Department of Pediatrics

My clinical interest is the treatment of childhood cancer, particularly tumors affecting the central nervous system. I also have particular interest in brain tumor survivorship, including the diagnosis and treatment of long term effects of therapy for childhood central nervous system tumors.  I have a strong interest in quality and safety improvement as Medical Director of the 17th Floor Inpatient Unit as well as the Ambulatory Infusion Center.

My clinical interests include congenital heart disease and cardiac imaging including pediatric and fetal echocardiography. My specific interest include prenatal diagnosis and mangamement of congenital heart disease, managment, care of patients with single ventricle cardiac defects and Fontan palliation, as well as cardiac management of patients with Turner Syndrome. In my role as an Inteim-director of the Fetal Cardiac Program, I work closely with the Chicago Institute for Fetal Health to provide perinatal cardiology expertise. I also co-direct the multidisciplinary Turner's syndrome clinic at...

I am a clinician-educator in the Division of Adolescent and Young Medicine with specific interests and expertise in mental health care for adolescents, LGBT health, gender-affirming health care and HIV prevention and treatment.  I work with young people in our Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine Clinic as well as in the Gender Development Program.

Dr. Perak is committed to preventing cardiovascular diseases (e.g., heart attack) by promoting optimal health from the beginning of life. Her research centers on defining and intervening at the origins of cardiometabolic function. Specific areas of focus include molecular mechanisms of cardiovascular health development (e.g., microbiome), maternal-fetal cardiometabolic health, and behavioral intervention. Her clinical and teaching interests are in preventive cardiology and noninvasive cardiac imaging.

I have more than 30 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.  I was a co-advisor for the 1st year medical students who are involved in the Pediatric Interest Group and have taught several course in the Northwestern Medical School.

I am interested in Atopic Dermatitis (Eczema) and alternative medicines. We have created a center called the Chicago Integrative Eczema Center that is devoted to taking care of patients with eczema and their families, with an emphasis on education about the disease. I am also very interested in connective tissue diseases such as lupus and dermatomyositis. I am a medical acupuncturist and am interested in alternative medical approaches to dermatologic diseases. Finally, I am interested in medical student and resident education.

I am interested in treating all manner of allergic diseases. Teaching patients and families is paramount to their ability to help manage their condition. Medical informatics provides a number of tools that can help patients and their physicians to obtain the best outcomes.

I have clinical and research interests in food allergy including immunotherapy and biologic treatments, eosinophilic esophagitis, asthma and primary immunodeficiency. I am currently a primary and co-investigator on several multi-center national and international food allergy, eosinophilic esophagitis and asthma clinical trials.

I have an enduring interest in medical ethics, especially ethical issues in pediatrics, end-of-life care, research on human subjects, transplantation, children with differences of sex development (DSD) and gender identify nonconformity (GIN), medical and surgical innovation, transplantation and conscientious objection to requested care by health care professionals. My main clinical interests are in pediatric palliative and hospice care, multidisciplinary care of children with DSD/GIN and parent support for difficult decisions under conditions of uncertainty. More recently I have developed inte...

I enjoy caring for children with disorders of growth, puberty and the adrenal, pituitary and thyroid gland. I also enjoy care of children with diabetes