Sherin U. Devaskar, M.D
Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics,
Mattel Executive Endowed Chair, Department of Pediatrics
UCLA Physician-in-Chief, Mattel Children's Hospital
UCLA Assistant Vice Chancellor of Children's Health, UCLA Health
Leader, UCLA Clinical and Translational Institute (CTSI)
Sherin U. Devaskar, M.D. is a Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics and the Executive Director of the UCLA Children’s Discovery and Innovation (CDI) Institute that she spearheaded in 2012. As Executive Chair for the Department of Pediatrics, Dr. Devaskar oversees all aspects of the department in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and provides leadership for advancing innovative research and education programs. As Physician-in-Chief, she leads the UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital physicians and staff in providing highest-quality, family-centered clinical care. As Assistant Vice Chancellor of Children's Health, she focuses on a variety of initiatives in the UCLA Health aimed at addressing critical child health issues locally, nationally and globally. Dr. Devaskar was elected into the National Academies of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 2012. Her research focuses on the long-term outcome of premature and growth-restricted babies, the nutrition they receive while in the womb and soon after birth, and the propensity of these babies to develop adult-onset conditions, including obesity, diabetes, hypertension and Alzheimer's disease.
Peter G. Szilagyi, M.D., M.P.H
Professor of Pediatrics
Executive Vice-Chair and Vice-Chair for Research, Pediatrics
Division of General Pediatrics
Co-Director, UCLA Children's Discovery and Innovation Institute
Editor-in-Chief, Academic Pediatrics
Leader, Special Populations, Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI)
Attending Physician, UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital
Peter G. Szilagyi, M.D., M.P.H is a Professor of Pediatrics, Executive Vice-Chair and Vice-Chair for Research in the Department of Pediatrics. He is also the Co-Director of the UCLA Children’s Discovery and Innovation (CDI) Institute. An accomplished health services researcher, Dr. Szilagyi’s studies to improve the quality of care and outcomes for vulnerable children have led to important changes in immunization delivery, child health care financing and care of children with chronic conditions. For example, in the field of immunizations his studies have contributed to the Vaccines for Children Program, strategies within the medical home to improve vaccine delivery, and a recent focus on adolescent immunizations. In the field of healthcare financing his studies have contributed to the formation and continuation of the Child Health Insurance Program (CHI). He is principle investigator (PI) or Co-PI on multiple NIH and CDC funded R01s or U01s and co-investigator on other grants. He mentors countless faculty and others and he is senior mentor on numerous faculty development awards. Dr. Szilagyi is a co-leader of the Special Populations component of UCLA’s Clinical Translational Science Institute (CTSI) funded by NIH. Dr. Szilagyi is very involved with the Academic Pediatric Association (APA). He served on the APA’s Board of Directors for 15 years and was APA President in 2008-09. Since 2009 he has been Editor-in-Chief of Academic Pediatrics, the journal of the APA and APPD. Dr. Szilagyi is co-editor of the Bates Guide to Physical Examination and History Taking, one of the top-selling medical textbooks globally. Finally, Dr. Szilagyi serves as a voting member of the Advisory Commission on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and also a voting member of the federal Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC).
Professor of Pediatrics
Chief, Pediatric Endocrinology
Interim Chief, Division of Pediatric Genetics
Associate Vice Chair for Translational Research, Pediatrics
Solomon A. and Maria M. Kaplan Chair of Pediatric Endocrinology
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Dr. Steven Mittelman first became a Bruin in 1989, when he began his undergraduate work as a Biochemistry major. He was proud to be a member of the Solid Gold Sound of the UCLA Marching Band! After earning his BS in Biochemistry from UCLA, Dr. Mittelman went on to earn his PhD in Physiology and a MD at Keck School of Medicine, USC. He completed both his pediatric residency and pediatric endocrinology fellowship at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. At CHLA, Dr. Mittelman became the Founding Director of the Diabetes & Obesity Program, as well as the Donnell Society for Pediatric Scientists. He also served as Director of the USC/Caltech Combined MD/PhD Program.
Dr. Mittelman was pursuing research in the physiology of obesity, when he learned about the strong associations between obesity and cancer. Namely, obese people have an increased risk of dying from cancer. Dr. Mittelman learned that children who are obese when they are diagnosed with leukemia have a worse prognosis. Based on this clinical observation, Dr. Mittelman developed preclinical models to investigate how obesity influences leukemia outcome. This resulted in several interesting discoveries which he continues to pursue. Excitingly, some of these findings helped to support a preliminary clinical intervention of diet and exercise, which was associated with a reduction in detectible leukemia cells during chemotherapy treatment. Dr. Mittelman is also involved in a number of other obesity-related research projects, primarily working on understanding the causes and treatments of childhood obesity and how adiposity alters physiology and leads to long-term consequences. His research program is funded by the NIH and private foundations, and has resulted in over 70 publications. Dr. Mittelman also has extensive clinical experience and enjoys working with patients to improve their quality of life.
