Department of Pediatrics

Global Child Health Pediatrics Residency Scholarly Activity

Master
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Our trainees are involved in a myriad of research, community engagement, advocacy activities, leadership positions, and other scholarly work both during their time abroad and while in Houston. There is no shortage of global health-related opportunities and both our faculty and co-residents are a great resource on ways to get more involved.

A scholarly project will be required of all Global Child Health residents. This may take the form of a descriptive case series, a quality improvement or safety program, new programmatic of curriculum development, or another project deemed important to the resident, the faculty mentor, and the local community where the resident works.

Results of any scholarly project should be disseminated by presentations (local, national, or international) and/or peer-reviewed publications.

Below is a non-exhaustive list of global health-related publications and projects our residents have done or have been involved in during residency.

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Advocacy Publications

Foughty, Z., & Silverstein, A. (2019). Family-Centered Care Across the Border: A Postmortem Reflection. Academic pediatrics, 19(5), 481-482. 

George, P. E. (2018). The guilty mother. Pediatrics, 141(1), e20173521.

Ness, T. E., & Small, A. T. (2019). Do You See Me? The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 101(6), 1197. 

Singer, T. (201). I’m a Physician. We must act on climate change in Houston for our health.

Singer, T. & Tabb, Z. (2020) Let patients continue to see doctor at home using technology after pandemic.

Tabb, Z. Here’s how to reverse the slide in share of Texas kids who have insurance.”

Tabb, Z. (2020). Learning to Swim. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 102(1), 9. 

Research Publications

Otto, Boniface, Paul E. George, Rebecca Mercedes, et al. Cryptococcal meningitis and immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome in a pediatric patient with HIV after switching to second line antiretroviral therapy: a case report. BMC Infectious Diseases 20.1 (2020). PMID: 31964348. doi: 10.1186/s12879-020-4797-2

Ryakitimbo, A., Msekandiana, A., Tabb, Z., Kinabo, G., & Dow, D. (2019). A 12-Year-Old Tanzanian Boy With Headache: A Case Report. Global pediatric health, 6, 2333794X18822995.

Russell, E. A., Daza Atehortua, C., Attia, S. L., Genisca, A. E., Palomino Rodriguez, A., Headrick, A., ... & Thomas, J. A. (2020). Childhood malnutrition within the indigenous Wayuú children of northern Colombia. Global Public Health, 1-13.

George, Paul E., et al. Analysis of management decisions and outcomes of a weekly multidisciplinary pediatric tumor board meeting in Uganda. Future Science OA 5.9 (2019). PMID: 31608156.

Jasumback, C. L., Perry, S. H., Ness, T. E., Matsenjwa, M., Masangane, Z. T., Mavimbela, M., ... & Mandalakas, A. Point of Care Testing to Guide Treatment and Estimate Risk Factors for Sexually Transmitted Infections in Adolescents and Young People with HIV in Eswatini. In Open Forum Infectious Diseases. ofaa052

Singer, T., Yuhao H. et al, (2019) Ferumoxytol-enhanced MRI for surveillance of pediatric cerebral arteriovenous malformations, Journal Neurosurgery of Pediatrics, Vol 24(4), 353-479.

Dow, D. E., Mmbaga, B. T., Turner, E. L., Gallis, J. A., Tabb, Z. J., Cunningham, C. K., & O’Donnell, K. E. (2018). Building resilience: a mental health intervention for Tanzanian youth living with HIV. AIDS care, 30(sup4), 12-20.

Vonasek BJ, Itaye, T, Mhango J, Dean AL, Kazembe PN. Socioeconomic factors associated with virologic suppression in children and adolescents living with HIV in Lilongwe, Malawi. J Public Health. 2020. 

Vonasek BJ, Chiume M, Crouse HL, et al. Risk factors for mortality and management of children with complicated severe acute malnutrition at a tertiary referral hospital in Malawi. Paediatr Int Child Heal. 2020;9047.

Abstracts

Michelle Javier, George P. Akabwai, Peter Elyanu, Adeodata Kekitiinwa. Third Line Compromise: Resistance in Ugandan Children and Adolescents Failing Second-Line. Accepted abstract at AIDS 2020 and INTEREST 2020. 

