Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics News

Dr. George Emmanoulides, Pediatric Cardiologist, Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics legend, 1926-2013

admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 07:00:00 +0000

We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of Dr. George Emmanoulides on Thursday, January 29, 2013.

George C. Emmanouilides, M.D., a beloved teacher, role model, master clinician, and Professor Emeritus was born in Drama, Greece in 1926, the eldest of seven children. He graduated magna cum laude from Aristotelian University Medicine School in 1951, followed by residency training in internal medicine and military service in Greece. In 1955, he came to the U.S. with a position as a rotating intern at Oak Park Hospital, Illinois.

Alumna Iris Borowsky, M.D., Ph.D. wins Miller-Sarkin Mentoring Award

Patricia Dickson — Mon, 13 May 2013 19:51:43 +0000

The Academic Pediatric Association (APA) has awarded the 2013 Miller-Sarkin Award to Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics alumna Dr. Iris Wagman Borowsky. This award is given each year to a member of the APA who has excelled in mentorship of learners or colleagues on a national level. The Miller-Sarkin award is named for Dr. Steven Z. Miller and Dr. Richard T. Sarkin, two academic pediatricians who were known for their exceptional mentoring and teaching and who died tragically in a plane crash on their way to a conference on humanism in medicine. They post-humously received the first award that bears their names in 2005.

Celebrating 10 years of Aldurazyme

Patricia Dickson — Wed, 01 May 2013 17:11:11 +0000

On Wednesday, April 24, the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (LA BioMed) and the MPS Research Laboratory celebrated the tenth anniversary of the approval of Aldurazyme for the treatment of MPS I. Aldurazyme, or recombinant human alpha-L-iduronidase, was developed in the Department of Pediatrics by Dr. Emil Kakkis and is now used worldwide for the treatment of mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) type I disease. Held at the Palos Verdes Peninsula Country Club, the event brought together MPS I families, industry partners, scientists, laboratory technicians and clinical trial personnel who helped develop Aldurayzme, including Dr. Elizabeth Neufeld (Professor Emerita, UCLA) who received a special award for contributing the basic discoveries that made Aldurazyme possible. Genzyme Corporation (Boston) and BioMarin Pharmaceutical (Novato) were recognized for their pioneering efforts on behalf of people and families with MPS I.

Article by Neonatology Chief Dr. Virender Rehan Wins Award

Patricia Dickson — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 19:59:31 +0000

The winners of BioMed Central’s Annual Research Awards were announced last week, which are given to publications of exceptional quality published in open access journals. Among the ten recipients was Dr. Virender Rehan's 2012 paper entitled "Perinatal nicotine exposure induces asthma in second generation offspring," which topped the Translational Medicine Category. The full press release can be found here.

Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics Intern Class of 2013 Announced!

Patricia Dickson — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 23:14:45 +0000

The Harbor-UCLA Department of Pediatrics is excited to announce the Intern Class of 2013.

Welcome and congratulations to all!

	Heekyung Chae, M.D. Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine
	Reis Harney, M.D. John A Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii
	Chie Kurihara, M.D. Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University
	Alexander Lau, M.D. Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California
	Jonathan Maynard, M.D. New York Medical College

Spring Ahead This Weekend

Patricia Dickson — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 05:08:42 +0000

Daylight Savings Time starts this weekend! Remember to set your clocks forward one hour at 2 AM Sunday morning (March 10).

A patient's father writes about his experience at Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics

admin — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 07:00:00 +0000

In the evening on December 29, 2012, two teens were stabbed inside the South Bay Galleria in Redondo Beach. As a regional pediatric trauma and critical care center, the patients were brought to Harbor-UCLA.

One of the fathers provided his thoughts on the event to the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin on January 23, 2013, "Ricky's father's letter about his 13-year-old son's stabbing at the South Bay Galleria" . Here are some excerpts:

Dr. Michelina Iacovino makes "Faculty of 1000" recommended reading list

Patricia Dickson — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 15:57:45 +0000

A recent paper by Assistant Professor Michelina Iacovino, Ph.D. (Division of Medical Genetics) has made the recommended reading list of the Faculty of 1000. The paper, entitled "BCL6 controls neurogenesis through Sirt1-dependent epigenetic repression of selective Notch targets," was published last month in the journal Nature Neuroscience. This is the second of Dr. Iacovino's papers to make the Faculty of 1000 list of "must read" articles in biology and medicine. Her first-author paper entitled "HoxA3 is an apical regulator of haemogenic endothelium" published in 2011 in the journal Nature Cell Biology also made the list.

