The work of the PPC-RAG can only be successful by reaching outside of the Division of Primary Care, by engaging other clinical divisions at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, the Abigail Wexner Research Institute (particularly the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice and Research Information Solutions and Innovation), and relevant individuals across The Ohio State University.
Faculty Leader
Alex R. Kemper, MD, MPH, MS Professor and Division Chief, Primary Care Pediatrics
Program Manager
Katie DiCostanzo Program Manager, Primary Care Pediatrics
Members
Division of Primary Care Pediatrics
Sara Bode, MD: Dr. Bode is a primary care pediatrician and the medical director of Care Connection School-Based Health and Mobile Clinics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Her clinical work and research centers around the intersection of health and education and providing care for the underserved. Sarah Denny, MD: Dr. Denny is an emergency room pediatrician interested in injury prevention and advocacy. Injury prevention plays a guiding role in her research, patient advocacy and practice of medicine. She also works with state and federal legislators to support patients and make sure life-saving health information reaches a wider audience, to help families become better advocates for their own children. Ihuoma Eneli, MD, MS: Dr. Eneli is director of the Center for Healthy Weight and Nutrition, a comprehensive pediatric obesity center with activities that include advocacy, prevention, medical weight management and adolescent bariatric surgery. She also directs the Primary Care Obesity Network, which provides obesity-related training, resources and community integration for 21 primary care practices in Central Ohio. She is actively engaged in research and has particular interest in intervention research for pediatric obesity. Amber Essman, DNP: Dr. Essman has contributed and reviewed many manuscripts for undergraduate nursing publishers. Research interests are prevention and anticipatory guidance for pediatric obesity, breastfeeding, pediatric asthma control, barriers to evidence-based practice adherence, and injury prevention with anticipatory guidance. Judy Groner, MD: Dr. Groner is an academic general pediatrician and program director of the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Academic General Pediatrics Fellowship. The goal of her research is to improve the health of children and adults through research on the effects of secondhand smoke and vaping in the pediatric population. Dr. Groner also has a clinical and research interest in pediatric obesity. Laura Hart, MD, MPH: Dr. Hart is a dual-trained internal medicine and pediatrics physician who came to Nationwide Children’s Hospital after completing a primary care research fellowship and MPH degree. Her research is focused on the transition from pediatric to adult-oriented care, particularly in the primary care setting. Rohan Henry, MD: Dr. Henry is an endocrinologist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital whose clinical interests include adrenal and thyroid disorders. His teaching activities include education on growth and thyroid disorders to the medical student clerkship group and also disorders of the adrenal gland to the pediatric residents. Amrik Khalsa, MD, MPH: Dr. Khalsa is principal investigator in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice and a dual-trained Internal Medicine and Pediatrics physician at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. His research interests lie in obesity prevention, with a particular focus in early childhood (birth-age 5 years) and families from disadvantaged backgrounds. Some of his current work continues to examine the role of parenting and parental influences on their child’s risk of obesity, including early food introduction. Dane Snyder, MD: Dr. Snyder is the Section Chief of the Division of Primary Care Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s, and his clinical interests include asthma, quality improvement, and teaching medical students and residents. In addition to his administrative duties, he provides direct patient care and precepts pediatric residents in their primary care continuity clinic. Olivia Thomas, MD: Dr. Thomas is the Chief Diversity and Health Equity Officer at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the former Section Chief of Ambulatory Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s. She also served as the principal investigator of the Child and Family Health Services Grant, a title V program funded through the Ohio Department of Health. Her work is focused on staff diversification within areas where women, men and minorities are most underrepresented compared to the patient population and community.