Anna-Barbara Moscicki, M.D.
Professor of Pediatrics
Chief, Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine
Associate Vice Chair for Clinical Research, Pediatrics
Co-Director, UCLA Children's Discovery and Innovation Institute
Anna-Barbara Moscicki, M.D. is a Professor of Pediatrics and Division Chief of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at UCLA. Dr. Moscicki’s career has focused on adolescent gynecology and STI research with a specific focus in Human Papillomavirus, HIV infection and mucosal immunology. She has expertise in HPV-related diseases including diagnosis of cervical dysplasia and treatment in adolescents and young women. She also has experience with phase II clinical trials with the HPV vaccine and worked with several HIV networks including Adolescent HIV and AIDS Research Network, IMPAACT and a Pediatric HIV/AIDS Cohort study. Dr. Moscicki has also served in leadership positions on multiple NIH-funded studies involving numerous institutions and has been an active, founding member of UC BRAID (with a focus on UC Braid Child Health) and is the immediate past president of ASCCP, an organization with a mission to decrease cervical cancer worldwide. She currently has several NIH funded studies examining cervical cancer risks and oral health in HIV infected adolescents, refeeding protocols in patients with anorexia nervosa, cervical cancer educational interventions and provider adherence to cervical cancer screening guidelines and University of California Office of the President grant to investigator predictors of health outcomes (involving UC BRAID Child Health) by harmonizing electronic medical records at all five UC sites and to examine predictors of diabetes health outcomes. She will collaborate on consultation services and study sections for grant reviews for Integrated Special Populations as well as linking researchers with community special populations, implementing and disseminating methodological innovations to integrate populations affected by health disparities into translational research, and platforms, including the school-district and large databases with the LADHS.
Martín G. Martín, M.D., M.P.P.
Professor of Pediatrics
Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition
Vice Chair of Academic Affairs, Pediatrics
Martín G. Martín, M.D., M.P.P. is a Professor of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition and Vice Chair of Academic Affairs. Dr. Martin’s laboratory has had a long-term interest in investigating the molecular basis of a variety of novel and established genetic diarrheal disorders associated with intestinal failure. His research in this area originated with studies of mutations of the Na/glucose co-transporter (SGLT1) that results in glucose galactose malabsorption, and was the first to discover the first congenital diarrheal disorder where the molecular basis was identified. Dr. Martín’s group is working with embryonic and somatic stem cells to develop intestinal mucosa to better understand diarrheal and several other disorders. They are also very active in the area of total genome (exome) sequencing to identify other novel inherited disorders of the gastrointestinal tract.
Brigitte Gomperts, MD
Associate Professor, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
Director, Histiocytosis Center
Member, Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI)
Brigitte Gomperts, M.D. is an Associate Professor of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology and Associate Chief of Research for Pediatric Hematology/Oncology. She also is co-director of the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center Stem Cell Biology and Cancer Program and a member of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research and the Molecular Biology Institute. Her research is funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and National Institute of General Medical Sciences, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Department of Defense, American Thoracic Society, Concern Foundation and Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program. Her research focuses on airway epithelial development, normal airway epithelial repair, and aberrant airway epithelial repair leading to diseases such as COPD, asthma, IPF, rejection after lung transplantation and lung carcinogenesis.
Suhas Kallapur, MD, FAAP
Professor of Pediatrics
Chief, Neonatology and Developmental Biology
Mattel Children's Hospital, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Clinical Professor, University of Western Australia
Dr. Kallapur is the Chief of Neonatology and Developmental Biology and Professor of Pediatrics at the Mattel Children’s Hospital, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He currently also has an appointment as a Clinical Professor at the University of Western Australia. Dr. Kallapur was a tenured Professor of Pediatrics at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, University of Cincinnati prior to his move to UCLA in 2017. Dr. Kallapur’s major research interest is in Perinatal infections, Chorioamnionitis, Perinatal immunology, and Lung injury. His NIH-funded research focuses on how inflammation at the maternal-fetal interface triggers preterm labor and causes fetal organ injury responses. He has served as an expert on multiple NIH workshops. He has world-wide collaborations that extend to Australia and with multiple U.S. based universities. He has developed powerful experimental models of intrauterine inflammation/infection that are complemented by studies of human placenta immunology. In addition to the NIH, Dr. Kallapur also received grants from the March of Dimes and other organizations. His laboratory has trained 24 post-graduate students. He has published >135 peer-reviewed manuscripts and >30 invited reviews.
