I am a pediatric translational researcher and one of the few individuals across the country who has completed dual training in Pediatric Endocrinology and Pediatric Health Services Research and a Master’s in Public Health, with a research agenda focused on the overarching themes of childhood obesity and diabetes. Because of my specialized training, I have been able to approach these problems from a unique vantage point, using a variety of methodologies including health services research, applied clinical research, participatory and human-centered design, and learning health systems and quality improvement science. To date, I have over 165 peer-reviewed publications, and I am first or senior author on over 75 of those publications. Through my work I have developed a national and international reputation in the field of Pediatric Endocrinology. My major research contributions have included studies evaluating screening guidelines for type 2 diabetes among overweight and obese children, real-world utilization of medications like GLP-1 medications, and health outcomes, data literacy, and patient engagement research in type 1 diabetes. In 2016 I was named the Robert P. Kelch Professor of Pediatrics and I was the first recipient of the Paul Kaplowitz, MD, Endowed Lectureship for my contributions to quality and cost-effective care in Pediatric Endocrinology, an award sponsored by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Pediatric Endocrine Society.
I am a board-certified informaticist, with training in Advanced Methods in Quality Improvement from Cincinnati Children’s, Epic Physician Builder certification, and skills in data analytics including sql and Tableau business intelligence dashboards. Between 2019-2020, I took on multiple leadership roles as Associate Chief Medical Information Officer for Pediatric Research, Associate Chair for Health Metrics and Learning Health Systems for the Department of Pediatrics, and Ambulatory Care Clinical Chief for Pediatric Medical Subspecialties. Furthermore, I hold the role of Associate Director for Informatics and Clinical Research Innovation for the Caswell Diabetes Institute. In these roles, I lead efforts to support clinical translational investigators, providing access to electronic health record and device data, and expertise in how to use clinical and health information technology to integrate research into the “real-world” healthcare delivery setting. Particular areas of focus include data governance and the design and development of customized electronic health record tools to support learning health systems and implementation research; the use of data at multiple levels, from patient engagement with personal diabetes device data, to the use of data at the health system level to support improved care and outcomes, to the integration of claims data, clinical data, and health information exchange data at the state-level to support type 2 diabetes quality improvement collaborative initiatives supported by the payers; and collaborations with human computing interaction and machine learning/artificial intelligence experts using continuous glucose monitoring and insulin pump data to improve care and health outcomes in diabetes.