Presenter

Growing up with a chronic disease (type 1 diabetes), I learned early-on the difference a great medical team can make in the life of a child and their family. I was drawn to pediatric hospital medicine 15 years before it became a specialty. I love working to support children and families during particularly difficult times. The resilience of children inspires me — it’s amazing to see a child, who just two days earlier was quite ill, smiling and laughing as they prepare to go home.

I believe that hospitalized children require more than a skilled physician. They need a team of health experts that communicate, collaborate and precisely follow systems for care. Our team aims to leverage the broad expertise of patients and families, doctors and nurses, and the vast data of the electronic health records to predict, prevent and treat the clinical deterioration of hospitalized children.

My research focuses broadly on designing, testing and evaluating evidence-based interventions to improve the quality and safety of hospital care. I have applied situation awareness and a high reliability strategy to develop, test and implement standardized communication and huddles (short, structured briefings between nurses and physicians) to discuss high-risk patients. These interventions have led to a significant and sustained reduction in unrecognized clinical deterioration and serious safety events among hospitalized children at Cincinnati Children’s.

I am an associate professor of pediatrics in the Division of Hospital Medicine within the University of Cincinnati Department of Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s. I have fellowship training in clinical research and improvement science. I also serve as the research director for the Division of Hospital Medicine.

I am honored to serve on the executive committee of the Pediatric Research in Inpatient Setting (PRIS) national network, which works to improve healthcare delivery to hospitalized children, and as associate editor for Hospital Pediatrics.
My research is supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). My work in Ohio is broadened through participation in the Children’s Hospitals’ Solutions for Patient Safety collaborative, whose aim is to reduce medical errors and adverse events across all children’s hospitals.