Please welcome Dr. Akhila Ramakrishna as Clinical Assistant Professor in the Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes.
Dr. Ramakrishna earned her MD from the Armed
Forces Medical College in 2011. Next, she completed an internship at
Bangalore Medical College in 2011. Dr. Ramakrishna completed pediatric
residency training at the Case Western Reserve University, Metro Health Medical
Center in 2017. She recently completed pediatric endocrinology fellowship
training at May Clinic in Rochester Minnesota. She is board certified in
Pediatrics and board eligible in pediatric endocrinology.
Dr. Ramakrishna joins
the Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes to expand availability in the
Endocrine and Diabetes clinics, including outreach and attending on the
inpatient and consultation services.
Please welcome Dr.
Ramakrishna to the Department, the University, and the community!
Please welcome Dr. Bassel Mohammad Nijres as Clinical Assistant Professor in the Division of Cardiology.
Dr. Mohammad Nijres received his MD from the University of
Aleppo-Faculty of Medicine (Aleppo, Syria) in 2005 followed by his pediatric
international residency training at Children’s Hospital-Damascus University in
2009. Next, he completed US pediatric residency training at Woodhull
Medical and Mental Health Center in 2015. Dr. Nijres earned his Master’s
degree in 2017 and completed pediatric cardiology fellowship training in 2017,
both at Rush University Medical Center. He completed clinical research
and pediatric interventional cardiology fellowship at Helen DeVos Children’s
Hospital in 2019 and recently completed his pediatric interventional cardiology
fellowship training at Texas Children’s Hospital/Baylor College of
Medicine. He is board certified in Pediatrics and board eligible in
Pediatric Cardiology.
Dr. Mohammad Nijres will perform interventional cardiology
procedures, participate in the pulmonary hypertension program, attend on the
pediatric cardiology inpatient and consultation service, share on-call
responsibilities, including pediatric cardiology interventional call, and help
to continue the development of the cardiology program.
Please welcome Dr. Mohammad Nijres to the
Department, the University, and the Iowa City community!
Please welcome Dr. Rabia Khan as Clinical Assistant Professor in the Division of Cardiology.
Dr. Khan received her MD from the University of Miami, Mill
School of Medicine in 2012 followed by her pediatric residency training at
Washington University/St. Louis Children’s Hospital in 2015. Dr. Khan
completed cardiology fellowship training at Northwestern/Lurie Children’s
Hospital in 2019 and recently completed additional fellowship training in heart
failure and transplant at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. She is board
certified in Pediatrics and board eligible in cardiology.
Dr. Khan will staff general, heart failure, cardiomyopathy and transplant clinics. Additionally, she will share in the coverage of the cardiology inpatient and consultation services.
Please welcome Dr. Khan to the Department, the University, and the Iowa City community!
Marissa Johnson, BSN, RN, is the recipient of the 2020 Charmaine Kleiber Excellence in Pediatric Nursing Research-to-Practice.
Award Background: Charmaine Kleiber, PhD, RN, FAAN, began
her University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics (UIHC) nursing career in 1983 as
CNS II for Children’s and Women’s Services and served in the roles of Advanced
Practice Nurse for Research and Senior Nurse Scientist for Research. During her
career, she was also an Associate Professor at the College of Nursing from 2004
until 2012. Dr. Kleiber was an early visionary, developing and operationalizing
the role of a nurse scientist at UIHC. She was a lead author of the original
Iowa Model, as well as the award winning “Evidence-Based Practice in Action”
book. Her research and evidence-based practice work have transformed pediatric
nursing, especially in the area of non-pharmacological pain management for
children. Upon retiring from UIHC, Dr.
Kleiber established a fund for excellence in pediatric nursing research. This
award, given annually, will be used to support pediatric nurses involved in
research and evidence-based practice.
Award Overview: The Charmaine Kleiber Excellence in Pediatric Nursing Research-to-Practice Award is given annually to a pediatric nurse who has demonstrated exceptional work in pediatric nursing research or evidence-based practice. This award may be given to an individual or team who has completed or is near completion of data collection for a research study or initiative that incorporates the use of research-based evidence for the benefit of children and their families. The award of $1,000, can be used to support education of the recipient or project costs and dissemination.
The award presentation will be held on Monday, August 3, 2020 at 1130 via Zoom.
Program Overview:
Introductions and Program Overview: Kirsten Hanrahan, DNP, ARNP, CPNP-PC, FAAN, Director of Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice
Welcome Cindy Dawson, MSN, RN, CORLN, Chief Nurse Executive and Associate Director, UI Hospitals and Clinics
Award and Recipient: Jody Kurtt, MA, RN, NEA-BC, CPNP, Director, Nursing Services, Children’s and Women’s Services
Description of Project: Marissa Johnson, BSN, RN, Staff Nurse, Children’s and Women’s Services
Comments: Charmaine Kleiber, PhD, RN, FAAN, Award Honoree and Angel
Closing: Kirsten Hanrahan, DNP, ARNP, CPNP-PC, FAAN, Director of Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice
“Wacker and his colleagues at University of Iowa initiated this research almost 15 years ago when they began to coach parents of young children with autism to conduct functional analyses of problem behavior and to implement functional communication training (FCT) through the internet (Barretto et al., 2006; Wacker et al., 2013a,b). … As a result of research at the University of Iowa and other research labs, our field now has nearly 15 years of evidence demonstrating that telehealth ABA services can make meaningful changes in families’ lives. This evidence undoubtably impacted the number of practitioners who transitioned to telehealth services during the COVID-19 pandemic and the amount of funding that was available from third parties (e.g., insurance companies) to support these services. In this first special section, Schieltz and Wacker (2020) provide an informative analysis of the type of telehealth work Public Health and Telehealth 1211 pioneered in their lab, along with pointed suggestions to guide the next generation of this research, in “Functional Assessment and Function-Based Treatment Delivered via Telehealth: A Brief Summary.”
The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee has assembled a list of books recommended to read to children, which address questions on diversity, equity and inclusion.
Our Department’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee has assembled a list of books recommended to read to children, which address questions on diversity, equity and inclusion. It has been suggested that copies of as many of the books as possible, be placed in each of the hospital libraries. Faculty and staff have expressed the desire to donate toward the purchase of books and support of this Committee and a fund has been set up specifically for those donations. The fund will remain open for future purchase of books and activities approved by the Department Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee.
Please find here the list of books to be purchased for this initiative.
To contribute, go to the Center for Advancement Donation Site.To search for the fund, enter “The Department of Pediatrics Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Fund”.
Pictured: Dr. Goins-Fernandez, a psychologist in Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, poses with the first batch of diversity books purchased. Each book will be stamped indicating they were purchased from funds given by the faculty and staff of the Stead Family Department of Pediatrics.
Congratulations to Stefanie Pirkl, MPA, SPHR, HR Manager for the Department of Pediatrics on achieving 5 years of service to UI Healthcare and the Department. She will reach her milestone date on August 4, 2020.
Congratulations to Cheri Stevens on achieving 5 years of service to UI Healthcare in the Department. Cheri is an Admin Services Coordinator in the Division of Hematology/Oncology. She reached her milestone date on July 26, 2020.
