Current PedSDP Residents

Jessie Yester, MD, PhD

PGY-6

College/Medical School: North Carolina State University/Medical College of Virginia/Virginia Commonwealth University

Fellowship: Pediatric Cardiology

Mentor: Bernhard Kuhn, MD

Research/Interests: 

• Determining the molecular pathways of cardiomyocyte proliferation and regeneration
• Cardiotoxicity

Awards: Department of Pediatrics T32 Research Training Program for Pediatric Subspecialty Fellows

Onome Oghifobibi, MD, MSc

PGY-6

College/Medical School: University of Benin

Fellowship: Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine

Mentors:

• Mioara Manole, MD, FAAP
• Elizabeth Miller, MD, PhD

Research/Interests: 

• Cerebral Blood Flow and Cerebral Microcirculation after Pediatric Cardiac Arrest
• Therapeutic hypothermia
• Hypoxic Ishemic Encphalopathy
• Neuroprotective agents
• Racial disparities in healthcare, advocacy, and community engagement 

Awards:

• Burroughs Wellcome Physician Scientist Incubator
• Society for Pediatric Research – Diversity in the Research Workforce Travel Award
• Ann E. Thompson Award – “First Rate Performance” Outstanding Resident in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
  

View Dr. Oghifobibi's bio.

Megan Culler Freeman, MD, PhD

PGY-5

College/Medical School: University of Kentucky/Vanderbilt University

Fellowship: Pediatric Infectious Diseases

Mentor: Carolyn Coyne, PhD

Research/Interests: 

• Enteroviruses, particularly EVD-68
• Acute Flaccid Myelitis (AFM)
• Coronaviruses
• Cellular biology of viral infection

Awards:

• Pediatric Infectious Disease Society (PIDS) – St. Jude Fellowship
• First Year Fellow Teaching Award
• University of Pittsburgh Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) COVID Pilot Award

View Dr. Freeman's bio.

Catherine Poholek, MD, PhD

PGY-5

College/Medical School: University of Notre Dame/University of Alabama at Birmingham 

Fellowship: Rheumatology

Mentor: Mandy McGeachy, PhD

Research/Interests: Elucidating the IL-17 mediated pathways that drive autoimmunity

Awards: Autoimmunity and Immunopathology T32

Glenn Rapsinski, MD, PhD

PGY-5

College/Medical School: Temple University School of Medicine 

Fellowship: Pediatric Infectious Diseases

Mentor: Jennifer Bomberger, PhD

Research/Interests:

• Understanding how Pseudomonas aeruginosa establishes chronic infection in airways of patients with cystic fibrosis
• Characterize microbiome and Pseudomonas aeruginosa evolution in cystic fibrosis airway
• Bacteriology of the airway
• Antibiotic stewardship

Awards:

• Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairs Pediatric Scientist Development Program 
• University of Pittsburgh Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) COVID Pilot Award
  

Taylor Eddens, MD, PhD

PGY-3

College/Medical School: Washington and Jefferson College/University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Fellowship: Allergy/Immunology

Mentor: John Williams, MD

Research/Interests:

• How the immune system functions in the lung following infection, both in regard to protective responses that clear the pathogen and pathologic responses that may lead to bronchospasm and asthma-like inflammation.
• Elucidating the protective and pathologic CD4+ T-cell responses to Pneumocystis infection in mice.
• Elucidating the protective and pathologic CD4+ T-cell responses to viral infection in mice.

Awards:

• Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairs Pediatric Scientist Development Program
• Claire B Morrison Fund Scholarship

View Dr. Eddens' bio.

Allan Joseph, MD, MPH

PGY-3

College/Medical School: University of Notre Dame/Brown University

Fellowship: Pediatric Critical Care Medicine

Mentor: Jeremy Kahn, MD, MS

Research/Interests:

• Geographic organization of the pediatric acute-care and critical-care health system
• Variation in costs and quality across pediatric centers
• The effect of consolidation in specialized services on outcomes and costs
• Differences between pediatric and adult referral patterns and implications for understanding regional systems of care

Awards:

• Little Apple Teaching Award (School of Medicine)
• Jeffrey Farkas Intern Teaching Award

View Dr. Joseph's bio.

Michael Zhang, MD, PhD

PGY-3

College/Medical School: Attended University of Iowa for both!

Fellowship: Allergy/Immunology

Mentor: Amr Sawalha, MD

Research/Interests: Immunology/T cell biology

View Dr. Zhang's bio.

Jennifer Baldwin, MD

PGY-2

College/Medical School: Muhlenberg College/University of Pittsburgh/University of Illinois College of Medicine-Urbana 

Fellowship: Undecided

Mentor: Undecided

Research/Interests: Medical Anthropology

View Dr. Baldwin's bio.

Sydney Rooney, MD

PGY-2

College/Medical School: Johns Hopkins University/Vanderbilt University School of Medicine

Fellowship: Cardiology

Mentor: Undecided

Research/Interests: Predictive analytics in the pediatric cardiac ICU, machine learning, big data

View Dr. Rooney's bio.

Elif Soysal, MD

PGY-2

College/Medical School: Koc University School of Medicine

Fellowship: Undecided

Mentor: Undecided

Research/Interests:

• Redox Biomedicine
• Mechanisms of cell death pathways in animal models of sepsis and traumatic brain injury.

View Dr. Soysal's bio.

Andrew Spurr, MD

PGY-2

College/Medical School: James Madison University/Georgetown School of Medicine

Fellowship: Undecided

Mentor: Dr. Arvind Srinath

Research/Interests:

• Gut Microbiome
• Biomedical Big Data/Bioinformatics

View Dr. Spurr's bio.

John Wang, MD, PhD

PGY-2

College/Medical School: UC Berkeley/New York University

Fellowship: Medical Genetics

Mentor: Undecided

Research/Interests: Modeling of Genetic Diseases

View Dr. Wang's bio.

Tsuyoshi Fujita, MD, PhD

PGY-1

College/Medical School: Tohoku University School of Medicine

Fellowship: Undecided

Mentor: Undecided

Research/Interests: Interaction of innate immune systems and CD8 T cells in chronic inflammation 

Nicholas Harris, MD, PhD

PGY-1

College/Medical School: University of Wisconsin-Madison/Vanderbilt University School of Medicine

Fellowship: Adolescent Medicine

Mentor: Undecided

Research/Interests: Basic neuroscience underlying the interaction between adolescent addiction and adverse childhood experiences