Dr. Iacovino joined our faculty this past summer along with two other new investigators, Dr. Rebecca Stockton and Dr. Tsui-Fen Chou. The group form the heart of the department's new Child Health Research Center, which also houses the Newborn Screening Area Referral Center.

Dr. Carol Brown and Dr. Basil Ibe at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students

Patricia Dickson — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 01:14:25 +0000

This past week saw Dr. Carol Brown, M.D. (Division of Neonatology) and Dr. Basil Ibe, Ph.D. (Division of Neonatology) representing Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics at the ABRCMS meeting in San Jose, California. Held each year ABRCMS is the largest annual gathering for minority students engaged in biomedical, behavioral, or mathematics research. Dr. Ibe moderated the session on physiology for the conference, and Dr. Carol Brown manned the Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics booth with Dr. Patricia Dickson (Division of Medical Genetics).

Daylight Savings Time Ends This Weekend

Patricia Dickson — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 16:57:06 +0000

A reminder that Daylight Savings Time will end on Sunday, November 04, 2012. Clocks should be set back one hour at 2:00 a.m. ("Fall Back")

Dr. Julie Noble Starts "Mini Medical School" at Local Elementary School

Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 20:56:20 +0000

Dr. Julie Noble, Professor of Pediatrics, has developed a "mini medical school" in cooperation with Meyler Street Elementary School in Torrance. The "mini medical school" program began last year when Dr. Noble was asked to establish a teaching curriculum for fourth and fifth grade high-achieving students.

Dr. Patricia Dickson Receives NIH Grant to Study MPS Treatment

Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 22:48:20 +0000

This week Dr. Patricia Dickson received a $275K NIH grant award from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) for her submission to investigate brain-directed enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) for treating MPS (mucopolysaccharidosis) type IIIB. Her grant submission received a near-perfect score. Dr. Dickson’s grant will study the use of glycosylation-independent lysosomal targeting (GILT) in MPS IIIB, a technology that improves the effectiveness of ERT.

Help Fight Kidney Disease - Join Dr. Gangadarshni Chandramohan for Kidney Walk 2012

Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 20:11:33 +0000

Gangadarshni Chandramohan, M.D., Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Nephrology, will be helping to raise money to fight kidney disease at the 2012 National Kidney Walk. Lend your support by walking or donating to the National Kidney Foundation:

L.A. Kidney Walk
October 21, 2012 @ 9 a.m.
Rose Bowl, Pasadena

Dr. Kenneth Zangwill Awarded Phase II SBIR Grant to Further Develop Rapid Diagnostic Tool

Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 20:42:41 +0000

Kenneth Zangwill, M.D., Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Infectious Diseases and co-director of the Infection Prevention and Control Program at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, is co-principal investigator of a project that was recently awarded $1 million from the US Army Small Business Innovative Research Program (SBIR). SBIR is a competitive federal program that provides funding to domestic small businesses for research and development projects that have the potential for commercialization. Dr. Zangwill's proposal, entitled “Rapid Diagnostic Tools for Wound Infections," is in its second phase of funding from SBIR and aims to further develop technology to quickly detect and characterize bacterial and fungal infections.

AAP 2012 National Conference and Exhibition Registration Now Open

Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 22:34:15 +0000

The AAP 2012 National Conference and Exhibition (NCE) will be held in New Orleans, LA from October 20-23.

NCE is now open for registration, visit www.AAPexperieNCE.org for more details. Download the preliminary program pdf here.

Resident Alumna Dr. Pam Okada Featured on "Children's Med Dallas" TV Show

Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 19:43:51 +0000

Dr. Pamela Okada completed her pediatric residency at Harbor-UCLA and is currently an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. Dr. Okada, along with many other Harbor-UCLA grads, has dedicated her life to caring for children.

An expert on pediatric emergency medicine, Okada was featured in several episodes of "Children's Med Dallas," a television series that recently concluded its second season. The show airs on a local ABC affiliate and takes viewers behind the scenes at Children's Medical Center, the seventh largest pediatric healthcare provider in the United States.

She is featured in episodes 1, 3, and 4 of season 2.

Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics: Committed to Developing Therapies for Rare Genetic Disorders

Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 21:55:09 +0000

Habor-UCLA Pediatrics is known for taking biomedical research discoveries in the laboratories and applying them to patients’ bedsides. Former faculty member Emil Kakkis, M.D., Ph.D., clearly proved this point with the development of an enzyme replacement therapy known as Aldurazyme® to treat Mucopolysaccharidosis I (MPS I), also known as Hurler-Scheie Syndrome. MPS I is a rare genetic disease caused by the body’s inability to produce a critical enzyme.

Dr. Carol Berkowitz: At the Helm of Harbor-UCLA’s “Failure to Thrive” Program

Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 20:41:34 +0000

Carol Berkowitz, M.D., F.A.A.P., F.A.C.E.P., lead investigator at LA BioMed and Executive Vice Chair in the Department of Pediatrics at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, has been at the helm of LA BioMed’s “Failure to Thrive” program and clinic for more than 30 years. “Failure to Thrive” (FTT) is a term commonly used to refer to children who are unable to gain weight and grow (within normal range) as expected, and who have a weight that is below the normal growth chart (the 5th percentile) for their age.

Annual Pediatric Resident Scholar Awards Program Announced

Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 18:49:17 +0000

Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics announces a new annual awards program for pediatric residents who perform scholarly projects. First through third year residents are eligible to receive awards in the following five categories:

Education, overseen by Drs. Sylvia Yeh and Monica Sifuentes
Research, overseen by Drs. Virender Rehan and Ruey Chang
Advocacy, overseen by Dr. Julie Noble
Humanism, overseen by Dr. Carol Berkowtiz
QI/Health Services, overseen by Dr. Bonnie Rachman

Each award recipient will receive a $500 stipend and may be invited to participate in a Grand Rounds presentation to showcase their work.

Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics Welcomes New Third Year Resident Dr. Jasmine Lew

Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 23:08:23 +0000

The Department of Pediatrics is pleased to welcome Dr. Jasmine Lew, a new third year resident.

After matriculating from medical school at the University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine, Dr. Lew completed her first two years of pediatric residency at St. Louis Children's Hospital.

Jasmine recently completed a year of training at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and has joined Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics to complete her final year of pediatric residency.

Getting to Know the New 2012 Interns...

Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 23:43:06 +0000

A few weeks ago, Drs. Adam Jonas and Julie Noble hosted the annual intern welcome dinner at their home. The academic year is now underway and Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics is proud to welcome this great group of folks. Here's an introduction to the Class of 2015.

Slideshow from the 2012 Pediatric Resident Graduation "Pediprom"

Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 23:11:22 +0000

The annual Pediatric Resident Graduation and Awards Dinner took place on Saturday, June 16 at the Portofino Hotel & Yacht Club in Redondo Beach.

Check out these fetching photos of our annual celebration of Harbor-UCLA's newly crowned Pediatrics Resident Graduates along with faculty and current residents.

Congratulations 2012 Graduates!

Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 22:06:20 +0000

The annual Pediatric Resident Graduation and Awards Dinner took place on Saturday, June 16 at the Portofino Hotel & Yacht Club in Redondo Beach. The Graduating Fellows Presentation will be held on June 28 during Grand Rounds. Congratulations to all our graduates!

Dr. Marianne Gausche-Hill is Recognized by AAP for Outstanding Education

Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 18:50:15 +0000

Dr. Marianne Gausche-Hill, M.D. is the 2012 recipient of the Steve Miller Award for Excellence in Education & Mentorship from the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Emergency Medicine (AAP-SOEM). Dr. Gausche-Hill is the Director of the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship and a Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Harbor-UCLA. She was the first U.S. physician to complete a sub-specialty training program in pediatric emergency medicine and is nationally known for her work as an emergency medical services researcher and educator, and for her leadership in the field of pediatric emergency medicine.

Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics Alumni Interview: Lisa Schimmenti, M.D., of University of Minnesota

Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 21:44:39 +0000

Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics resident alumna Dr. Lisa Schimmenti is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Genetics and Metabolism at the University of Minnesota. She holds a joint appointment in the Department of Ophthalmology for her research and patient care in ophthalmic genetics.

Dr. Schimmenti received her undergraduate degree from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. She received her medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. She completed her pediatric residency at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and her fellowship in Genetics and Metabolism at the University of Minnesota.