News – Page 4 – News & Views

June 21, 2023

Our Program Ranked Among the Best Children’s Diabetes & Endocrinology Programs Nationally

Our Division has been rated among the Best Children’s Hospitals for Diabetes & Endocrinology Care by the US News & World Report 17th annual national report, where we were ranked #23 nationwide. Other top ranked specialties at the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital included neonatology (#21), nephrology, neurology & neurosurgery, orthopedics, and urology.

“Our ongoing strong national ranking is a testament to the steadfast dedication and expertise of our pediatric endocrine physicians, nurse practitioners, specialty nurses, diabetes educators, psychologists, researchers, medical assistants, dieticians, pharmacists, social workers, and all teams members. We remain devoted to provide the best care for the children and adolescents in the region and beyond.”

Andrew Norris, M.D. Ph.D.
Director, Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes
UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital

June 2, 2023June 3, 2023

Guest Lecturer – Shanlee Davis, MD PhD

We were graced today by a research talk from Shanlee Davis, MD PhD. Dr. Davis is an Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Her expertise involves cardiometabolic and reproductive health in youth with X and Y chromosome variations. She spoke today at our Pediatric Grand Rounds. She recently received a prestigious R01 research grant from the NIH to study fatty acid metabolism in persons with Klinefelter Syndrome. She received her MD from Mayo Medical School and her PhD from the University of Colorado. She is a physician scientist and directs a clinical research group. Her research career, despite being in its early stages, has already earned several awards including from the Pediatric Endocrine Society, the Endocrine Society, the Society for Pediatric Research, and from the University of Michigan. Dr. Davis spoke today on how prenatal cell free DNA screening has impacted care for those infants with sex chromosome aneuploidies.

May 23, 2023

Dr. Parra Villasmil Named a CAPER Pancreas Scholar

Children with recurrent pancreatitis are at risk to develop diabetes. However, current knowledge is insufficient to guide monitoring, screening, and therapy. Furthermore, there are no specific approaches to prevent diabetes from developing in those at risk. Additionally, there are very few pediatric endocrinologists with pancreatitis-specific expertise. To address these gaps, the Collaborative Alliance for Pancreatic Education and Research (CAPER) has created a program to identify rising physician specialists who can receive training to provide clinical care to these patients and to drive future research to better treat and even prevent endocrine complications from pancreatitis. We are pleased to broadcast that one of our Pediatric Endocrine Fellows, Dr. Parra Villasmil, has been selected as a CAPER Pancreas Scholar 2023-35. Dr. Parra Villasmil will receive mentorship from Dr. Melena Bellin who is a pancreas expert pediatric endocrinologist at the University of Minnesota. In this context, Dr. Parra Villasmil will develop a research project and participate in related national meetings. Congratulations to Dr. Parra Villasmil! We are not surprised that CAPER has recognized your talents and we look forward to her contributions to the field!

May 23, 2023

Using a Scribe to Improve Outpatient Physician Care.

Endocrine conditions are generally treated at home. Treatment can be complicated. A major purpose of appointments with the endocrinologist is to learn more about treatment. Often, a personalized plan is needed, depending on one’s daily schedules and activities. As a result, visits to the endocrinologist often involve numerous suggestions and details. Recording all of these details into the medical record can be difficult and time consuming. Two physicians in our Division participated in a pilot project whereby a scribe accompanied the physician during outpatient visits with the purpose of documenting the discussions and details. The results from this pilot project have now been published. The findings indicate that scribes have variable impact on visit times and physician charting burden, with improvements seen in one sub-specialty (developmental-behavioral pediatrics) but not another (pediatric endocrinology) . Patient satisfaction was equally high (>95%) with or without scribes. Two physicians from our Division, Dr. Kanner and Dr. Pesce contributed to the project and published manuscript. The paper is entitled “The Value of Adding Scribe Services to Two Distinct Pediatric Subspecialties in the Era of the Electronic Medical Record” and is being published in the journal Clinical Pediatrics. The manuscript’s abstract can be found at Pubmed (link).

May 8, 2023May 8, 2023

Iowa Well Represented at National Pediatric Endocrine Society Meeting

The Pediatric Endocrine Society (PES) is a professional organization of over 1,600 endocrinologists with the purpose of advancing treatment of youth with endocrine disorders. The PES held its annual meeting May 5-8 in San Diego. Several of our division faculty attended the meeting. Dr. Pesce presented at one of the symposium session on Endocrinology in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Dr. Parra Villasmil presenter her research, conducted under the mentorship of Dr. Pinnaro, on Screening for Turner Syndrome-associated Hyperglycemia. Dr. Parra Villasmil’s work was selected as one of the top-ranking abstracts, receiving a PES Presidential Poster award. In addition, our future fellow, Dr. Kyle Baum, currently a pediatric resident at Sanford School of Medicine, also had an abstract selected for a PES Presidential Poster award.