Grace Aldrovandi, MD, CM
Professor of Pediatrics
Chief, Infectious Diseases
Grace Aldrovandi, M.D., CM is a Professor of Pediatrics and Division Chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital. Dr. Aldrovandi is a translational physician-scientist and her expertise and innovative research has far-reaching collaborations. In 2014, Dr. Aldrovandi was part of a consortium that was awarded nearly $21 million by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for studies to advance the prevention and treatment of HIV and its complications for infants, children, adolescents, and pregnant/postpartum women. In addition to pediatric HIV, Dr. Aldrovandi’s research interests include the effects of breast milk on child health, and infections in immunocompromised children. Her laboratory has a broad-based program to investigate the transmission of HIV from mother to child, the pathogenesis of HIV in children and the protective value of breastfeeding. Dr. Aldrovandi received her MD degree from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, where she also did her pediatric residency. She completed her research fellowship in pediatric infectious diseases at UCLA.
Anil Sapru, MD, MAS
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Chief, Critical Care
Anil Sapru, M.D., MAS, is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Division Chief of Critical Care at the David Geffen School of Medicine and UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital. Dr. Sapru is a board certified pediatrician and a pediatric intensive care physician. His research is focused on studies of pathogenetic and prognostic significance of biological markers in children with critical illnesses. His research work is focused on studying the relationship of both genetic and protein biomarkers with clinical outcomes and the mechanisms by which these relationships may inform the testing of new therapies. He has been on the scientific steering committee of the Pediatric Acute Lung Injury and Sepsis Investigators (PALISI) network since 2001. He is also the co-PI and on steering committee of the NICHD funded Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Network (CPCCRN). As Principal Investigator of NHLBI-funded RO1 ancillary studies, he has extensive experience with development and implementation of study protocols, development of sample and clinical data collection protocols and procedures, and multi-center IRB navigation. He has specialized training in clinical research methodology and genetic epidemiology, an important and growing field of research that requires a specialized skill set. He has successfully designed and carried out studies involving high-throughput pathway-based genotyping and is well versed with multiplex biomarker and genetic analysis. Finally Dr Sapru has a track record of excellent and productive research mentorship of fellows and collaborations over the last several years.
Donald B. Kohn, MD
Professor, Departments of Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics (MIMG)
Pediatrics (Hematology/Oncology); and Molecular and Medical Pharmacology
Director, Human Gene and Cell Therapy Program
Member, UCLA Children’s Discovery and Innovation Institute
Member, UCLA Eli & Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine & Stem Cell Research
Member, UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center
Attending Physician, UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital
Donald B. Kohn, M.D., is a Professor in the Departments of Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics (MIMG); Pediatric (Hematology/Oncology); and Molecular and Medical Pharmacology and Director of the Human Gene and Cell Therapy Program of the UCLA David Geffen School of medicine. He is a board-certified pediatrician with >28 years of experience in clinical bone marrow transplantation. Dr. Kohn’s principle area of research is the development and application of methods for gene therapy of blood cell diseases, such as Severe Combined Immune Deficiency (SCID - “bubble baby disease”) and Sickle Cell Disease using autologous hematopoietic stem cells (HSC). His lab has investigated methods for optimal gene delivery and expression and gene editing with human HSC. He is the Sponsor for six investigator-initiated FDA INDs for clinical trials of autologous transplant/gene therapy for genetic diseases and pediatric HIV/AIDS. Dr. Kohn was President of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (2004) and the Clinical Immunology Society (2014). He served as a member (and Chair) of the NIH Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC) (2010-2015) and is a member of the Steering Committee of the Primary Immune Deficiency Treatment Consortium.
Harley Kornblum, MD, PhD
Professor of Pediatrics
Departments of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences
Pediatric Neurology
Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior
Molecular and Medical Pharmacology
Harley Kornblum, M.D., Ph.D. is currently a Professor of Psychiatry, Molecular and Medical Pharmacology and Pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He is a Pediatric Neurologist, and is the Founding Director of the UCLA Neural Stem Cell Research Center. He is a Principal Investigator in the UCLA Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center, and a member of the Brain Research Institute, The Molecular Biology Institute, The Broad Stem Cell Research Center and the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA. His degrees include a BA in Biology from Washington University and a PhD, and MD from UC Irvine. His research interests include the biology and use of neural stem cells, brain development, brain tumors, neural repair and autism.
