Duha Al-Zubeidi, MD, MSCI is appointed as Assistant Professor on the Clinician Educator Track in the division of Hospital Medicine. She earned her MD at the University of Jordan School of Medicine, Amman, Jordan and served one year as an intern at the Jordan Hospital. She completed her internship at Texas Tech University in Amarillo, TX and her residency at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA. In 2010 she came to Washington University School of Medicine and St. Louis Children’s Hospital, for Fellowship in Pediatric Infectious Diseases. She earned her MSCI at Washington University School of Medicine. She is the Director of the Antibiotic Stewardship Program and Infection Control and Prevention at Ranken Jordan Bridge Hospital, St. Louis, MO.
Her research activities include project leadership in Recurrent outbreaks of Serratia marcescens among patients at a pediatric complex care facility; Infection Control at a Pediatric Complex care facility- Back to Basics Campaign; and A comparison of two tools for Hand-Hygiene Compliance at a Pediatric Complex Care Facility
Abby Green, MD is appointed to Assistant Professor on the Investigator Track in the Division of Infectious Diseases. She earned a BA in Child Development at Tufts University, Boston, MA and her MD at New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY. She served her residency and her fellowship in Pediatric Infectious Diseases/Pediatric Hematology-Oncology at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
As researcher she is currently PI on a NIH/NCI K08: Molecular interactions of APOBEC3 enzymes with the cancer genome.
Aecha Ybarra, MD is appointed as Assistant Professor on the Clinician Educator Track in the Division of Cardiology and Cardiac Transplant Program. She earned her BS in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida and her MS in Biomedical Sciences at Barry University, Miami, Florida. Her MD was earned at St. George’s University School of Medicine, St. George’s, Grenada followed by residency at Goryeb Children’s Hospital, Morristown, NJ. Her Cardiology Fellowship was at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, Miami, FL. She came to Washington University in 2018 for a fellowship in Pediatric Heart Failure/Transplant Fellowship and joined the faculty in 2018.
Promotions to Assistant Professor
Sima Bhatt, MD is promoted to Assistant Professor on the Clinician Educator Track in the Division of Hematology/Oncology. She earned a BS in Molecular and Cellular Biology and Psychology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, her MD at Rush University, Chicago, Illinois. She served her residency at University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois and her Fellowship at Washington University. She earned a MSCI at Washington University.
Nationally Dr. Bhatt is involved with the Children’s Oncology Group Cellular Therapy Committee, a subcommittee of the world’s largest organization devoted exclusively to childhood and adolescent cancer research and the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium Oncology Strategy Group
Colleen Brennan, M.D. is promoted to Assistant Professor on the Clinician Educator Track in the Division of Newborn Medicine. Dr. Brennan earned her BA, University of Missouri-Kansas City and her MD at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Medical School. Her residency and fellowship in Neonatal and Perinatal Medicine Fellowship, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. “She is the Assistant Director of Neonatal Outreach and is passionate about normal nursery and NICU guideline development.”
Her research included Echocardiographic Markers of Pulmonary Vascular Disease and Cardiac Dysfunction in Preterm Infants with Late Pulmonary Hypertension. She is published as first author on Thoracoabdominal Asynchrony Is Not Associated with Oxyhemoglobin Saturation in Recovering Premature Infants Neonatology.
Nathalie El Ters, MD is promoted to Assistant Professor on the Clinician Educator Track in the Division of Newborn Medicine. Dr. El Ters earned her BS and MD at the American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon. She served her residency at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio and came to Washington University School of Medicine for her fellowship. She joined the faculty in 2017.
Her interest includes Neurocritical Care of the newborn and is involed in a Special Interest Group to provide a forum for dialogue regarding neurocritical care clinical care pathways, opportunities for networking and providing educational opportunities for neonatologists/neurologists who are interested in providing neuroprotective care in the NICU.
Since joining as faculty she has been first author on four publications and participated in research addressing Attempts at UVC insertion: A prospective observational study.
Christopher Lewis, MD is promoted to Assistant Professor on the Clinician Educator Track in the Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes. Dr. Lewis earned a BS at Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas and his MD at the University of Texas Medical Branch School of Medicine, Galveston, TX. He served his pediatric residency at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY and St. Louis Children’s Hospital. His Pediatric Endocrinology Fellowship was completed at Washington University. Dr. Lewis is Co-Director of Pediatric Transgender Health, Medical Director of Differences of Sexual Development Clinic at Washington University and Director/Pediatric Endocrinologist at Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
He has earned numerous awards and honors in regard to human rights, awards from community and Washington University for leadership in supporting the LGBTQIA+ community, and received the Children’s Direct Triple Crown Award in Superior Patient Care, Washington University. In 2019 he was recognized by FOCUS St. Louis-What’s Right with the Region Award.