Ness, T.E., Bedard, K., Oullette, L. Hotez, P.J., Weatherhead, J.E. (2019) Maternal Hookworm Infection and its Effects on Maternal and Child Health: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. IDWeek 2019 (poster)

Ness, T.E., Simelane, T., Korsa, A., Lukhele B. (2019) Evaluating and Optimizing Antibiotic Use in a Children’s HIV Clinic in Eswatini. 21st Annual BIPAI Network Meeting (poster)

Tupas K, Silverstein A, Nguyen D. Baylor College of Medicine International Pediatrics AIDS Initiative (BIPAI) Continuing Professional Development Program: Year Two. BIPAI Network Meeting. Johannesburg, South Africa. November 2019.

Small, A. et al “Innovative management of chronic poor adherence and ART failure in patients on Protease Inhibitors-based regimen - Baylor College of Medicine Children's Clinical Centre of Excellence Eswatini.” ICASA conference, Kigali, Rwanda, 2019. Poster

Small, A. et al “Reaching our Youngest Population: A Tailored Differentiated Service Delivery Model for Infants and their Caregivers Living with HIV in Mbabane, eSwatini.” AIDS 2020 conference, San Francisco, USA, 2020. Poster, Accepted

Vonasek BJ, Dhillon D, Dlamini S, Devezin T, Haq H, Sanders J, Kay A, Bacha J, Simon K, and Mandalakas A. Performance of tuberculosis symptom screening for children and adolescents living with HIV in six high HIV/TB burden countries in eastern and southern Africa. The Union World Conference on Lung Health. 2019 Nov 2; Hyderabad, India.

Russell EA, Daza Atehortua C, Attia SL, Palomino Rodriguez A, Headrick A, et al. Childhood Malnutrition within Indigenous Wayuu Children of Northern Colombia. Poster presentation at the 2019 International Pediatric Association Conference, Panama City, Panama.

Community Engagement

Houston, Texas

Andrew Headrick is involved with the TCH mobile Clinic by doing a QI project focused on improving delivery of information to patients regarding COVID-19 and other health concerns/initiatives.

Tim Singer helped establish and is the co-lead of the Doctors for Change Queer Health committee. Their work is focused on helping to promote LBGT+ cultural competence in healthcare practices, advancing medical education around LGBT+ health, building allyship by healthcare providers for LGBT+ communities, and advocating for LGBT+ health to policy makers. 

Global Hematology-Oncology Pediatric Excellence (HOPE)

Allison Silverstein participated as a palliative care team member and outreach team member, was involved in the family-centered education program with Global HOPE at her site, and wrote the Blood Transfusion Management Guideline for all the BIPAI sites. In addition, she is working on a Disclosure QI project and looking into nutrition outcomes amongst some of the cancer patients. She also developed a new program, “My Child My Picture,” to take pictures of all existing and new pediatric hematology or oncology patients to be printed, framed and provided to parents as keepsakes. Frames made initially by volunteers out of local materials with plans to empower parents to make frames and earn a small income while experiencing prolonged hospital stays.

Within BIPAI

Allison Silverstein worked as a physician in Camp Hope (camp for adolescents with HIV), assisted with the administration of the Clinical Lead Forum, and is working on developing a database for Kaposi Sarcoma.

Amanda Small was actively involved in the evaluation and improvement of Baby Club at her site in Eswatini. She was also involved, along with Tara Ness, with developing the Pediatric Section of the Eswatini Standard Treatment Guidelines for the Eswatini Ministry of Health.

Tara Ness worked with a non-profit organization to pilot a theater camp for some of the young adults and adolescents attending the COE clinic in Eswatini, which included a final play production for the community.

Bryan Vonasek co-led a UNICEF funded project that provided mentorship and resource support for clinical staff at 32 facilities across the Central and Northern Regions of Malawi to improve local inpatient management of severe acute malnutrition.

