Email

ppeterse@bcm.edu

Positions

Assistant Professor

Pediatrics-Critical Care
Baylor College of Medicine

Education

BS from Milwaukee School of Engineering

05/2007 - Milwaukee, Wisconsin United States

Biomedical Engineering, Chemistry

MD from Rosalind Franklin University

06/2012 - Chicago, Illinois United States

Certifications

Board Certified Pediatrics

American Board of Pediatrics

Board Certified Pediatric Critical Care Medicine

American Board of Pediatrics

Accredited Epic Physician Builder

Epic

PALS

(11/30/2021 - 11/30/2023)

American Heart Association

BLS

(11/30/2021 - 11/30/2023)

American Heart Association

Honors & Awards

Readers' Choice Award, Mental Health Edition

In-House Magazine (05/2017)

2nd place Overall: Texas Children's Hospital Healthcare Hackathon, Hospital of the future

Team Lead for Project: TCH MyCare

Texas Children's Hospital (05/2021)

2nd place in the Meeting People Where They Are challenge, Texas Children's Hospital Healthcare Hackathon, Hospital of the future

Texas Children's Hospital (05/2021)

Associate Medical Director, TCH Mission Control

Texas Children's Hospital (02/2022)

BCM Star Award for Excellence in Patient Care.

This award honors my demonstrated clinical excellence and expertise, including local, regional and national reputation, consistently high quality of patient care, professionalism and communication, leadership, ability to work effectively with faculty, staff, students and administrators, clinical innovation, and continuous service to the Baylor community while exemplifying the core values of Baylor College of Medicine as a clinician.

Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) (02/2025)

Caught You Caring Award

This is a Texas Children’s Hospital Clinical award. I received this award after the parents of one of my patients nominated me for my efforts in caring for their child and advancing the child’s medical progression.

Texas Children’s Hospital

Professional Statement

I am an Assistant Professor of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine where I practice clinically full time at Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH) in Houston, TX in the 182 bed Lester and Sue Smith Legacy Tower Pediatric ICU where we care for over 5,000 critically ill pediatric patients annually. I graduated with honors earning my Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering from the Milwaukee School of Engineering prior to attending medical school at the Chicago Medical School. I then completed pediatric residency training at Advocate Children’s Hospital, Oak Lawn followed by fellowship in pediatric critical care medicine at the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. I am board certified in pediatrics and in pediatric critical care medicine. I care for patients aged from neonates to approximately 26 years old with one or more organ systems at risk of, or actively, failing. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, TCH formed a pediatric critical care special isolation unit where I helped care for the sickest pediatric COVID-19 patients including those who developed Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C).

As the Associate Medical Director of Mission Control, TCH’s centralized hospital system communication system, I ensure safe and efficient intra- and inter-facility transport for patients of all ages, collaborating with leaders throughout the institution to optimize patient flow across the TCH system. I evaluate and improve the technology used to optimize patient flow and work with all TCH medical directors of transport to ensure consistent communication and education around practice and guideline changes. I am part of the Governor’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and Trauma Advisory Council (GETAC) Pediatric Stroke Task Force to advise and make recommendations for Texas Emergency Healthcare System rules to facilitate the best and safest care for pediatric stroke emergencies within Texas.

Utilizing my background in biomedical engineering I optimize the incorporation of technological advancements into pediatric intensive care clinical practice. Most recently I have been investigating the application of wireless/remote monitoring systems in pediatric patients for inpatient and outpatient use, including during critical care transports. Recently I have been studying vital sign monitoring devices and continuous AI-enabled EEG monitoring devices. This research builds on an initial pilot study in which I showed that using partially wireless pulse oximetry reduces episodes of loss of signal integrity secondary to motion artifact in pediatric subjects. My work also includes designing innovative medical devices with engineering students, advising for the TMC Innovation accelerator program and consulting for the international virtual pediatric systems (VPS) database. As the Lead EPIC Physician Builder for the division of Critical Care Medicine, I optimize the TCH electronic health record to improve charge capture and documentation accuracy while reducing note bloat and provider documentation time (currently evaluating/piloting AI solutions for inpatient TCH providers).

Through my advisory role in the TMC Innovation Accelerator and by facilitating connections with device companies and engineering colleges/universities, I work to keep the division of Pediatric Critical Care medicine at Texas Children’s Hospital at the forefront of medical device and software innovation. My goal is to re-design pediatric critical care units through optimizing the utilization of current and emerging technologies and devices to improve patient care, optimize billing and documentation accuracy and reduce administrative burdens on providers to improve patient, family, and provider experiences.

Professional Development

Career Advancement and Leadership Skills for Women in Healthcare

Course (Participant, 2020)

Sponsor: Harvard University

Support provided by TCH Division of CCM

Breakthrough Communications Workshop

Workshop (Participant, 2021)

Sponsor: Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children's Hospit

Epic Professional Builder bending the note curve workshop

Workshop (Participant, 2021)

Sponsor: Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children's Hospit

AAMC Early Career Women Faculty Seminar

Seminar (Participant, 2025)

Sponsor: AAMC

I was one of approximately 150 female physician leaders chosen from across the nation for this highly competitive leadership seminar. My interest in continued leadership roles led me to apply for this 20-hour seminar during which I expanded my network, actively engaged in the programming including valuable course-work on time management, hospital finances and honing leadership and communication skills and formulated a 5-year plan for advancing my leadership at BCM/TCH while learning about other institution frameworks so I can improve our own. My attendance at this seminar was supported by the BCM/TCH Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine.