He is Co-Founder of OUTmed, a forum for LGBTQIA+ identified faculty, staff, trainees and allies at Washington University. He is involved in research on a Transgender Center Database Creation to promote and support transgender health related research opportunities.
Jay Malone, MD, PhD, is promoted to Assistant Professor on the ???????track in the Division of Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Malone received his BS from the University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, his MD from the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He served his Residency/Chief Residency at the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City and his fellowship/chief fellowship at Washington University. He earned a MS in Health Care Ethics, Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska and his PhD in Health Care Ethics from Saint Louis University, Saint Louis, MO.
Dr. Malone is the Section Leader for Ethics and Health Policy at Washington University School of Medicine, Medical Director of Ethics, St. Louis Children’s Hospital and Chairman, St. Louis Children’s Hospital Ethics Committee
His recent publication includes Hope, optimism, and compassionate communication in the JAMA Pediatr. 2018.
Arushi Manga, MD is promoted to Assistant Professor on the Clinician Educator Track in the Division of Critical Care Medicine. She earned a BA from Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, PA and her MD from McGill University Faculty of Medicine, Montreal, QC. She served her residency at Baylor College of Medicine/ Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston, TX and her fellowship in critical care at Boston Children’s Hospital/ Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. She joined the faculty at Washington University in 2017. She is Director of the St. Louis Children’s Hospital Rapid Response Team and Assistant Medical Director of the Saigh Pediatric Simulation Center, St. Louis Children’s hospital. In 2017 she received the Triple Crown Award from St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
Her research activities includeerH Validating a psychometric tool assessing cognitive load types in high fidelity medical simulation.
Elena Minakova, MD is promoted to Assistant Professor on the Clinician Track in the Division of Newborn Medicine. Dr. Minakova earned her BS/MS at the University of California San Diego and her MD from the University of California Davis School of Medicine. She served her residency at the University of California San Francisco Children’s Hospital Oakland, Oakland and her fellowship at the University of California Los Angeles. She joined the faculty at Washington University in 2017.
Since her arrival at WU she has been first author on 3 publications: Congenital Hyperinsulinism in Pediatr Ann. 2017; Maternal immune activation, central nervous system development and behavioral phenotypes in Birth Defects Res. 2018.; and II reverses autistic features in a maternal immune activation mouse model of autism PLOS1. 2019
Shawn Reathaford, MD is promoted to Assistant Professor on the Clinician Educator Track in the Division of Hospitalist Medicine. Dr. Reathaford earned his BS from the University of Evansville, Evansville, Indiana, his MD from the University of Illinois College of Medicine- Peoria, Peoria, Illinois and served his Residency at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine- Chattanooga Unit, Chattanooga, TN. As a hospitalist he serves as a Medical Staff member at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Missouri Baptist Medical Center, Progress West Hospital, Memorial Hospital East, and Memorial Hospital Belleville
Ashley Steed, MD, PhD is promoted to Assistant Professor on the Investigator Track in the Division of Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Steed earned her BS at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. Thereafter she matriculated in the NIH-sponsored Medical Scientist Training Program at Washington University for medical and graduate school. Her graduate work in immunology focused on understanding host responses to infections, and specifically, elucidated the role of interferon gamma in suppression of viral reactivation from latency. Then she completed clinical training with a residency and chief-residency in Pediatrics and subspecialty training in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine. She joined the faculty here in 2016.
Dr. Steed’s research investigates the role of the microbiota in the establishment and maintenance of antiviral immunity. She was a fellow in the Pediatric Scientist Development Program and one of the first trainees in the Oliver Langenberg Physician-Scientist Training Program at Washington University. Her work demonstrated that specific bacteria and associated metabolites enhance innate immunity and afford protection in animal models of influenza infection. Currently, she aims to define the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which microbial dysbiosis impacts antiviral immunity. She is funded by the Department of Pediatrics, the Children’s Discovery Institute, NIH-NIAID, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, and the McDonnell Genome Institute.
Promotions to Associate Professor
Fahd A. Ahmad, MD, MSCI is promoted to Associate Professor in the Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine. Dr. Ahmad attended the University of Missouri-Columbia for his Bachelors of Science in Business Administration and MD degrees. He completed his pediatrics residency at Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. He came to Washington University for a fellowship in Pediatric Emergency Medicine, also earning an MSCI degree and completing a post-doctor training program and T32 training grant during his fellowship. He stayed at WashU as faculty and obtained board certification in clinical informatics, and is one of fewer than 10 physicians in the country with certifications in pediatrics, pediatric emergency medicine, and clinical informatics.
