About Us

Quality Initiatives

The Department of Pediatrics is committed to continuous improvement in all domains and focuses on the Institute of Medicine's six domains of healthcare quality. We perform, support and train in improvement science and partner with Northwestern University for more comprehensive training. We will consider our program a success when we view everything as an opportunity for improvement.

Healthcare quality and safety initiatives are critical to providing optimal healthcare as well as reducing variations of care that will facilitate greater learning in all forms of research. Faculty involved in these initiatives help train medical students, residents and fellows in quality and safety.

The Department of Pediatrics is looking to expand the number of faculty members with healthcare quality and safety expertise. We offer several opportunities for faculty to expand their expertise in these areas:

Certificate Course for Improvement Scholars

This six-month course involves multidisciplinary faculty and participants including physicians. Scholars learn in didactic sessions and initiate an improvement project in their microsystem to accelerate their learning.

Journal Writing Club

We have initiated an Improvement Writers group that will advance optimal utilization of SQUIRE guidelines in September 2018. Graduates of this program are expected to submit healthcare quality and safety manuscripts, help teach the ensuing session and serve as mentors for other colleagues working in these areas.

Value in Healthcare

Faculty involved in quality and safety initiatives are currently developing a method for quantifying value in healthcare. This will enable the institution to prioritize work based on metrics that matter most to our patients and their families.

Nichell Tidwell

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Emergency Medicine)

I have more than 25 years experience as a Pediatrician and over the years have worked in both Suburban and Urban Hospital based setting. I also completed a 2 year Pediatric Emergency Room fellowship training. I am currently a clinical Instructor of the Phase 1b Clinical Education Course for the second year medical students at Northwestern School of Medicine. In addition I am a co-advisor for the 1st year medical students who are involved in the Pediatric Interest Group.

Mindy H Li

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Genetics, Genomics, and Metabolism)

My primary clinical and research interests include general genetics and dysmorphology, clinical genomics, the implementation of next generation sequencing technologies in clinical practice, and genetics education.

Chariya A Christmon

Instructor of Pediatrics (Hospital-Based Medicine)

Primary interests lie in Pediatrics, specifically newborn care and neonatology

Jeffrey L Loughead

Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Hospital-Based Medicine)

Interests in clinical quality improvement

Kiran A Kulkarni

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Hospital-Based Medicine)

I completed a Pediatric Hospitalist Medicine Fellowship with an interest in medical education and faculty development. Since joining Lurie Childrens Hospital I have developed in Clinical documentation with a focus on Quality Improvement and Patient Safety. My interest is in developing educational curricula for residents and faculty to improve communication amongst healthcare teams

Linda C Laux

Associate Professor of Pediatrics (Neurology and Epilepsy)

My clinical and research focus is epilepsy syndromes, genetics of epilepsy syndromes, and Dravet syndrome.

Colleen A Malloy

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Neonatology)

neonatology, perinatal hospice care

Lucy Ann Bilaver

Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Dr. Bilaver is an applied health services researcher with expertise using administrative data for research purposes. Her research focuses on children with special health care needs including autism spectrum disorder and food allergy. She focuses on timely issues in pediatric health services research that have policy implications.

Marta Perez

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Neonatology)

Dr Perez's research interest is in neonatal pulmonary hypertension and glucocorticoid signaling. Specifically, Dr Perez's research focuses on the impact of hydrocortisone, a glucocorticoid commonly used in the NICU, on alveolar and pulmonary vascular development as well as effects of glucocorticoids on pulmonary vascular remodeling and nitric oxide signaling pathways.

Rukhmi Bhat

Associate Professor of Pediatrics (Hematology, Oncology, and Stem Cell Transplantation)

My clincial interests are in bleeding and clotting disorders in children as well as non malignant blood disorders in children. My research interests are in risk-based optimization of treatment in pediatric thrombosis. My research focus within pediatric thrombosis is in neonates with thrombotic complications as well as developing venous thromboembolism risk assessment models in pediatrics.