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The Importance of Champions for Specific Endocrine Focus Areas

The knowledge base about human disease is exploding, yet there is so much that remains to be discovered. As pace of knowledge discovery quickens, it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with the entire field of endocrinology. For this reason, endocrine faculty often have areas of focus – diseases for which they help champion the cause. The Pediatric Endocrine Society has recognized the importance of this by creating nationwide “Special Interest Groups” or “SIGs” for a variety of focus areas. The SIGs enable interested faculty from across the country to collectively share knowledge and research. Here we recognize some of our faculty for their service and involvement with these SIGs. Thank you each for your service.

  • Dr. Alexandrou: Serves on the Turner syndrome SIG, and is a member of their advocacy group. Earlier this spring. Dr. Alexandrou presented journal club on Diabetes in Turner syndrome for this SIG.
  • Dr. Curtis: Has served on the obesity SIG.
  • Dr. Kanner: Serves on the lipid disorder SIG, working on an educational toolkit for pediatric patients affected by lipid disorders and their families.
  • Dr. Pinnaro: Serves as the research liaison for the Turner syndrome SIG.
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Dr. Pesce Serves as Content Expert for Ongoing Education of Endocrinologists

Dr. Pesce

Self-guided learning is an important method for physicians, including endocrinologists, to continually enhance their knowledge. This is especially vital after formal training ends, as it helps endocrinologists  keep up with their ever-evolving field. With this in mind, we are proud to acknowledge Dr. Pesce’s contributions that have developed self-study materials for pediatric endocrinologists. In collaboration with a handful of pediatric endocrinologists across the country,  she helped create the 2025-2026 Pediatric Endocrine Self-Assessment Program. In particular, she served as a content expert, especially for knowledge related to pediatric thyroid conditions. The specific publication is

  • Miller RS, Pesce LM, Bowden SA, Chan L, Dauber A, Demirci CS, Gourgari EA, Hawkes CP, McCormack S, Pittock S, Raman S, Sarafoglou K, Trapp C, Wasserman H, Wassner A. Pediatric ESAP 2025-2026: Pediatric Endocrine Self-Assessment Program.  Washington, DC: Endocrine Society.

Thank you Dr. Pesce!

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Pediatric Research Day 2025

The 2025 Pediatric Research Day was held on the afternoon of April 11th, highlighting eight speakers, a “data blitz”, and a poster session. Our Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes was well represented. Two of our fellows had their abstracts selected for one of four speaker slots. Additionally, our faculty contributed to several poster abstracts. The fellow talks were as follows: Dr. Kyle Baum: “Impact of the incretin, retatrutide, on weight loss, lean body mass, and muscle physiology in mice”. Dr. Benjamin Palmer: “Assessing Sports Participation and Associated Barriers in Youth with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus”

Senior Fellow Dr. Palmer speaking at Research Day.
Fellow Dr. Baum speaking at Research Day.
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Altered Fat-Burning in Infants with Congenital Disorders

Dr. Catherina Pinnaro

Almost immediately after birth, we begin burning fat for energy and warmth. Recently, members of our division studied whether this process is altered in infants with congenital disorders. The study focused on two specific disorders: congenital hypothyroidism and cystic fibrosis. The peer-reviewed study is now available online (PubMed link). The results indicate that infants with these disorders burn less fat than normal. Surprisingly, however, these infants burned relatively more of a specific fatty acid—linoleic acid. One possible explanation for this finding relates to higher levels of inflammation in these infants. This finding is particularly important for cystic fibrosis, as it may help explain why this condition often causes lifelong linoleic acid deficiency. The manuscript’s lead author is Dr. Pinnaro from our division, with Dr. Norris serving as the senior author.

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Loss of CFTR from Pancreatic Ductal Cells Unlocks the Potential to Form New Endocrine Cells

Dr. Norris

Several years ago, researchers at the University of Iowa discovered that the balance between endocrine and exocrine cells in the pancreas is impacted by cystic fibrosis. The distribution of cell types in pancreases affected by cystic fibrosis suggested the emergence of a dynamic regenerative process. To better understand this possibility, the researchers teamed up with experts at the University of Colorado. The results of this collaborative work are now published in the journal iScience (PubMed link).