Other Clinical Divisions at Nationwide Children’s Hospital
David Axelson, MD: Dr. Axelson’s research concentrated on the phenomenology and treatment of bipolar disorder, depression and irritable mood in children and adolescents. Since moving to Columbus, OH, he has shifted his professional focus to the development of a comprehensive pediatric mental health system that can provide high-quality care to a large population of youth, train the next generation of providers, and be leveraged to perform clinically relevant research. Ehsan Azadani, DDS: Dr. Azadani’s research concentrated on use of general anesthesia in pediatric dentistry, treatment strategies, cost and optimization. Since joining the department of pediatric dentistry in 2018, he has shifted his research to traumatic dental injuries in children and adolescents including epidemiological aspects, treatment outcomes and cost. Kristen Benninger, MD: Dr. Benninger is a neonatologist and principal investigator in the Center for Perinatal Research, with experience in the neurodevelopmental follow-up of NICU infants, the use of evidence-based standardized neurodevelopmental assessments, and in leading prospective research studies. Her research interests include neuroimaging and long-term neurodevelopment of infants with prenatal opioid exposure, as well as studies of new neuroprotective therapies in infants with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). Andrea Bonny, MD: Dr. Bonny is the section chief of Adolescent Medicine at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and a principal investigator in the Center for Clinical and Translational Research, as well as the director of research for the Division of Adolescent Medicine at Nationwide Children’s. Her research focuses on reproductive health care for adolescents and adolescent substance abuse. Eric Butter, PhD: Dr. Butter is the chief of the Section of Psychology at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the director of the Children’s Development Center. His research has focused on the biomedical correlates and potential etiologies of autism spectrum disorders and ADHD, as well as psychological and medical treatment of these disorders. He is currently the PI for several medical network grants and federally-funded research studies focusing on pediatrics. Eileen Chaves, PhD: Dr. Chaves is a pediatric psychologist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Her research includes recent collaborations with the Teen-LABS Consortium (Teen-Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery), examining change, predictors and correlates of weight- and health-related quality of life in adolescents following bariatric surgery. Laura Chavez, PhD, MPH: Dr. Chavez is a senior research scientist in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and was formerly a postdoctoral researcher and fellow through the Division of Health Services Management and Policy at The Ohio State University’s College of Public Health and the Patient-Centered Pediatric Research Program (PC-PReP) at Nationwide Children’s, respectively. Her research focuses on substance abuse, particularly in adolescents, as well as medication treatment and health care use among adolescents with opioid use disorder. Gil Liu, MD: Dr. Liu is the medical director of Partners for Kids, an accountable care organization that is a collaboration between Nationwide Children’s Hospital and more than 2,100 providers and is fully financially responsible for the health care of 325,000 children and adolescents covered by Medicaid in south central and southeastern Ohio. Partners for Kids’ efforts to improve individual and population health focus on six main areas: quality improvement coaching, care navigation, pharmacy, patient outreach, behavioral health, and community and school-based programs. Beau Meyer, DDS, MPH: Dr. Meyer is a pediatric oral health services researcher whose concentration is at the intersection of disease and behavior management for early childhood caries, with special interest in the use of hospital-based care for dental treatment. In addition to traditional methodologies, he is interested in collaborations to apply spatial data techniques and artificial intelligence or machine learning to more deeply understand dental disease and care-seeking patterns in order to improve care delivery and outcomes. Amy Jo Newmeyer, MD: Dr. Newmeyer is the interim chief of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. She has over 25 years of experience in the field of medicine and is board certified in neurodevelopmental disabilities and pediatrics, with an interest in research on neurodevelopmental disorders. Octavio Ramilo, MD: Dr. Ramilo is the chief of Infectious Diseases at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. He has been involved in translational and clinical research related to the role of the host immune response in pathogenesis of infectious diseases for over 20 years. His current research is focused on pathogenesis and treatment of respiratory infections, especially RSV, and the application of genomics technologies for improving diagnosis and understanding of host responses to infectious agents. Janice Townsend, DDS: Dr. Townsend is the chief of Pediatric Dentistry at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. She has been published on a number of research topics including dental education, pain management after dental procedures, and dentistry for children with special needs. Andrew Tran, MD: Dr. Tran has strengths and training in vascular assessment, research, and preventive cardiology. His focus is to increase patient access to care, improve early health screening and risk stratification, and promote timely management for children with cardiovascular (CV) risk factors such as obesity, lipid disorders, and hypertension. Joshua Watson, MD: Dr. Watson is a pediatric infectious diseases physician. His primary research efforts have focused on clinical/translational and quality improvement studies of pediatric urinary tract infections and antimicrobial stewardship.
