The Best Outcomes for the Most Complex Cases

Mother taking care of sick daughter with oxygen mask and teddy bear.

Department of Pediatrics Annual Report – 2023

Critical Care and Hospital Medicine

Banner graphic for the Department of Pediatrics Annual Report for 2023
Hulya Bayir, MD

The Division of Critical Care and Hospital Medicine provides exemplary, evidence-based, multidisciplinary critical care to the most medically vulnerable children in the greater New York City area and beyond. We do this in a setting that is distinct for its cutting-edge extramurally supported research and its commitment to providing the most comprehensive training available to the next generation of leaders in pediatric critical care and hospital medicine.

Since 2020, the division has included sections of Hospital Medicine and Palliative Care Medicine and the Center for Host-Pathogen Interactions in addition to Critical Care Medicine. These integrated groups work seamlessly to both care for the sickest and most vulnerable patients seen at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital and to lead cutting-edge basic and translational research.

In 2023:

  • Dr. Hülya Bayir joined the division as chief. She is leading the new Children’s Redox Health Center (CRHC), which aims to translate fundamental knowledge of redox biology into molecular medicine and discover new, creative approaches to prevent, diagnose, and treat diseases.
  • Dr. Thomas Connors and colleagues discovered that infancy is the most dynamic period of immune memory accrual in human life. His study, “Site-specific development and progressive maturation of human tissue-resident memory T cells over infancy and childhood,” in Immunity, provides rationale for diverse antigenic exposures in infancy, highlights the potential of tissue directed vaccination strategies in early life, and the importance of including dynamic changes in normal human development in our practice of medicine.
  • Dr. Kathrine Nash’s work (“Characterizing Racial Disparities in Emergency Department Pediatric Physical Restraint by Sex and Age,” JAMA Pediatrics) revealed important racial disparities in physical restraint use in US emergency departments. Black children were 1.8 times more likely to be physically restrained than White children.
  • Vitamin C is thought to be anti-inflammatory and anti-infectious, but these mechanisms are not well understood. In a paper in American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Dr. Bayir and team showed that Vitamin C is essential for the generation of antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory metabolites itaconate in human cells.
  • Barth syndrome, a rare genetic disease affecting boys, results in muscle weakening, fatigue, and heart failure in childhood. Dr. Bayir and colleagues identified both the underlying mechanism and new treatment strategies in research published in Nature Metabolism and Nature Briefing.

Learn More About Our Division

New Appointments 

  • Hulya Bayir, MD
    • Professor of Pediatrics/ Division Director
  • Kathleen Hardart, MD
    • Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at CUMC
  • Shir Miretzky, DO
    • Instructor of Pediatrics at CUMC
  • Patrice Pryce, MD
    • Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at CUMC
  • Sviatlana Samovich, PhD
    • Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at CUMC
  • Matthew S. Theoharakis, MD
    • Instructor of Pediatrics at CUMC
  • Bennett Weinerman, MD
    • Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at CUMC
  • Jessica Clare Becker, MD
    • Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at CUMC

Promotions

Honors/Awards         

  • Tarif Choudhury, MD
    • Attending of the Year, 9T/Cardiac Infant Care Unit
  • Jeffrey Edwards, MD
    • Physician of the Year, NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children Hospital
  • Mirna Giordano, MD
    • Pediatric Hospital Medicine Fellows' Mentor of the Year Award
    • AAP SOHM's Award for thriving in the post-pandemic world for the role of a Co-Chair for the Surgical Care Subcommittee
  • Rebecca Hough, MD, PhD
    • Invited faculty, 6th International ARDS Conference, Dublin, Ireland
    • APSselect Award for “Mitochondria of lung venular capillaries mediate lung-liver crosstalk in pneumonia”
    • Invited speaker, ATS Pulmonary Circulation Assembly 2023 Grover Conference
  • Anne Moscona, MD
    • President, American Society for Virology
    • Keynote Speaker, EMBO Workshop on Membrane Fusion, Gottingen Germany
    • Session Chair, 2023 International Congress on Antiviral Research (ICAR), International Society for Antiviral Research Lyon, France
  • Katherine Schlosser-Metitiri, MD
    • Named Associate Chief Medical Officer at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital

