In the photo, left to right: Sima Ramratnam, MD, MPH; Douglas Dean III, PhD; and Sarah Webber, MD.
Photo by Kate Feldt/Department of Pediatrics
The Department of Pediatrics will present its important annual research awards, the Gerard B. Odell Research Award and two Ellen R. Wald Research Awards during Pediatrics Research Week, which will be held May 12–15, 2025. Sima Ramratnam, MD, MPH, associate professor in the Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Rheumatology, and Sarah Webber, MD, associate professor in the Division of Hospital Medicine and Complex Care, are the two Ellen R. Wald Research Award winners. Douglas Dean III, PhD, assistant professor in the Division of Neonatology and Newborn Nursery, is this year’s Gerard B. Odell Research Award winner.
Throughout the week of May 12 through May 15, Pediatrics Research Week will offer a mix of live-streamed lectures, in-person workshops, and interactive sessions, through which members of the department and the entire University of Wisconsin–Madison community can learn the latest advances in pediatric research.
In addition to the research awards presentations, activities for the week include small group sessions with faculty and trainees, fellow capstone presentations, the Gerard B. Odell Lecture, the Ellen R. Wald Faculty Research Forum, research resources, a keynote lecture, platform presentations, and an in-person poster session. The poster session includes a reception and features the research of residents, fellows, faculty, APPs, and staff in the department.
Register for the in-person events on Wednesday, May 14 and Thursday, May 15.
Jill Denson will present the Gerard B. Odell Lecture and Douglas Dean III receives the Gerard B. Odell Research Award
The Gerard B. Odell Lecture and Award were established in 1994 to honor Gerard B. Odell, MD, emeritus professor of pediatrics. Odell was internationally recognized for his research in the field of neonatal jaundice and bilirubin metabolism. In addition to the lectureship, the Gerard B. Odell Research Award was established to honor Odell’s distinguished career in pediatrics research, academics, clinical practice, and education. The award is given to an assistant or associate professor of pediatrics in recognition of outstanding research accomplishments and demonstrated potential for future contributions in basic or translational research.
This year’s Gerard B. Odell Lecture will be presented by Jill Denson, PhD, assistant professor in the Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine and director of the UW Prevention Research Center. Denson’s lecture will take place on May 15, 7:30–8:30 a.m. in person in HSLC 1335 and via Zoom for those who cannot attend in person. She will present the talk, “Partnership with Families and Communities to Address Health,” about the importance of collaborating with community partners to address health disparities through community-engaged research.
Directly after Denson’s lecture, the Gerard B. Odell Research Award will be presented from 8:30 to 8:50 a.m., with a talk from the recipient entitled, “Physics & Scanners & Brains, Oh My! My Journey in Imaging Early Brain Development.”
This year’s Gerard B. Odell Award winner is Douglas Dean III, PhD, assistant professor in the Division of Neonatology and Newborn Nursery with a joint appointment in the Department of Medical Physics. He is a principal investigator at the Waisman Center, where he directs the Developing Brain Imaging Lab, and serves as a faculty trainer for the Neuroscience Training Program. His main research focus is the development of the brain in infancy and early childhood and how those processes relate to behavior, as well as how they differ in those people with neurodevelopmental disorders. Dean is an expert in the use of quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods in infants and young children, and development of novel MRI methods to measure aspects of brain structure and microstructure is a one area of his research.
He is one of a few international experts with neuroimaging and downstream analytical expertise in early childhood development. Dean’s research and accomplishments have contributed to his rising stature as a leader in this research area both nationally and internationally.
In her nomination for Dean for this award, Christine Seroogy, MD, professor in the Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Rheumatology, noted both his excellence in research and his accomplishments in teaching. She said, “The clinical significance of his work addresses an urgent and unmet need to improve cognitive, emotional, and behavioral health for all children.” Describing Dean’s overall superlative work as support for her nomination, Seroogy remarked that he has “demonstrated tremendous momentum with a clear trajectory of continued success as an innovative researcher and leader in the area of early childhood neuroimaging, an outstanding teacher and mentor, and contributor as a faculty member to the overall mission of the University of Wisconsin. Moreover, he has been a valued asset for the teaching and mentoring of fellows in neonatology.”
Sima Ramratnam and Sarah Webber are honored with Ellen R. Wald Research Awards for 2025
The Ellen R. Wald Research Award was established to honor Dr. Ellen Wald’s distinguished career in pediatric research, academia, clinic practice, and education. The award is given to an assistant or associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics in recognition of their outstanding research accomplishments and demonstrated potential for future contributions in clinical and health services research or quality improvement.