Cystic fibrosis is caused by the loss of CFTR function. The published work shows that when all CFTR function is lost from certain pancreatic ductal cells, these cells begin to express a protein named PDX1. This is important because PDX1 drives the development of several different components of the pancreas during organ formation. Indeed, the pancreatic ductal cells that expressed PDX1 exhibited the potential to produce several cell types, including pancreatic endocrine cells. Consistent with this, the researchers identified the presence of insulin-expressing cells within the ductal epithelium of pancreases affected by cystic fibrosis.

These findings enhance our understanding of the cellular formation of ductal versus endocrine cells in the injured pancreas and could be beneficial for future attempts at pancreatic endocrine and/or exocrine regeneration. Dr. Norris from our division was involved in the research.

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The Influence of X Depends on Which Parent It Comes From

Dr. Catherina Pinnaro

Nope, the newest research results from Dr. Pinnaro are not related to a social media platform formerly represented by a blue bird. Rather, her latest research publication deals with the X-chromosome and how it modifies the risk a person has to develop diabetes. Specifically, the new results show that persons with Turner syndrome who inherited just a single X-chromosome have a higher risk of elevated blood sugar levels if that X-chromosome came from their mother compared to if it came from their father. The manuscript describing the results has been accepted for publication in the journal Hormone Research in Paediatrics (link to article on PubMed). The results may have implications for diabetes in the general population, as males necessarily inherit their X from their mother and for females the impact of risk differences between their two X chromosomes could be influenced by which parent each came from. Dr. Norris from our division also contributed to the manuscript.

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Divisional Picture – 2024

A group picture of most of our division – Fall 2024, including faculty, fellows, nurse practitioners, nursing, pharmD, dietary, social work, scheduling, MAs, administrative, and research personnel.

Picture of most of our division, Fall 2024.
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The Effectiveness of 3-Years Growth Hormone Treatment for Aggrecan Deficiency

Dr. Eirene Alexandrou

Growth failure resulting in short stature has a variety of causes. One uncommon cause of short stature relates to mutations in the aggrecan gene. This conditions runs in families in an autosomal dominant pattern and causes severe loss of height growth. Osteoarthritis often occurs in adulthood. Dr. Alexandrou is part of a team that now reports 3-year outcomes resulting from growth hormone treatment in children with this condition. She helped co-author the scientific report, which is being published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society (PubMed link to their publication). Briefly their results indicate that roughly 2.5 inches of additional growth were achieved without adverse effects. Studies to determine long-term outcomes are still needed. The publication highlights the importance of bringing children who are growing poorly to be evaluated by a pediatric endocrinologist to help determine the potential causes and to consider possible treatments.

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Dr. Pinnaro Elected to the Society for Pediatric Research

Dr. Catherina Pinnaro

The Society for Pediatric Research (SPR) was founded in 1929 and serves “to cultivate a diverse network of child health researchers through collaboration, community, mentorship, and advocacy“. Election to the SPR is selective, recognizing productive, independent, active researchers who are conducting hypothesis-driven research in a field related to pediatrics. We are thus proud to announce that our faculty Dr. Cat Pinnaro has been elected to the SPR, effective January 1st, 2024. Dr. Pinnaro received her medical training at New York Medical College. She then completed a pediatric residency followed by a pediatric endocrinology fellowship, both at the University of Iowa. During this time she was a trainee in both the Physician Scientist Training Program and the T32 diabetes research program and earned a Masters in Translational Biomedicine. She has developed an independent research program focused on identifying genetic modifiers that influence the manifestations of karyotypic disorders. She has contributed to the understanding of diabetes as a complication of Turner syndrome and has established expertise in researching the impact of insulin delivery technology. Dr. Pinnaro already has published 19 articles appearing in the PubMed database, despite being an early stage investigator. She successfully competed for an NIH K23 career development award. Additionally, she is an active clinical member of our pediatric endocrinology and diabetes program. Finally, she provides important service to the state and region by being the (volunteer) Medical Director for Hertko Hollow Diabetes Camp for children, located in central Iowa. Congratulations Dr. Pinnaro for this well earned honor of being elected to the SPR.