Department News & Events

Katie Baker, MD, Published in Pediatrics in Review Posted: October 20, 2009 Our PL-2, Katie Baker, recently won the resident section at the American Academy of Pediatrics' National Conference and Exhibition. Her poster, "11 year-old Female with fever and hemoptysis" was one of 10 selected for presentation and will be published in Pediatrics in Review.	Katherine Baker, MD

J. Carter Ralphe, MD, Named Acting President of the Midwest Society for Pediatric Research Posted: October 14, 2009 Congratulations to Carter Ralphe, MD, named Acting President of the Midwest Society for Pediatric Research at its recent annual meeting.	J. Carter Ralphe, MD

Michael Wilhelm, MD, Awarded Sutherland Award Posted: October 14, 2009 Congratulations to Michael Wilhelm, MD, recently award the Sutherland Award at the Midwest Society for Pediatric Research meeting. The Sutherland Award is given for the outstanding abstract presentation by a junior faculty member.	Michael Wilhelm, MD

Dr. John Frohna Named ACGME’s 2009 Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award Recipient Posted: October 13, 2009 Congratulations to John Frohna, MD, MPH, recently named one of the ACGME’s (Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education) 2009 Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award recipients. The Parker J. Palmer award honors up to 10 residency program directors each year for their dedication to teaching new physicians. We also have the rare distinction of having two program directors at our institution win the award as Dave Allen was a past recipient.	John G. Frohna, MD, MPH

Jeffrey Sleeth, MD, Awarded UW Health Program Grant Posted: October 6, 2009 Congratulations to Jeff Sleeth, MD, a recent recipient of a UW Health Ambulatory Care Innovation Program Grant for his project, “Implementation of Development Screening Tools in Primary Care Clinics.”	Jeffrey Sleeth, MD

Judith Smith, MD, PhD, Receives Career Development Award Posted: September 25, 2009 Judith Smith, MD, PhD, recently received a career development award of $419,487 over 3 years from the National Institutes of Health-National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for her project, “Regulation of IFN-beta induction by P2X7 purinergic receptor signaling.” This project will study how substances that are released by tissue damage regulate the production of the inflammatory cytokine IFB-beta by macrophages. Greater understanding of inflammatory processes may ultimately lead to the better treatment of disease.	Judy Smith, MD, PhD

Megan Moreno, MD, MSEd, MPH, Awarded National Institutes of Health Funding Posted: September 25, 2009 Megan Moreno, MD, MSEd, MPH, recently received an award of $74,250 over 2 years from the National Institutes of Health-National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism for her project, “Facebook: A screening tool to identify alcohol use among female college freshmen.” This study will pilot test the use of a social networking Web site to identify female college freshmen who display references to alcohol use on their Facebook web profiles.	Megan A. Moreno, MD, MSEd, MPH

Bruce Klein, MD, Awarded National Institutes of Health Funding Posted: September 25, 2009 Bruce Klein, MD, was recently awarded $995,500 over 2 years from the National Institutes of Health-National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for his project, “Targeting hybrid histidine kinase for broad spectrum antifungal therapy.” This project was funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 and will support a project to address the public health need for the development of effective new anti-fungal drugs by seeking to identify, characterize and capitalize on a novel drug target in pathogenic fungi. Dr. Bruce Klein, MD, also received an award of $297,000 over 2 years from the National Institutes of Health-National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases as a supplement to his current project, “Mechanisms of Anti-fungal Vaccine Immunity.” These funds will support increased animal costs and allow for Dr. Klein’s continued progress on the research.	Bruce S. Klein, MD

Dr. James Gern Awarded Baylor College of Medicine & National Institutes of Health Funding Posted: September 25, 2009 James Gern, MD, was recently awarded $25,964 from Baylor College of Medicine & National Institutes of Health for the project, “Development of a method for preparation of LPS-free rhinoviral proteases,” in conjunction with his U19 grant. This award will be used to produce LPS-free recombinant rhinovirus proteinases in Dr. Gern’s laboratory which will then be tested for proteinase activity and reactivity in an experimental model of asthma. James Gern, MD, Awarded National Institutes of Health Funding Posted: September 14, 2009 James Gern, MD, was recently awarded $408,456 over 2 years from the National Institutes of Health-National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases as a supplement to his current award, “Mechanisms of Rhinovirus-Induced Exacerbations of Asthma.” This project was funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 and will support a clinical trial to determine the best dose of a new human Rhinovirus type 16 inoculum manufactured using reverse genetics (RG-HRV16) for use in future experimental cold studies and to characterize the newly identified Rhinovirus type C and establish a tissue culture system to support RVC growth.	James E. Gern, MD