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Opportunities for Fellows

Our division actively publishes in basic, translational and clinical research realms. All fellows in our program are required to complete two years of research. There are numerous opportunities for basic science lab research in any field of interest across all subspecialties including within our own division. Translational and basic sciences research within our division includes the work of Dr. Aliye Uc, involving mechanisms of pancreatic damage in cystic fibrosis using a porcine model, understanding etiology of acute recurrent and chronic pancreatitis in children (spearheading a multicenter study including 13 other pediatric gastroenterology centers in US and Canada) and the role of heme oxygenase in gut inflammation and oxidative stress. Dr. Warren Bishop and Dr. Riad Rahhal are active in clinical research in the field of constipation, enteral nutritional devices and placement techniques. Fellows also have the opportunity to find research mentors outside the division. Previous fellows have had mentors in Pediatric Critical Care, Neonatology, Immunology, Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology and Hematology Divisions. 

The following is list of some of our division's recent publications:

Al-Zubeidi D, Bishop WP, Rahhal RM. Identifying small bowel intussusception related to a gastroenteric feeding tube. Frontline Gastroenterol. 2:63-64, 2011

Ebach DR, Vanderheyden AD, Ellison JM, Jensen CS. Lymphocytic esophagitis: a possible manifestation of pediatric upper gastrointestinal Crohn's disease. Inflamm Bowel Dis. 17(1):45-9, 2011

Abu-El-Haija M, Stasheff S, Atkins DL, Bishop WP. Rheumatic fever in a patient receiving infliximab therapy for Crohn disease. 52(3):360-1, 2011

Ostedgaard LS, Meyerholz DK, Chen JH, Pezzulo AA, Karp PH, Rokhlina T, Ernst SE, Hanfland RA, Reznikov L, Ludwig PS, Rogan MP, Davis GJ, Dohrn CL, Taft PJ, Rector MV, Hornick E, Nassar P, Samuel M, Richter SS, Uc A, et al. Low Levels of cftr Activity in CFTRDF508/DF508 Pigs Do Not Prevent the Gastrointestinal and Lung Disease of Cystic Fibrosis. Science Translational Medicine 3:74ra24, 2011

Al-Zubeidi D, Rahhal RM. Safety techniques for percutaneous gastrostomy tube placement in Pierre Robin Sequence. JPEN J Parenter Enteral Nutr. 35(3):343-5, 2011

Abu-El-Haija M, Sinkora M, Meyerholz DK, Welsh MJ, McCray PB Jr, Butler J, Uc A. An activated immune and inflammatory response targets the pancreas of newborn pigs with cystic fibrosis. Pancreatology. 11(5):506-15, 2011 Morinville VD, Husain SZ, Bai H, Barth B, Alhosh R, Durie PR, Freedman SD, Himes R, Lowe ME, Pohl J, Werlin S, Wilschanski M, Uc A; on Behalf of the INSPPIRE Group. Definitions of Pediatric Pancreatitis and Survey of Present Clinical Practices. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 55(3):261-265, 2012

Abu-El-Haija M, Ramachandran S, Meyerholz DK, Abu-El-Haija M, Griffin M, Giriyappa RL, Stoltz DA, Welsh MJ, McCray PB Jr, Uc A. Pancreatic damage in fetal and newborn cystic fibrosis pigs involves the activation of inflammatory and remodeling pathways. Am J Pathol. 181(2):499-507, 2012

Uc A, Zhu X, Wagner BA, Buettner GR, Berg DJ. Heme oxygenase-1 is protective against nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug-induced gastric ulcers. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 54(4):471-6, 2012

photo of resident with their researchGriffin M, Abu-El-Haija M, Abu-El-Haija M, Rokhlina T, Uc A. Simplified and versatile method for isolation of high-quality RNA from pancreas. Biotechniques. 52(5):332-4, 2012

Al-Zubeidi D, Rahhal RM. Prospective Randomized Comparative Study of Low-Profile Balloon Gastrostomy Tubes in Children. Nutr Clin Pract. 2012 Dec;27(6):812-6

Uc A, Giriyappa R, Meyerholz DK, et al. Pancreatic and biliary secretion are both altered in CF pigs. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol. 2012 Oct;15303(8):G961-8

Malloy L, Jensen M, Bishop W, Divekar A. "Downhill" esophageal varices in congenital heart disease. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2013 Feb;56(2)

