Department of Pediatrics

Comments from David Rettew, M.D., UVM associate professor of psychiatry and pediatrics, were featured in a news story about the growing concerns over the safety of the scenic Queeche Gorge Bridge for local NBC affiliate WPTZ-TV Newschannel 5.

UVM College of Medicine faculty members James Hudziak, M.D., professor of psychiatry, pediatrics and medicine and director of the Vermont Center for Children, Youth & Families, and Jon Porter, M.D., clinical assistant professor of family medicine and director of the UVM Center for Health & Wellbeing, are featured in an article about UVM’s Wellness Environment (WE) program on NBCNews.com.

UVM Professor of Pediatrics Barbara Frankowski, M.D., comments on the long-term use of over-the-counter lice treatment products creating a resistance to lice for a story on the hype surrounding a new “mutant” strain of lice resistant to usual, inexpensive treatments for a story on CNN and NBC affiliate KFOR Newschannel 4.

The Big Change Roundup, an annual change collection campaign that raises funds for the University of Vermont Children's Hospital programs and services in Burlington, made a stop at the local Wal-Mart in Malone on February 27, 2016, where UVM Professor and Chair of Pediatrics Lewis First, M.D., M.S., helped to count change collected for the campaign.

University of Vermont pediatric cardiologist Niels Giddins, M.D., is featured in a news story about the American Heart Association's February 2016 "Little Hats, Big Hearts" campaign to increase awareness about congenital heart defects in newborns. Giddins, an associate professor of pediatrics, commented that structural problems in the heart can often appear following a seemingly healthy and normal birth. The story's video footage, taken at the UVM Medical Center's Mother-Baby Unit, also featured Molly Rideout, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics.

On September 21, 2016, the National Institutes of Health announced $157 million in awards in fiscal year 2016 to launch a seven-year initiative called Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO). The ECHO program will investigate how exposure to a range of environmental factors in early development — from conception through early childhood — influences the health of children and adolescents.

While I could give you a shortened version of my highly edited personal statement explaining how and why I chose pediatrics as my specialty, I feel like it can all be summed up with the following: My pediatric clerkship was the only rotation where I smiled every day.

A front-page story in the Boston Globe highlights the brainchild of University of Vermont College of Medicine Professor James Hudziak, M.D. - UVM's Wellness Environment program, known as WE.

University of Vermont College of Medicine faculty member Maria Mercedes Avila, M.Ed., Ph.D., was recognized as one of four 2015 UVM Kroepsch-Maurice Excellence in Teaching Award recipients.

For more than twenty years, The University of Vermont Medical Center, Burlington City Arts and many dedicated volunteers have brought creativity, imagination and expression to pediatric patients, families and caregivers through the Art from the Heart program. Now, Art from the Heart is expanding from supporting children in the hospital to also serve adult patients.

Maria Mercedes Avila, M.Ed., Ph.D., program co-director of Vermont Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (VT LEND) and assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Vermont, received the 2016 Local Hero Award from the Child Mind Institute. The awards event took place May 10 in New York City.

University of Vermont Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Vermont Child Health Improvement Program (VCHIP) faculty member Valerie Harder, M.H.S., Ph.D., knows that managing medications, doctors, and appointments can amount to a full-time job for parents of children with special needs.

David C. Rettew, M.D., is an associate professor and director of the Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and a child psychiatrist and director of the Pediatric Psychiatry Clinic at the UVM Medical Center. He posted the following information about talking with children about mass shootings on the UVM Medical Center blog.

University of Vermont researcher Benjamin Lee, M.D., is studying whether a higher dose will help make the rotavirus vaccine more effective in developing countries, where the disease causes more than 200,000 children’s deaths each year due to related dehydration.

The University of Vermont’s medical and nursing curriculum will be delving into more progressive territory, courtesy of five new Frymoyer Scholars projects.

(FEBRUARY 23, 2016) University of Vermont pediatric cardiologist Niels Giddins, M.D., is featured in a news story about the American Heart Association's February 2016 "Little Hats, Big Hearts" campaign to increase awareness about congenital heart defects in newborns. Giddins, an associate professor of pediatrics, commented that structural problems in the heart can often appear following a seemingly healthy and normal birth. The story's video footage, taken at the UVM Medical Center's Mother-Baby Unit, also featured Molly Rideout, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics. Watch the story online here.

The American Lung Association released its 14th annual "State of Tobacco Control" report, which finds that Vermont made progress on tobacco control policies in 2015. These findings are the topic of an article featuring comments from Keith Robinson, M.D.'07, assistant professor of pediatrics and pediatric pulmonologist. Read the article in The Caledonian Record.

University of Vermont Associate Professor of Pediatrics Andrea Green, M.D., the director of the New American Clinic at UVM Children's Hospital, is featured in an article, titled "Medical Interpreters Speak for New American Patients," in the January 27, 2016 issue of Seven Days. Read more here.

An article on the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force’s 2015 statement on screening specifically for speech and language delay in asymptomatic preschool-age children, features comments from UVM Clinical Professor of Pediatrics Joseph Hagan, Jr., M.D., F.A.A.P. View a PDF of the Medscape article here or subscribers can read the online version here. 

UVM Clinical Professor of Pediatrics William Gerson, M.D., authored an article discussing the serious risks associated with “chickenpox parties” – where children are intentionally exposed to the varicella zoster virus in hopes of immunizing them from a more serious infection down the road. Read the article in Pediatrics, All Web News and Pharmacist.