He has maintained an active clinical research program with a focus on clinical informatics and implementation science and their application to improving adolescent health, however he has a broad array of clinical interests. He has worked across a number of important health topics, including neonatal HSV, bronchiolitis, children who sustain blunt trauma, children with complex medical diseases, and other entities and patient populations. He has received institutional and foundation funding, participated in numerous local and multi-center studies, and is PI on a recently awarded R18 grant from AHRQ to implement an electronic health screening program for adolescents in pediatric primary care practices in the St. Louis region.
Dr. Ahmad’s background in business and interest in managing his own personal finances led him to creating a new personal finance/business of medicine lecture series for the residents in pediatrics and internal medicine at WashU, and he has led or co-led studies multiple related to personal finance education for trainees. Away from work he spends most of his time with his 3 boys, a constant reminder that his pediatrics training has taught him nothing about parenthood.
Ferdinand Coste, DO, is promoted to Associate Professor on the Clinician Educator Track in the Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Pulmonary Medicine. Dr. Coste received his BS from Cornell University and his DO at the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine. He completed a pediatric residency at Winthrop University Hospital in New York. He came to St. Louis as a fellow in the division of Allergy, Immunology and Pulmonary Medicine at Washington University then joined the faculty in 2010 and is currently the Director of the Pediatric Pulmonary Fellowship program.
As a physician leader for the 7100 Pulmonary Ward Unit-based Joint Practice Team he has implemented large-scale quality improvement projects including initiation and refinement of a multidisciplinary, family-centered rounding procedure and institution of a discharge-readiness review procedure. His current efforts involve standardization of medical readiness for discharge criteria for patients with asthma and bronchiolitis in an effort to allow tracking of delays in the discharge process. He participates in training programs and initiatives for the Children’s Transformation System, designed to provide a framework for change in the care and business processes employed by Saint Louis Children’s Hospital.
Dr. Coste is involved with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s team of multidisciplinary care providers from across the United States, as well as parents and adult patients with cystic fibrosis to identify opportunities for improvement in the quality of life for patients with cystic fibrosis. As one of the first nine certified trainers in the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Partnership Enhancement Program, he will travel to Cystic Fibrosis Centers across the country to provide communication strategies for clinical encounters, designed to empower patients and strengthen the relationship between patient and care provider with a goal of improving adherence to self-care regimens.
Alysa Ellis, MD, is promoted to Associate Professor on the Clinician Educator Track in the Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Pulmonary Medicine (AIPM). After earning a BS and MD at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, Dr. Ellis moved to St. Louis where she served her internship and residency in pediatrics at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and her fellowship at Washington University in the Division of AIPM and became faculty in 2010.
Dr. Ellis has an interest in community asthma education. She is the Medical Director for the Healthy Kids Express Asthma Van Program at St. Louis Children’s Hospital for which she received the 2018 American Hospital Association’s NOVA Award.
Her scholarly efforts on Effect of a school-based asthma clinic on asthma outcomes was published in Allergy Asthma Proc. 2019 and Asthma control and obesity in urban African American children was published in J Asthma. 2016. She is also a Co-investigator in the AsthmaNet Network.
Amanda Emke, MD is promoted to Associate Professor of Pediatrics on the Clinician Educator Track in the Division of Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Emke earned her bachelor’s degree from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, and her MD from the University of Missouri before coming to Washington University for her internship and residency in pediatrics. She earned an Master of Health Professions Education from the University of Illinois – Chicago. In 2005, Dr. Emke joined the faculty in the Division of Hospitalist Medicine, later undertook a fellowship in Critical Care, then joined the faculty of that division in 2013. She is the Associate Fellowship Director for Pediatric Critical Care Medicine. Most recently, Dr. Emke was named the Director of Assessment for Medical Student Education.
Her strong education skills have earned her numerous teaching and leadership awards. Nationally, she serves as a consultant for a Team-Based Learning Collaborative Trainer Program, providing consultation and peer mentoring to other faculty in a variety of undergraduate and graduate disciplines both in and out of the healthcare fields. Dr. Emke developed a pre-clerkship professional behaviors assessment tool to identify students with at-risk professional behaviors to allow for early intervention. She also developed a workplace-based assessment of pediatric critical care fellows using entrustable professional activities to accurately identify influences of clinical performance and provide appropriate benchmarking and tracking of clinical performance.
In her scholarly work, she served as PI on research projects: Combining Peer- and Self-Assessments to Assess Team-Based Learning in Pre-Clinical Medical Courses: An Early Detection Method for Professionalism Concerns and Development of Longitudinal Assessments of Professional Behaviors in Pre-Clinical Medical Students. Her current scholarly work is as the senior mentor for 3 educational projects in the areas of curriculum development, assessment tool validity evidence, and instructional design.
