Department of Pediatrics

I have had the opportunity to study problems in a number of areas of endocrinology and metabolism. Recent efforts have included studies of the evolution of the metabolic syndrome led by Dr. Xiaobin Wang. I have been continuing work on thyroid disease including thyroid cancers with recent work focusing on detection of thyroid cancer metastases. I have participated in studies of micro-RNA's in craniopharyngioma and in studies within Diabetes Trialnet.A number of pediatric centers are planning to collate data on treatment of thyroid cancers. Along with some of my Lurie colleagues, I plan to con...

I am a pediatric emergency physician and health services researcher with interests in improving care delivery at the intersection of the emergency department, office, and hospital and optimizing healthcare decisions made by parents and providers. I co-lead the research efforts in the Telehealth Program at Lurie Children’s and am involved in the Lurie Children’s Health Partners Clinically Integrated Network’s efforts to reduce emergency department visits.I completed a combined pediatric emergency medicine and pediatric health services research fellowship at the University of Michigan in 2009. I...

The focus of my research for over 30 years has been the "natural" history of pediatric seizures and epilepsy with a specific emphasis on seizure outcomes, developmental and cognitive consequences the impact on quality of life, impact on families, and the implications of all of these considerations for care and care-models. In 2007, I played a key role in focusing NINDS research priorities on the cognitive, developmental, and behavioral co-morbidities of epilepsy and organized sessions at the American Epilepsy Society meeting to investigate these areas and identify research opportunities for im...

Career goal: to continue to grow as a caring and empathic pediatrician for the community while furthering the education of medical trainees. I enjoy caring for children of all ages; from perinatal/newborn medicine through adolescence, in the inpatient and sick/outpatient setting.

Rachel Robison, MD completed her undergraduate training at Emory University in Atlanta, GA obtaining a BS in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology and received her medical degree at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. She moved to Chicago, IL in 2005 to complete her postgraduate residency training in Pediatrics and a subsequent fellowship in Allergy and Immunology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and the former Children's Memorial Hospital. She is currently a Pediatric Allergist/Immunologist at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and an Assistan...

Our lab is interested in the effects of oxygen on cell metabolism, and in the molecular mechanisms underlying cellular oxygen sensing. The signaling pathways activated by hypoxia, and their regulation of transcriptional and post-translational responses in diverse cell types are also of major interest. Current studies focus on the role of mitochondrial redox signaling in the development of pulmonary hypertension. Other current studies focus on cardiomyocyte regeneration in the heart and molecular factors that regulate hypertrophic and hyperplastic remodeling responses.

My academic focus is on understanding parental and providers' variability in addressing complex care decisions during prenatal and neonatal course. I am also focused on various aspects of perinatal palliative care delivery, and optimizing care pathways for families expecting infants with complex and/or life-limiting conditions. Finally, I am interested in studying and improving symptom management in infants with complex conditions in the Neonatal ICU.

After completing the fellowship, Monica Bianco, MD joined the Department of Endocrinology at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, in addition to her role as Assistant Professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. She was awarded a research training grant during fellowship to study the effects of the fetal environment on offspring health. During this time she developed expertise on the effects of hyperglycemia during pregnancy on the offspring. Moving forward, she has been awarded an NIH administrative supplement to continue her research focused on identifying early materna...

Jin-Shei Lai, Ph.D., OTR/L., is a registered occupational therapist and a trained psychometrician. She has been a member of the Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Children’s Oncology Group (COG), Proton Collaborative Group and the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium (PBTC). Dr. Lai has significant research experiences in outcome measurement, quality of life, symptom management and late effect due to the illness and/or its treatment in chronic illness for both pediatric and adult populations. She is the lead developer of the pediatric Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness scales, including ...