Major Grants

  • Benzodiazepines, delirium, and neurodevelopmental and mental health after critical illness in children. NIH/National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences KL2 (KL2TR001874). Andrew Geneslaw: PI. 2023 Continuous
  • The Role of ApoE in Injury-Induced Neurogenesis; NIH/NINDS 2R01 (NS095803). Steven Kernie: PI. 7/2022- 6/2027
  • Genetic Risk Underlying Pediatric Critical Illness. NIH/NHGRI K08 (1K08HG012374-01A1). Joshua Motelow: PI. 9/2023-9/2028
  • Development of the GenBAR Genomic Analytic Pipeline. CPMI Genomic Analytic Development Grant. Joshua Motelow: PI.
  • Genetic Basis of Small for Gestational Age Preterm Birth. Irving Institute Precision Medicine Pilot Award. Joshua Motelow: Co-I.
  • Improving Diagnostic Yield in Critically Ill Children with Prior Negative Genetic Testing. Thrasher Research Fund Early Career Award. Joshua Motelow: PI.
  • NewYork-Presbyterian Samberg Scholar. Joshua Motelow: Scholar.
  • Characterizing the immunomicrometabolome (IMM) in chronically instrumented airways: A multiomics approach for improving diagnosis of ventilator-associated pneumonia. VP&S Grants Program for Junior Faculty Who Contribute to the Diversity Goals of the University. Danielle Ahn: PI.
  • Linking Endotypes and Outcomes in Pediatric Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. NIH/National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. Taylor Sewell: Site PI.
  • Provost’s Interdisciplinary Teaching Award, Office of the Provost, Columbia University. Taylor Sewell: Co-PI. 2023-Continuous
  • Development of Localized T cell Immunity in Pediatric Respiratory Tract Infection. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (K23AI141686). Thomas Connors: PI.
  • Underpinning the Clinical Phenotypes, Symptomatic Manifestations, and Multi-tissue/organ Pathology of Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2; Functional Immune Responses in Children with Post Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection. NIH RECOVER: Research on Pathobiological Mechanisms (OT2HL161847). Thomas Connors: PI.
  • The Role of T cells in Tendon Healing. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (R01AR081674). Thomas Connors: Co-I.
  • Evolution of T cell Immunity in blood and tissues over childhood. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (U01AI168634). Thomas Connors: Co-I.
  • Cell therapy for alveolar lung diseases. CUIMC Translational Therapeutics Accelerator (TRx) Award. Nicolino Dorrello: PI (Dorrello/Snoeck).
  • Cellular replacement therapy for alveolar type 2 cell disease of the lung. CUIMC SIRS/STAR Program Award. Nicolino Dorrello: PI (Dorrello/Vunjak-Novakovic).
  • Targeting early stage of SARS-CoV-2 infection to prevent COVID-19. Stony Wold-Herbert Fund. Nicolino Dorrello: PI.
  • Mechanisms of Repair After Lung Injury. Stony Wold-Herbert Fund. Nicolino Dorrello: PI.
  • Engineering protease-resistant antiviral peptide inhibitors for SARS-CoV-2. NIH/NIAID (R01AI160961). Anne Moscona: PI.
  • Broad spectrum inhibitors of paramyxovirus envelope proteins. NIH/NIAID (R01AI175362). Anne Moscona: PI.
  • Design of fusion inhibitors to block measles host-to-host infection. NIH/NIAID (R01AI176833). Anne Moscona: Co-I (PI: Porotto).
  • Local Translation and Viral Infection in the Airway Epithelium. NIH/NIAID (R01AI170904). Anne Moscona: Co-I (PI: Cardozo).
  • Fusion inhibitors that block host-to-host transmission of SARS-CoV-2. NIH/NIAID (R01AI160953). Anne Moscona: Co-I (PI: Porotto).
  • Get Social Media and Risk-Reduction Training (GET SMART). NICHD (R01HD110568-01A1). Rebecca Carlin: Co-I/Site PI.
  • Support via Online Social Networks to Promote safe Infant Care Practices Towards Reducing Racial Disparities in Infant Mortality. National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (R01MD007702). Rebecca Carlin: Co-I/Site PI.
  • Social Media Groups and Infant Care Source of Support. American SIDS Institute. Rebecca Carlin: PI.
  • Mitochondrial Mechanisms of Developmental Differences in Acute Lung Injury. Stony Wold-Herbert Fund Grant-in-aid. Rebecca Hough: PI.
  • Mitochondrial mechanisms underlying alveolar-capillary barrier regulation. NHLBI (K08 HL148403). Rebecca Hough: PI.
  • Lipid imaging in Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) by high resolution GCIB-secondary ion mass spectrometry. NINDS (2R01NS076511). Hülya Bayır: PI, contact PI (MPI with VE Kagan and H Tian).
  • Radiation mitigators targeting regulated necrosis pathways of parthanatos pyroptosis. NIAID (7U01AI156923-04S1). Hülya Bayır: PI.
  • Oxidative Lipidomics in Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury. NINDS (7R37NS061817). Hülya Bayır: PI.
  • Mechanisms of cell-free plasma hemoglobin-mediated renal injury after cardiopulmonary bypass. NICHD (K23HD100553). Hülya Bayır: Sponsor/Mentor (PI: N. Kim-Campbell).
  • Radiation mitigators targeting regulated necrosis pathways of parthanatos pyroptosis. NIAID (7U01AI156923). Hülya Bayır: Principle investigator.
  • Druggable mitochondrial targets for treatment of cerebral ischemia. NINDS (5R01NS117000). Hülya Bayır: Principle investigator (MPI with RSB Clark).
  • Fusion inhibitors that block host-to-host transmission of SARS-CoV-2. NIAID (R01AI160953). Matteo Porotto: PI (with De Swart).
  • Design of fusion inhibitors to block measles host-to-host infection. NIAID (R01AI176833). Matteo Porotto: PI.

Selected Publications

The Division published 82 peer reviewed original papers, invited reviews and editorials, and book chapters in 2023.

