“It’s difficult to be away from that sweet baby that you looked forward to welcoming in this world,” says Georganna Gaines, whose son, Phillip, has spent more than a year in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at UNC Hospitals. Gaines shares her family’s bittersweet journey in the NICU to encourage others going through similar challenges. “Give yourself grace,” she says. “Let yourself feel all the feelings.”
This RTI/UNC-Chapel Hill collaboration will be the first US study offering genome sequencing and genetic risk scores for type 1 diabetes statewide. UNC School of Medicine leads are Cynthia Powell, MD and Jennifer Law, MD in Pediatrics. Early Check, a groundbreaking research study that provides free health tests to newborns up to four weeks old in North Carolina, will begin offering genome sequencing to screen for hundreds of childhood-onset genetic conditions and assess a newborn’s risk of developing type 1 diabetes in their lifetime. Enrollment for the expanded study is expected to begin Thursday, Sept. 28.
A phase 2 study, led by Thomas W. Ferkol, MD, at the UNC School of Medicine, demonstrates safety and efficacy of idrevloride with hypertonic saline for treatment of primary ciliary dyskinesia, a rare genetic disorder that can lead to permanent lung damage.
The UNC Office of Research Communications featured Ilona Jaspers, PhD, director of the UNC Center for Environmental Medicine, Asthma, and Lung Biology in “Rooted,” a series highlighting long-time researchers at Carolina.
Catalina Berenblum Tobi, 4th year UNC Medical Student, has been named the 2023 William Hersey Davis, Jr., MD Pediatric Student Scholar. Catalina impressed the selection committee with the way “she delivers patient care with a very conscious patient-centered approach. Her empathy for her patients is so strong, and the way she talks about her experiences and hopes for the future really made us all feel inspired!”
Rebecca Vitale, MD, MPH joined the Pediatric Division of Endocrinology on September 1, 2023. Dr. Vitale completed her medical degree from Yale University in 2015. She also earned a Masters of Public Health from Yale concurrent with her medical degree. She was a Med/Peds Resient between 2015 and 2019 at the Yale-New Haven Hospital. Dr. Vitale completed her Internal Medicine-Pediatric Endocrinology fellowship from 2019 through 2023 at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Boston children’s Hospital. Welcome Rebecca!!
UNC Health will partner with Bladen County Schools to expand much-needed behavioral health care for children in the rural county. The pilot project is supported by funding from The Duke Endowment. The school-based treatment model will add therapists and open virtual care centers in all Bladen County schools.
Dr. Chop joined the Department of Pediatrics as faculty on August 28, 2023. Dr. Chop received her BS from the University of Maryland in 2011, completed her medical degree at Saint James School of Medicine, Anguilla in 2016, and earned a master’s in public health at Walden University, Minnesota in 2017. She was a Pediatric Resident at the Vidant Medical Center at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC from 2017 to 2020. She completed subspecialty training in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at Nationwide Children’s Hospital/The Ohio State University in 2023. Welcome Yvette!
Jennifer Sullivan joined Genetics and Metabolism on August 21, 2022. In 1994, Ms. Sullivan received her Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. She received a Master of Science in Genetic Counseling from the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina in 1996. Ms. Sullivan has worked as a Genetic Counselor at Duke University since 1997. Welcome Jennifer!
Dr. Stephenson joined the Department of Pediatrics as faculty on August 14, 2023. Dr. Stephenson received her BS from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville VA in 2011 and completed her medical degree at Trinity School of Medicine, in St. Vincent & the Grenadines in 2016. She was a Pediatric Resident at the Vidant Medical Center at East Carolina University (ECU) in Greenville, NC from 2017 to 2020. She completed subspecialty training in Pediatric Pulmonology with us at UNC Children’s in 2023. Congratulations Nicole!