Benkov K, Lu Y, Patel A, Rahhal R, Russell G, Teitelbaum J; NASPGHAN Committee on Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Role of thiopurine metabolite testing and thiopurine methyltransferase determination in pediatric IBD. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2013 Mar;56(3):333-40

Al-Zubeidi D, Demir H, Bishop WP, Rahhal RM. Gastrojejunal feeding tube use by gastroenterologists in a pediatric academic center. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2013 May;56(5):523-7

Uc A. Predicting the severity of pediatric acute pancreatitis: are we there yet? J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2013 Jun;56(6):584-5

Lerner DG, Li BU, Mamula P, Fishman DS, Kramer R, Goh VL, El-Chammas K, Pentiuk SP, Rothbaum R, Gurrum B, Rahhal RM, Goday PS, Vitola B. Challenges in meeting fellowship procedural guidelines in pediatric therapeutic endoscopy and liver biopsy. JPGN. 2014 Jan;58(1):27-33.

Abu-El-Haiji M, Schultz J, Rahhal R. Effects of 70% ethanol locks on rates of central line infection, thrombosis, breakage and replacement in pediatric intestinal failure. JPGN. 2014 Jun;58(6)

Griffin MA, Restrepo MS, Abu-El-Haija M, Wallen T, Buchanan E, Rokhlina T, Chen YH, McCray PB Jr, Davidson BL, Divekar A, Uc A. A novel gene delivery method transduces porcine pancreatic duct epithelial cells. Gene Ther. 2014 Feb Sui H, Yi Y, Yao J, Liang B, Sun X, Hu S, Uc A, Nelson DJ, Ode KL, Philipson LH, Engelhardt JF, Norris AW. Quantifying insulin sensitivity and entero-insular responsiveness to hyper- and hypoglycemia in ferrets. PLoS One. 2014 Mar 3;9(3):e90519

Morinville VD, Lowe ME, Ahuja M, Barth B, Bellin MD, Davis H, Durie PR, Finley B, Fishman DS, Freedman SD, Gariepy CE, Giefer MJ, Gonska T, Heyman MB, Himes R, Husain S, Kumar S, Ooi CY, Pohl JF, Schwarzenberg SJ, Troendle D, Werlin SL, Wilschanski M, Yen E, Uc A. Design and implementation of INSPIRE(International Study Group of Pediatric Pancreatitis: in search for a Cure). Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2014 Sep;59(3):360-4

Com G, Uc A. Exercise Intolerance, Malnutrition, Abnormal Sweat Chloride Levels, and Two CFTR Mutations: Is It Cystic Fibrosis? J Pediatr Health Care. 2014 Jul 21

Uc A, Olivier AK, Griffin MA, Meyerholz DK, Yao J, Abu-El-Haija M, Buchanan KM, Vanegas Calderón OG, Abu-El-Haija M, Pezzulo AA, Reznikov LR, Hoegger MJ, Rector MV, Ostedgaard LS, Taft PJ, Gansemer ND, Ludwig PS, Hornick EE, Stoltz DA, Ode KL, Welsh MJ, Engelhardt JF, Norris AW. Glycaemic regulation and insulin secretion are abnormal in cystic fibrosis pigs despite sparing of islet cell mass. Clin Sci (Lond). 2015 Jan;128(2):131-42.

Crockett CD, Bertrand LA, Cooper CS, Rahhal RM, Liu K, Zimmerman MB, Moore SA, Mathews KD. Urologic and gastrointestinal symptoms in the dystroglycanopathies. Neurology. 2015 Feb

Jensen M, Abu-El-Haija M, Bishop W, Rahhal RM. Difficulty Achieving Vitamin D Sufficiency with High Dose Oral Repletion Therapy in Cholestatic Infants. Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2015 Feb

Schwarzenberg SJ, Bellin M, Husain SZ, Ahuja M, Barth B, Davis H, Durie PR, Fishman DS, Freedman SD, Gariepy CE, Giefer MJ, Gonska T, Heyman MB, Himes R, Kumar S, Morinville VD, Lowe ME, Nuehring NE, Ooi CY, Pohl JF, Troendle D, Werlin SL, Wilschanski M, Yen E, Uc A. Pediatric chronic pancreatitis is associated with genetic risk factors and substantial disease burden. J Pediatr. 2015 Apr;166(4):890-6.