Foundational Research Mentor training.

Workshop (Participant, 2025)

Sponsor: BCM/Gulf Coast Consortia (GCC)/Rice university

Through attending this 6-hour course I learned valuable tools for improving my mentoring skills while working with mentees at all levels. Certification was earned.

BCM 2025 Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare Series

Course (Participant, 2025)

Sponsor: Baylor College of Medicine (BCM)

From January through March 2025, I attended this 8-hour educational series, earning a certificate of completion for furthering my knowledge regarding artificial intelligence.

Leading Successful Teams Program

Workshop (Participant, 2023)

Sponsor: Baylor College of Medicine (BCM)

I was one of 24 applicants selected to participate in the BCM Leading Successful Teams leadership course. Through this course, I identified personal leadership strengths and opportunities for growth in key management and leadership competencies, including strategies related to effective team performance through communication and using power and influence in managing processes that create change in an organizational context.

Critical Care Ultrasound for the Pediatric Provider

Workshop (Participant, 2022)

Sponsor: Baylor College of Medicine (BCM)

Selected Publications

• Petersen, P., Hanson, S., Yan, Ke, Clarke, William. "Partially Wireless Pulse Oximetry Reduces Loss of Signal Integrity due to Motion in Children." Hospital Pediatrics. 2019 Sep;9
• Petersen, P., Balakrishnan, B., Vitola, B., Hong, Johnny C "Case Report Series of a Novel Application of Neostigmine to Successfully Relieve Refractory Ileus Status-Post Pediatric Orthotopic Liver Transplantation." Pediatric Transplant. 2019 Aug;
• Petersen, P., Meyer, M.T., Thombs, P "Chapter 11 Pediatric Considerations for Hyperbaric Medicine." Hyperbaric Medicine Practice, 4th Edition. 2017;
• Petersen, Pamela "Light Upon the Waves." In-House Magazine. 2017 May;

Projects

The Ties that Bind: Evaluation of a wireless pulse oximeter compared to traditional pulse oximetry on loss of signal integrity in pediatric patients (Principal Investigator)

(02/2016 - 06/2018)

Evaluation of a Novel Remote Vital Sign Monitor Compared to Traditional Inpatient Monitoring in Cardiac Shunt-Dependent Children (Principle Investigator)

Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children's Hospit (10/2021 - 07/2025)

Texas Children's Hospital

This is a small pilot study to clinical study to test the VITLS platform against gold standard inpatient monitoring devices in chronically desaturated children with congenital heart disease.

Large Language Model Application in Healthcare: Use of Generative Pre-Trained Transformer Models to Enhance Communication and Understanding in the Pediatric Hospital Setting (Co-Investigator)

(11/2024 - present)

Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) at Texas Children's Hospital

The purpose of this study is to develop and evaluate a pilot chatbot application based on the GPT-4 model as a patient education tool in the inpatient setting, with a focus on enhancing communication and understanding of medical information for parents. As a Co-investigator for this study, I assisted the PI with developing and implementing tools in the EHR to assist with obtaining information to send to the chatbot.

Neurobell Luna Pilot Study (Co-Investigator)

(02/2024 - present)

Texas Children's Hospital

This is a clinical study to evaluate the Neurobell Luna, a portable, pocket-sized, wireless EEG monitor with real-time automated neonatal seizure detection against gold standard inpatient monitoring devices in children with congenital heart disease. As a co-investigator for this study, I assisted the PI with obtaining funding, study design, obtaining IRB approval, navigating necessary implementation hurdles and conducting the study.

A Wireless device for Continuous Measurement of Work of breathing including Respiratory Rate and Electronic Activity of the Diaphragm (Co-Inventor)

(10/2023 - present)

This project is a collaboration with Master’s students from the Rice University Global Medical Innovation Master of Bioengineering Program. The goal of this project is to design a novel medical device to facilitate appropriate triage, real-time early detection of patient deterioration and recovery, and optimal timing of critical interventions in patients exhibiting or at risk of cardiopulmonary failure.

Memberships

Tau Beta Pi

(01/2007)

American Medical Association

(08/2007)

American Academy of Pediatrics

(07/2012)

Society of Critical Care Medicine

(07/2015)

Society of Critical Care Medicine Guardians Mentoring Network

Mentee (09/2019)

Funding

Evaluation of a Novel Remote Vital Sign Monitor Compared to Traditional Inpatient Monitoring in Cardiac Shunt-Dependent Children

$25,000.00 ( 07/01/2022 - 07/01/2023 )

Grant funding from SWPDC / BCM / TCH Pediatric Device Faculty Seed Grant