Two recipients are honored with Wald Research Awards each year. They will receive their awards and present lectures about their research on May 15 from 8:50 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
Sima Ramratnam, MD, MPH, associate professor in the Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Rheumatology, is a pediatric pulmonologist, allergist, and immunologist. She is the clinical director of the Pediatric Allergy Clinic at UW Health Junction Road. She began her work with the Department of Pediatrics in 2013 as a pulmonologist addressing difficult-to-treat asthma.
Through her early team research work on asthma treatment that identified factors contributing to racial disparities in childhood asthma, she realized she wanted a deeper understanding of immune mechanisms and the impact of allergic diseases on airways. She pursued further clinical and research training over three years in allergies and immunology funded by an NIH T32 grant. Subsequently, she joined the Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Rheumatology in 2019.
Ramratnam’s clinical interests are broad, and her research experience is extensive. As a co-investigator for the several multicenter asthma and allergy networks throughout the years, Ramratnam has developed leadership experience in the recruitment for and conduct of clinical protocols, data analysis, manuscript development, writing group participation, and scientific collaboration. Her most recent NIH K08 grant is likely to be funded; the project will investigate how air pollution exposure interacts with genetic factors to increase the incidence of early-onset asthma in children living in neighborhoods with poverty.
In his nomination for Ramratnam for this award, Jim Gern, MD, professor in the Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Rheumatology, and vice chair of research in the Department of pediatrics, noted that early in her career, Ramratnam joined AsthmaNet and the Severe Asthma Research Program — two prestigious NIH-funded asthma clinical research networks.
“She was an outstanding team scientist and an active participant in writing teams,” Gern said. “She was the primary or co-author of 13 high-quality manuscripts, an impressive academic output for a young researcher. She is now leading a writing group for the NIH-funded Environmental Influence on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program to determine whether wheezing illnesses in early life influence cognitive development in children, and contributed significantly to a second ECHO Consortium analysis [. . .] demonstrating that race-neutral equations for interpreting spirometry were advantageous in evaluating childhood asthma.”
Gern summarized Ramratnam’s outstanding qualities supporting his nomination: “She is an excellent clinical researcher who is passionate and highly motivated to address asthma health disparities. She has developed a unique skill set in pulmonary medicine, allergy/immunology, public health, and team science, and she has honed these skills by participating in workshops for faculty development, leadership, and advancing women in science.”
The second recipient of the Wald Research Award for 2025 is Sarah Webber, MD, associate professor in the Division of Hospital Medicine and Complex Care, and director of well-being in the Department of Pediatrics. When Webber joined the department, she had previously worked for several years as a staff physician at St. Mary’s Hospital. During her first year on the DOP faculty and while her young family was growing, she experienced severe work-life conflicts and burnout. Encouraged by her mentors, she participated in UW Health’s Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Course, which helped her enormously and also showed her the alarming extent of stress among her colleagues. Her work in mindfulness teacher training and an 18-month program, Women’s Wellness through Equity and Leadership, set her on a new path.
As the director of well-being for the Department of Pediatrics since 2022, Webber defines her goal as supporting the emotional and psychological resilience, physical health, connection, meaning and purpose, and authenticity of department members — all are evidence-based contributors to well-being.
She has led and mentored others on many scholarly projects investigating the factors that affect clinician well-being. In addition to several manuscripts investigating physician well-being, Webber is lead editor of the first pediatrician well-being textbook: Understanding and Cultivating Well-being for the Pediatrician. Webber also created an informative website that describes the scope and goals of the directorship and developed a pilot program on mitigating sleep deprivation. She also launched the How We Work project, which sought to facilitate an empowering work culture in the department through implementing work strategies used in other industries (listen to one audiocast episode here).
In her nomination supporting Webber for this award, Ellen Ward, MD, professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases, reported that since Webber “assumed the Directorship of Well-being for the Department of Pediatrics, [she] has had a dramatic impact on the members of our department” through that position.
Wald emphasized Webber’s focus and preparation for the role of director of well-being: “To prepare for this role, Sarah immersed herself in both relevant courses and literature in a very scholarly manner [. . .] Sarah assumed the role of Director of Well-being at the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. She conducted both small and larger group discussions of work-life balance, the imposter syndrome, mindfulness in practice, and setting meaningful goals. These sessions were incredibly important and very helpful.
“To summarize, Dr. Webber has had a dramatic and sustained impact on the well-being of members of the Department of Pediatrics since she assumed her leadership position,” Wald explained. “She has very effectively translated her interest into scholarly work in a truly meaningful way.”