Abigail Wexner Research Institute
Jeff Bridge, PhD: Dr. Bridge is an epidemiologist and principal investigator in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice. His research focuses on the epidemiology of suicidal behavior in young people, neurocognitive vulnerability to suicidal behavior, and on improving the quality of care for suicidal youth and adolescents who have attempted suicide. Deena Chisolm, PhD: Dr. Chisolm is the Director of the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice in the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Her research focuses on improving the health and healthcare of minority and at-risk adolescents through community development interventions and health policy innovations with an emphasis on children with special health care needs and behavioral health issues. She has explored questions in these areas using a combination of epidemiologic, health services, and qualitative research methods. Jennifer Cooper, PhD: Dr. Cooper is a principal investigator in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice and an epidemiologist and biostatistician with a focus on health services and comparative effectiveness research in pediatric health care, particularly pediatric surgery. Dr. Cooper’s research involves the use of large clinical and administrative databases, and the use and development of novel methods in statistics and data science. Sarah Keim, PhD: Sarah Keim, PhD, is a pediatric and perinatal epidemiologist primarily interested in the role of early life nutritional influences on child development, behavior and growth. A main interest of hers is breastfeeding – the benefits of breastfeeding as well as challenges women and children face with successful feeding. She is also involved in research on childhood obesity, special populations including children born preterm and children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and the effects of prenatal exposures on child outcomes (e.g., marijuana exposure, maternal diet). She conducts both observational studies and clinical trials. Kelly Kelleher, MD: Dr. Kelleher is a pediatrician whose research interests focus on accessibility, effectiveness, and quality of health care services for children and their families, especially those affected by mental disorders, substance abuse, or violence. He has a longstanding interest in formal outcomes research for mental health and substance abuse services. Simon Lin, MD, MBA: Dr. Lin is the Chief Research Information Officer at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and leads a team of more than 30 IT professionals, consisting of user experience designers, game designers, software developers, infrastructure analysts, data security analysts, database analysts, project scientists, and data scientists to collaborate with physicians and researchers on designing, evaluating, and delivering healthcare innovation. Jack Stevens, PhD: Dr. Stevens’ area of expertise is behavioral economics – an interdisciplinary field featuring insights from psychology, economics, and marketing – to enhance decision-making of clinicians and patients in order to promote their long-term best interests. He collaborates with internal and external partners on research and quality improvement projects designed to improve pediatric health, and has spoken nationally and internationally on behavioral economics. Jinyu Xu, PhD: Dr. Xu’s training is in Nutritional Sciences and Epidemiology, and her research interest is in childhood obesity. Specifically, she is interested in understanding the impacts of early life exposures to environment, like diet/nutrition and social stress, on the development of childhood obesity. She is also involved in studying multi-sector interventions to prevent childhood obesity.
The Ohio State University
Sarah Anderson, PhD: Dr. Anderson’s research focuses on understanding psychosocial influences on children’s growth and development, with a particular focus on childhood obesity prevention. Her research has contributed to the understanding of obesity in preschool-aged children through analyses of large cohort studies, including the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B); the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD); and the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Study (FACES). Eugene Arnold, MD: Dr. Arnold’s research focuses on new drug development and alternative and complementary treatments for autism and ADHD. His research includes aromatic essential oil therapy for autism spectrum disorder, omega-3 fatty acids for mood disorders, neurofeedback for ADHD, nutrition and mental health, and clinical trials. Seuli Brill, MD: As research director for the Division of General Internal Medicine at OSU, Dr. Brill leads her own research program and guides other providers in the Division with their research. Dr. Brill’s research is based on provider/patient communication – how doctors talk to patients about medical problems and how they want to be cared for, both in minor ailments and terminal illness. Dr. Brill is passionate about her research and how the language we use impacts real world clinical problems. Christopher Hanks, MD: Dr. Hanks is the medical director of the Center for Autism Services and Transition at OSU and works primarily with patients diagnosed with chronic childhood illness, with a specific focus on autism. Dr. Hanks is involved in programs designed to develop new approaches of treatment for autism and focuses on improving access to care by understanding potential barriers and helping patients navigate the healthcare system. Laura Justice, PhD: Dr. Justice is the executive director of the Schoenbaum Family Center and Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy at OSU. Dr. Justice’s research primarily focuses on young children who exhibit developmental vulnerabilities in language