the Managing Editor, Executive Communications, in the Department of Marketing and Public Relations at Nationwide Children's Hospital. He contributes feature stories and research news to PediatricsOnline, the hospital’s electronic newsletter for physicians and other health care providers, and to Pediatrics Nationwide. He has served as a communications specialist at the Center for Injury Research and Policy at The Research Institute and came to Nationwide Children’s after 14-year career as daily newspaper reporter, most recently at The Columbus Dispatch.

Sanjana is a graduate student in the Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology program at Ohio State. She is pursuing her PhD under the mentorship of Dr. Ryan Roberts at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Her research focuses on understanding intra-tumor heterogeneity, the mechanisms by which some cancer cells can survive the genotoxic stress from chemotherapy, and tumor-host interactions that allow for increased capacity of osteosarcoma cells to colonize the lung.

Octavio Ramilo, MD, is the chief of Infectious Diseases at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, he is also the Henry G. Cramblett Chair in Infectious Diseases and professor of Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Dr. Ramlo obtained his medical degree from the Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Spain. Professor Ramilo completed his pediatric residency at the Hospital “12 de Octubre” in Madrid and a subsequent Pediatric Infectious Disease Fellowship at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. He has been involved in translational and clinical research related to the role of the host immune response in pathogenesis of infectious diseases for over 20 years. His current research is focused on pathogenesis and treatment of respiratory infections, especially RSV, and the application of genomics technologies for improving diagnosis and understanding of host responses to infectious agents.

Dr. Reed's clinical interests focus on pediatric leukemia. She has a research interest in medical education, specifically in the teaching of communication and breaking bad news skills. Dr. Reed has a programmatic interest in medical education. She is developing a communication curriculum for the pediatric residency program, for which she serves as an associate program director. Dr. Reed received her medical degree from The Ohio State University College of Medicine. She completed both her residency and fellowship at Nationwide Children's.

Lousie Rodino-Klapac, PhD, is a principal investigator in the Center for Gene Therapy, Neurology, Neuromuscular Disorders and Neurosciences in The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. She is also associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Her translational research program focuses on the development of adeno-associated viral vectors to treat both Duchenne and Limb-Girdle muscular dystrophies. She was recently named one of Columbus Business First’s 40 Under 40 Class of 2017.

Sean Rose, MD, is a pediatric neurologist with additional training in the diagnosis and management of concussion. He is co-director of the Complex Concussion Clinic at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and associate professor of Pediatrics at The Ohio State University. His clinical practice focuses on concussions and other neurological conditions in athletes. He completed a fellowship in Sports Neurology, and he has provided sideline coverage for several sports at multiple levels of play. He is board-certified in neurology with special qualifications in child neurology.

Julie Balch Samora, MD, PhD, received her orthopaedic training at The Ohio State University and completed a fellowship in hand and upper extremity surgery at Harvard. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University, a masters of music at Yale University, and an MD/PhD at West Virginia University, where she concomitantly earned masters degrees in public health as well as public administration.

Dr. Samora specializes in pediatric hand surgery at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, where she is Associate Medical Director of Quality, Director of Orthopaedic Quality Improvement, Director of Hand and Upper Extremity Research, and Director of the Clinical Quality Improvement Fellowship. Dr. Samora is on the board of directors of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America and is the current president of Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society and is committed to improving diversity in the field of orthopaedics. She is the Deputy Editor of AAOS Now and has published dozens of peer-reviewed manuscripts and text book chapters. Dr. Samora has a passion to provide safe, efficient, culturally-sensitive, and excellent patient care, focusing on best practices and quality improvement initiatives.