Kara Hennelly, MD, is promoted to Associate Professor of Pediatrics on the Clinician Track in the Division of Emergency Medicine. Dr. Hennelly earned her BA and MD at the University of Missouri Kansas City before coming to St. Louis Children’s Hospital for her internship and residency in pediatrics. She then traveled to Boston for a fellowship in Pediatric Emergency Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital and stayed on as the the Associate Fellowship Director. She returned to Washington University in 2014 as an Assistant professor.
Recently her publications include Pediatric Cervical Spine Injury Evaluation After Blunt Trauma: A Clinical Decision Analysis in the Ann Emerg Med; Outcomes of Pediatric Patients With Persistent Midline Cervical Spine Tenderness and Negative Imaging Result After Trauma in the J Trauma Acute Care Surg; and Detection of Pulmonary Embolism in High-Risk Children in the J Pediatr.
Dr. Hennelly’s education efforts include serving on the PEM Resident Education Committee, the Clinical Competency Committee for the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship and being a co-developer and speaker for the Faculty Development Education Skills Program. Dr. Hennelly earned the Pediatric Clinical Educator Award, on behalf of the Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, Emergency Medicine Residents.
Steve Ming-She Liao, MD, MSCI is promoted to Associate Professor of Pediatrics on the Clinician Educator Track in the Division of Newborn Medicine. After earning his BS in Biology at the University of California, Los Angeles, Dr. Liao moved to St. Louis University School of Medicine where he earned his MD degree and where he served his internship and residency in Pediatrics. In 2009 he came to Washington University where he completed a Masters in Clinical Investigation while serving his Fellowship in Neonatal and Perinatal Medicine. At Missouri Baptist Medical Center he is the Chief of Pediatrics and Medical Director of NICU.
His efforts to improve clinical care include Clinical use of NIRS in the NICU (SLCH), coordinating system-wide efforts to standardize care of mothers and infants affected by opioid use disorder, as well as actively involvement in the establishment of a perinatal quality collaborative in the state of Missouri. During his time at Washington University, he has authored 22 publications.
John Lin, MD is promoted to Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Critical Care on the Clinician Educator Track. Dr. Lin earned his BS degree in Biochemistry and English and his MD at the University of Virginia. Following a pediatric residency at Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio, TX with the United States Air Force, he spent one year as a general pediatrician at Osan Air Base, South Korea. He then went to the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh for his pediatric critical care fellowship training before returning to San Antonio to complete his remaining military service obligation, where he became the Chief of Pediatric Critical Care Services for the San Antonio Military Medical Consortium. In 2011 he came to Washington University as Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Critical Care Medicine. He is the Medical Director of Respiratory Care at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and Program Director of the Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Fellowship.
Nationally, he served as Co-chair for the PICU Liberation Improvement Collaborative and the ICU Liberation Committee of the Society of Critical Care Medicine.
His clinical areas of interest lie in evaluating interventions requiring interprofessional team collaboration that impact the course of critically ill patients. These efforts have led to the development and implementation of respiratory therapist driven care paths, a comprehensive transfusion and anti-coagulation approach for patients on ECMO, and a national multicenter initiative to promote early mobilization in critically ill children by maximizing multi-professional collaboration and family engagement.
He has completed research on Comparing the Efficacy and Safety of High-Titer vs. Low-Titer Anti-Influenza Immune Plasma for the Treatment of Severe Influenza A; Decreasing Exposure in Infants with Suspected Ventilator-Associated Infection; Adapting the Program Sustainability Assessment Tool for Clinical Settings, and he served as PI on Wake up and Mobilize: Implementation, Evaluation, and Process (Wake ME uP).
Purvi Patel, MD is promoted to Associate Professor of Pediatrics on the Clinician Educator Track in the Division of Hospitalist Medicine. Dr. Patel earned her undergraduate degree at Rice University and her MD at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX. She served her internship and residency at St. Louis Children’s Hospital then joined the faculty of the Department of Pediatrics in 2003.
Dr. Patel’s QI efforts for the department have included improvements inpatient placement, improvement in the quality of family-centered rounds and universal Neurosurgery co-coverage guidelines for 12th-floor SLCH. Administratively she serves as the physician leader for the Unit Based Joint Practice Team, 12th floor, SLCH. Her clinical contribution includes General Pediatrics inpatient service and Pediatric Hospitalist Sedation Service for the Ambulatory Procedure Center and the Pediatric Acute Wound Service (PAWS), SLCH.