April 24, 2023April 28, 2023

Dr. Pesce Recognized for her Outstanding Clinical Teaching

Dr. Liuska Pesce is being recognized by the Carver College of Medicine for outstanding teaching. Today she is receiving the Collegiate Teaching Award. This award is given to recognize teaching that demonstrates unusually significant and meritorious achievement. The Award includes a plaque and monetary bonus. Those who have trained under her have many laudatory statements, including the following anonymous comment: “Dr. Pesce is the Mary-Poppins of physicians, ‘practically perfect in every way.’ She is an excellent teacher with clear explanations behind her thought processes which are always guided by best practices. She is very professional and thorough in all of her patient interactions and examinations. She provides excellent and timely feedback on presentations, physical exam findings, and clinical notes. She goes out of her way to ensure learners get the feedback they need.” Dr. Pesce is also involved in educational efforts at the national level, for example having just contributed as an author to this educational material “Pediatric ESAP 2023-2024: Pediatric Endocrine Self-Assessment Program. Washington, DC: Endocrine Society; 2023.”

April 5, 2023April 27, 2023

Expert Advice on Providing Estrogen Replacement Therapy for those with Turner Syndrome

The majority of women with Turner syndrome experience primary ovarian failure, meaning that their ovaries never produce estrogen in normal quantities. For this reason, normal puberty does not occur. Estrogen production is not only important for a feminizing puberty to occur but also is important for overall health and wellness. Dr. Eirene Alexandrou heads the Turner syndrome clinic (clinic homepage link) at the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital. She is a published expert in Turner syndrome care. Recently, on April 4, Dr. Alexandrou gave an invited webinar entitled “Estrogen Replacement Therapy in Turner Syndrome” (announcement link) for the Turner Syndrome Foundation. She reviewed the prevalence of primary ovarian failure in Turner syndrome, the benefits of estrogen replacement therapy, and the timing of such replacement including initiation.

March 28, 2023April 28, 2023

Advancing Reproductive Health of Youth

The North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology (NASPAG) is a non-profit association dedicated to advancing gynecologic care for youth. NASPAG held its 37th annual clinical & research meeting March 24-26 this year in Nashville. Dr. Kanner from our division was one of the Planning Committee members directing the meeting. Fellow Dr. Parra Villasmil from our division also attending the meeting and presented a Roundtable lecture. We thank them for their efforts to improve health.

Dr. Parra Villasmil leading a Roundtable at NASPAG 2023.

March 22, 2023

Impact of Highly Effective Modulator Therapy for Cystic Fibrosis on Body Composition

The triple combination therapy consisting of elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor (ETI) has made a tremendous impact for the health of persons with one of the most serious and most common genetic forms of cystic fibrosis. This medication dramatically improves lung health and helps persons with CF live a longer and healthier life. These medications also help persons with CF regain weight, which is important for health because being underweight in those with CF is associated with a higher risk of worsening lung disease and mortality. However, what is not yet known is whether the weight gain with ETI therapy is healthy weight gain such as muscle mass or less health gain such as excess adipose tissue. To address this knowledge gap, Dr. Katie Larson Ode from our division teamed with a group of investigators at several other hospitals across the country to study this in persons on ETI therapy. They found, perhaps concerningly, that the weight gain occurred mainly as increased fat mass and that the changes were associated with reduced insulin sensitivity. These results indicate a need to closely monitor and further study the metabolic impact of ETI therapy. Their study has been published in the journal Pediatric Pulmonology and is titled “The Impact of elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor on Body Composition in a Small Cohort of Youth with Cystic Fibrosis”. It can be found at this pubmed link.

March 21, 2023

Finding Modifier Genes in Turner Syndrome

Turner syndrome (TS) is a karyotype disorder in which the sex chromosomes consist of an intact X chromosome and partial-to-complete loss of the other sex chromosome. TS includes a number of phenotypic features, including many that have variable expression. The degree of second sex chromosome loss explains the risk of some but not all TS features. Modifier genes are one possible explanation for TS features whose risk is not explained by karyotype. In this case, the modifier genes would be polymorphisms on autosomal chromosomes. This postulate served as the basis for a recent research study by Dr. Cat Pinnaro. Specifically, she sought to determine whether autosomal genes might influence the risk of cardiovascular malformations in TS. She focused on genes involved in pathways already known to impact cardiac development. The identified that specific variants in the CRELD1 gene were associated with risk of having a bicuspid aortic valve in TS. This study serves as proof-of-concept that modifier genes impact TS phenotype, and paves the way for future studies searching for additional modifier genes that might impact other aspects of phenotype in TS and other karyotype disorders. The work is published in the journal Human Genetics (pubmed link here).