Faculty Honored at 12th Annual Ceremony
Cincinnati Children's celebrated outstanding faculty members on February 17. Congratulations to our honorees and to all who were nominated by their peers.
Advocacy Achievement Award
Alexandra Corley, MD, MPH, FAAP
Division of General and Community Pediatrics
Alex Corley, MD, MPH, FAAP, has a long-standing passion for and commitment to advocating for children and families through identifying and addressing the social determinants of health during routine care, with the goal of ultimately reducing health inequities.
As a clinician in the Pediatric Primary Care Center, Alex works with patients from largely underserved and minoritized populations. Her connection with families has informed her early research, including a project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to explore parents' perspectives on continuity of care in primary care. Recognizing and incorporating parents' preferences in care is a first step toward providing equitable care.
Alex has a successful track record of disseminating her research related to advocacy and equity. Many of her publications are in top pediatric journals, which speaks to the quality and rigor of her work.
Alex also serves as a junior mentor for Cincinnati Children's new Health Equity Leadership pathway, which brings together advocacy-minded medical students, residents, fellows and faculty to consider important issues and ways to advocate to improve the health and well-being of children.
Advocacy Achievement Award
Scott Schwartz, DDS, MPH
Division of Pediatric Dentistry
As an associate professor in the Division of Pediatric Dentistry, Scott Schwartz, DDS, MPH, has promoted a national dialogue in dentistry on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) long before it was a public health focal point. Specifically, he has concentrated on the oral health challenges faced by members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Scott's editorial "LGBT—Let's Go Beyond Teeth," published in 2017, is a clarion call for dentists to recognize the diverse population of children and teens who require oral healthcare. Scott has dedicated himself to educating his profession on strategies to make these patients feel valued and included. His paper "Understanding and Caring for LGBTQ+ Youth by the Oral Healthcare Provider" underscores the social responsibility of dentists as healthcare providers.
Scott is a nationally sought-after speaker on the subject of DEI, oral health and underserved populations, and has put Cincinnati Children's on the dental map in this arena. According to Bobby Thikkurissy, DDS, director of the Division of Pediatric Dentistry, "Scott gives voice to those who are afraid to speak; he cares for those who are afraid to ask."
Advocacy Achievement Award
Nicholas Newman, DO, MS, FAAP
Division of General and Community Pediatrics
Nick Newman, DO, MS, FAAP, is the director of the Environmental Health and Lead Clinic at Cincinnati Children's. This clinic was established for children admitted to the hospital for acute lead poisoning. Under Nick's direction, the clinic has broadened its services to also care for children exposed to a variety of toxicants, such as arsenic, mercury, mold, carbon monoxide and others.
Nick serves as a site director for the CDC- and EPA-funded Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit network. In this role, he regularly provides pediatric environmental health education, outreach and consultations to regional physicians, nurses, health departments and the public. Nick is also the lead for the UC Center for Environmental Genetics Community Engagement Board, which translates environmental health science for the lay public and fosters relationships between scientists and the community.
In 2015, Nick was asked to provide technical assistance to the Genesee County (Michigan) Health Department and local pediatricians regarding the drinking water crisis in Flint where thousands of children were exposed to high levels of lead.
Nick's wide-reaching advocacy work has had a profound impact on children here and around the country.
Clinical Care Achievement Award
Aaron Garrison, MD
Division of Pediatric General and Thoracic Surgery
Aaron Garrison, MD, is an expert clinician and surgeon and is well known by staff and his patients for his skill and clear, compassionate communication.
An associate professor of surgery and program director for the Pediatric General Surgery Fellowship program, Aaron has implemented changes to improve diversity and the well-being of the fellows. He has also taken the initiative to lead the key safety integrated operations goal of increasing situational awareness among surgical service, which will improve patient safety.
Aaron's approach, which recognized the need for system changes as well as strong communication skills to change culture, has resulted in significant improvements in the prediction, prevention, mitigation, and escalation of surgical patient safety concerns. As a result of his leadership and integration of specific tactics into the daily workflow, patients at risk for clinical deterioration have been recognized earlier, which is one of the first steps in reducing emergency transfers and improving patient outcomes.
Clinical Care Achievement Award
Katie Meier, MD
Division of Hospital Medicine
As an assistant professor in the Division of Hospital Medicine, Katie Meier, MD, serves as the director for the Hospital Medicine Surgical Service and as co-medical director of A3 North. In 2017, Katie received the Hospital Medicine Award for Excellence in Clinical Care. At the unit leadership level, she collaborates with Patient Services staff to advocate for improved practice, and in 2016, A3 North was named the Operation Excellence Unit of the Year, and for the past two years, A3 North has won an institutional Patient Family Experience Award.
Katie's innovation in the growth and development of clinical care programs has led to locally and nationally recognized scholarship and improved patient outcomes. She was first author on the publication in "Hospital Pediatrics" that was cited as a "top article" at the national Pediatric Hospital Medicine conference in 2015. She also co-led the effort to revamp Cincinnati Children's system-level approach to early warning scores on the acute care units in response to a serious safety event.
Katie is an exceptional role model and mentor, with a commitment to reaching the next generation of clinicians.
Clinical Care Achievement Award
Rena Sorensen, PhD
Division of Child Psychiatry
Rena Sorensen, PhD, co-leads the hospital-wide Behavioral Safety Team (BST), serving as the director of behavioral programming. The BST ensures that children with behavioral and developmental conditions receive necessary medical care, while keeping them and the hospital staff safe.
Since Rena joined Cincinnati Children's in 2000, she has provided services to our most challenging behavioral patients across multiple settings. She instituted home-based applied behavioral analysis therapy, provided community consultation to schools and agencies, launched an intensive severe-behavior-treatment day program and managed inpatient psychiatric stabilization for acute crises. This work led to her designing and launching the BST in 2011 to ensure children with behavioral health challenges can access safe, equitable medical care. Rena and her team have consulted on more than 1,000 patients with co-morbid developmental disabilities, behavioral challenges and medical conditions. This has reduced the occurrence of OSHA-recordable injuries from an average of one every 34 days to an average of more than 340 days between events.
Rena's expertise is often sought outside the BST on our inpatient units, and she never shies away from providing solutions that help this vulnerable population.