  • Torres CM, Geneslaw AS, Svoboda L, Smerling AJ, Schlosser Metitiri KR. Effect of Standing Intravenous Acetaminophen on Postoperative Opioid Exposure in a Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit. J Pediatr. 2023 Apr;255:236-239.e2. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2022.12.003.
  • Kline-Schoder A, Chintamen S, Willner M, DiBenedetto M, Foscolos C, Batts A, Noel R, Kwon N, Zacharoulis S, Wu CC, Kernie SG, Konofagou E. Characterization of the responses of brain macrophages to focused ultrasound-mediated blood-brain barrier opening. 19 October 2023. Nature Biomedical Engineering. PMID 37857722
  • Edwards JD, Williams EP, McHale BL, Lucas AR, Malone CT. Parent and Provider Perspectives on Primary Continuity Intensivists and Nurses for Long-Stay PICU Patients. Annals of the American Thoracic Society. 2023; 20(2):269-278.
  • Tolliver DG, Markowitz MA, Obiakor KE, Wong AH, Cramer LD, Robinson L, Nash KA. Characterizing Racial Disparities in Emergency Department Pediatric Physical Restraint by Sex and Age. JAMA Pediatr. 2023 Sep 1;177(9):972-975. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2023.2300.
  • Connors, Thomas, Matsumoto R, Verma S, Szabo PA, Guyer R, Gray J, Wang Z, Thapa P, Dogra P, Poon MML, Rybkina K, Bradley MC, Idzikowski E, McNichols J, Kubota M, Pethe K, Shen Y, Atkinson MA, Brusko M, Brusko TM, Yates AJ, Sims PA, Farber DL. Site-specific development and progressive maturation of human tissue-resident memory T cells over infancy and childhood. Immunity. 2023 Aug 8;56(8):1894-1909.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2023.06.008.
  • Marcink TC, Zipursky G, Cheng W, Stearns K, Stenglein S, Golub KL, Cohen F, Bovier F, Pfalmer D, Greninger AL, Porotto M, des Georges A, Moscona Anne. Subnanometer structure of an enveloped virus fusion complex on viral surface reveals new entry mechanisms. Sci Adv 2023;9:eade272
  • Emin MT, Lee MJ, Bhattacharya J, Hough RF. Mitochondria of lung venular capillaries mediate lung-liver crosstalk in pneumonia. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. (2023)325:L277-87.
  • Kagan VE, Tyurina YY, Mikulska-Ruminska K, Damschroder D, Vieira Neto E, Lasorsa A, Kapralov AA, Tyurin VA, Amoscato AA, Samovich SN, Souryavong AB, Dar HH, Ramim A, Liang Z, Lazcano P, Ji J, Schmidtke MW, Kiselyov K, Korkmaz A, Vladimirov GK, Artyukhova MA, Rampratap P, Cole LK, Niyatie A, Baker EK, Peterson J, Hatch GM, Atkinson J, Vockley J, Kühn B, Wessells R, van der Wel PCA, Bahar I, Bayir H, Greenberg ML. Anomalous peroxidase activity of cytochrome c is the primary pathogenic target in Barth syndrome. Nat Metab. 2023 Nov 23. doi: 10.1038/s42255-023-00926-4.
  • Soysal E, Castellano E, Korkmaz A, Mullett SJ, Kim-Campbell N, Epperly M, Wendell S, Kagan VE, Bayır H; Redox Health Study Group. Vitamin C Is Mandatory for the Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle Production of Anti-inflammatory Itaconate. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2023 Dec 1;208(11):1234-1238.
  • Dar HH, Mikulska-Ruminska K, Tyurina YY, Luci DK, Yasgar A, Samovich SN, Kapralov AA, Souryavong AB, Tyurin VA, Amoscato AA, Epperly MW, Shurin GV, Standley M, Holman TR, St Croix CM, Watkins SC, VanDemark AP, Rana S, Zakharov AV, Simeonov A, Marugan J, Mallampalli RK, Wenzel SE, Greenberger JS, Rai G, Bayır H, Bahar I, Kagan VE. Discovering selective antiferroptotic inhibitors of the 15LOX/PEBP1 complex noninterfering with biosynthesis of lipid mediators. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2023 Jun 20;120(25):e2218896120.

Highlights

New Columbia Center Aims to Lessen the Tragic Consequences of Traumatic Brain Injury

Through the newly established Columbia Children’s Redox Health Center, Columbia’s recently appointed chief of pediatric critical care and hospital medicine, Hülya Bayır, MD, and her colleagues are identifying and characterizing a set of key cellular changes that occur following a brain injury.

Department Newsroom

Sudden Unexpected Infant Deaths Rise, Disproportionally Impacting Non-Hispanic Black Babies, Study Finds

Recent data indicates that more than 95% of sudden unexpected infant deaths have at least one modifiable risk factor and are thus potentially preventable, according to pediatric critical care specialist Dr. Rebecca Carlin. “As a society, we need to better support new parents and address the systemic issues that lead to this disparity, so that parents are able to implement recommended safe sleep practices.”

Health Matters