Dr. Tsalikian Tapped to Become Interim Chair of Pediatrics.

Dr. Tsalikian

Dr. Tsalikian, who has long headed the Division of Pediatric Endocrinology & Diabetes, has been asked to serve as the interim Chair of Pediatrics at the University of Iowa and as the interim physician-in-chief of University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital. These requests recognize her strong leadership skills for leading an academic medical department focused on excellent clinical care and advancing treatment and prevention through cutting edge research. Dr. Tsalikian assumed these duties effective June 1, 2019. Dr. Tsalikian received her medical degree from the University of Athens. Her training in endocrinology research was obtained at the University of California San Francisco and at Mayo Clinic. She completed a pediatric residency at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, and a Pediatric Endocrinology Fellowship at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.

Dr. Pesce Recognized for her Outstanding Teaching

Dr. Liuska Pesce receiving the award.

Dr. Pesce recently received the Excellence in Clinical Coaching award. This award is given to select faculty who are known for outstanding clinical teaching of resident and fellow physicians. The comments that accompanied the award were “Dr. Pesce has a true passion for teaching and making sure that her patients receive the best care possible. When I have worked with Dr. Pesce, she sat with me one-on-one to review the unique aspects of the patient’s diagnoses and explained why we may be doing things a certain way.

Does Diabeteic Ketoacidosis Impact Brain Development in Children?

Dr. Tsalikian has helped author a recent manuscript aimed at better understanding whether diabetic ketoacidosis might impact brain development in children. This manuscript was published this month in the prestigious journal Diabetes Care (permanent link to manuscript, link to public free version). They found that children who had experienced moderate-to-severe diabetic ketoacidosis had altered brain dimensions and lower cognitive scores. These results, though only correlative, suggest that moderate-to-severe diabetic ketoacidosis has an adverse impact on the developing brain. Several other of our division members contributed to this work, including Dr. Tansey, along with study coordinators Julie Coffey MSN, Joanne Cabbage, and Sara Salamati.