Leadership Positions

Section on Pediatric Trainees liaison to SOICH (SOGH, section on global health): Zac Tabb

Theme Issue Editor for AMA Journal of Ethics on Global Burden of Cancer Inequality (; AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(2):E73-75. doi: 10.1001/amajethics.2020.73.) Zac Tabb

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Scholarly Activity Projects

Resident

Location Abroad

Scholarly Project(s)

Graduating Class

David De Give

Malawi

Set up a clinician hot line to help with questions from the community about children with HIV

2014

Jennifer Werdenberg

Lesotho

Created inpatient protocols, pocket cards, and lectures for pediatrics in Lesotho

2014

 

Oluwakemi “Kemi” Ogundipe

Botswana

Converted clinic resources including forms and letters, HIV guidelines, and other medical resources into digital format and created new resources including visual diagnosis and patient handouts to be available for daily use by clinicians in Botswana

2014

Padma Swamy

Swaziland

Implemented the Jadelle implant for women living with HIV in a resource-limited setting in Sub-Saharan Africa; Concerns for drug interactions leading to unintended pregnancies – Presented at the International AIDS Society Meetings in Malaysia in July 2013

2014

Shoba Reddy-Holdcraft

Botswana

Studied Cytophenias: abnormalities in blood counts.

2014

Agnes Hernandez-Grande

Swaziland

Implemented a program to help patient adherence with HIV medications and clinic appointments by setting up free reminder phone calls to their cell phones.

2015

Andrea Dean

Malawi

Helped set up a pediatric consultation line for HIV providers across Northern Malawi

2015

Paola Carrasco

Malawi

Created and delivered a training module for Nutritional Rehabilitation Unit (NRU) staff in Kamuzu Central Hospital based upon the latest WHO guidelines as well as the Ministry of Health guidelines for community management of acute malnutrition.

2015

Robert “Bobby” Ricketts

Lesotho

Wrote “Our Little Soldiers” – A book for children living with HIV

2015

Chris Pretorius

Botswana

Organized and funded a retreat for 60 adolescent patients to promote adherence and healthy living.

2016

Gregory Valentine

Romania

Studied mortality and lost-to-follow-up rates among HIV positive children at several sites in Sub-Saharan Africa

2016

Krishnan Subrahmanian

Botswana/Rosebud Indian Reservation South Dakota

Conducted a community-based assessment of childhood activity, nutrition, and school successes.

2016

Nathan Serazin

Malawi

Created a triage training program for clinic staff to recognize warning signs

2016

Heather Lukolyo

Uganda

Designed a randomized controlled study of an adherence intervention for HIV-infected patients on antiretroviral therapy with virologic failure.

2017

Elizabeth Keating

Lesotho

Developed a health screening tool for use in orphanages in Lesotho and used it to screen 50 orphans.

2017

Lynda Aririguzo

Tanzania

Studied clinical outcomes of patients attending expedited clinic visits to improve efficiency of ART delivery among children

2017

Yi Wang

Lesotho

Studied treatment failure rates and associations among patients on second line antiretroviral therapy

2017

Chris A. Rees

Malawi

Studied clinical indicators of patients’ final clinical encounter before outpatient mortality in Malawi

2017

Heading

Global Is Local: July at a Teaching Hospital in Texas by Heather Lukolyo, MD, MHS, Andrea Lach Dean, MD

Media Component
Dr. Heather Haq with her co-facilitators at Camp in Kampala in Uganda
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It was 1 am. I was the supervising resident on the Pediatric Hospital Medicine service at my home institution in Houston, Texas just a few months after returning from Uganda, where I had spent a clinical year as part of my combined residency program in pediatrics and global child health. I returned a page from the emergency department: “We have a 10-year-old girl* to admit. She has a 3-month history of cough, weight loss, night sweats, fevers, and a positive quantiferon test. She and all her family members also have a skin rash that looks like scabies. She is stable from a respiratory perspective, and we’d like to admit her to your service for further workup and treatment.” I paused as my mind turned to the dozens of patients I treated with pulmonary tuberculosis during my year in Uganda, many of them with the triple burden of tuberculosis, HIV, and malnutrition. “Oh,” the emergency physician added, “and the family is from Rwanda only speaks Kinyarwanda.”