and literacy acquisition. Much of her research considers the effects of teacher- or parent-implemented interventions on children’s learning, including the effective use of storybooks. She is also interested in the state of classroom quality in early childhood and how various aspects of quality affect children’s gains within the classroom. Jill Hollway, PhD, MA: Dr. Hollway’s research focus is individuals with intellectual disabilities, and her past work involved the treatment of severe behavioral problems in children with autism spectrum disorder. More recently, she has been principal investigator or co-investigator on a number of clinical trials and intervention studies in children and adults with autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, and intellectual disabilities. Her research has included both pharma and investigator-driven studies. Bernadette Melnyk, PhD, RN: Dr. Melnyk is a nationally/internationally recognized leader in assisting healthcare organizations translate research-based intervention guidelines into real-world clinical settings in the form of evidence-based practice. As Vice President for Health Promotion and University Chief Wellness Officer at OSU, she has over 30 years of experience in conducting randomized controlled trials with at-risk children, adolescents, young adults, and parents. Keeley Pratt, PhD: Dr. Pratt’s research interests focus on three specific areas of child/adolescent obesity, family and weight-related behaviors: (1) intergenerational family-based factors (i.e. parenting and feeding styles, family functioning) that contribute to or are modifiable in the treatment of child/adolescent obesity; (2) analyzing intergenerational family and child/adolescent outcomes from integrated multidisciplinary care models in the treatment of child/adolescent obesity; and (3) assessing and expanding the field of CFT (and other mental health professions) to include clinician training on systemic weight-related behaviors in families, and training to work with clients and families who are struggling with overweight and obesity. Elisabeth Root, PhD: Dr. Root’s research is situated at the intersection of geography and public health. Using spatial statistical methods and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Dr. Root integrates socioeconomic and environmental context into studies of disease processes and health behaviors. The goals of her research are to: 1) better understand geographical patterns of human health across diverse settings, 2) examine how local and regional context drives these patterns of disease, and 3) model the effect of major health and development interventions across these diverse settings.
Community Collaborators
Mysheika Roberts, MD, MPH: As Health Commissioner for Columbus Public Health, Dr. Roberts is the chief executive officer for the Health Department, with a team of nearly 500 public health professionals and more than 40 programs. Dr. Roberts leads efforts to address critical issues in infant mortality, the opioid epidemic, tobacco use, gun violence and obesity and to impact neighborhood-based approaches that address the social determinants of health to decrease health disparities Carrie Baker: Carrie currently serves as President and CEO of the Healthcare Collaborative of Greater Columbus, an independent, non-profit organization committed to transforming healthcare to ensure that all people in the Columbus region have the best healthcare possible, with special focus on increasing health equity and engaging multiple stakeholders – all provider types, payers, purchasers, and consumers – in improvement and coordination activities.
The work of the PPC-RAG can only be successful by reaching outside of the Division of Primary Care, by engaging other clinical divisions at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, the Abigail Wexner Research Institute (particularly the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice and Research Information Solutions and Innovation), and relevant individuals across The Ohio State University.
Faculty Leader
Alex R. Kemper, MD, MPH, MS Professor and Division Chief, Primary Care Pediatrics
Program Manager
Katie DiCostanzo Program Manager, Primary Care Pediatrics
Members
Division of Primary Care Pediatrics
Sara Bode, MD: Dr. Bode is a primary care pediatrician and the medical director of Care Connection School-Based Health and Mobile Clinics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Her clinical work and research centers around the intersection of health and education and providing care for the underserved. Sarah Denny, MD: Dr. Denny is an emergency room pediatrician interested in injury prevention and advocacy. Injury prevention plays a guiding role in her research, patient advocacy and practice of medicine. She also works with state and federal legislators to support patients and make sure life-saving health information reaches a wider audience, to help families become better advocates for their own children. Ihuoma Eneli, MD, MS: Dr. Eneli is director of the Center for Healthy Weight and Nutrition, a comprehensive pediatric obesity center with activities that include advocacy, prevention, medical weight management and adolescent bariatric surgery. She also directs the Primary Care Obesity Network, which provides obesity-related training, resources and community integration for 21 primary care practices in Central Ohio. She is actively engaged in research and has particular interest in intervention research for pediatric obesity. Amber Essman, DNP: Dr. Essman has contributed and reviewed many manuscripts for undergraduate nursing publishers. Research interests are prevention and anticipatory guidance for pediatric obesity, breastfeeding, pediatric asthma control, barriers to evidence-based practice adherence, and injury prevention with anticipatory guidance. Judy Groner, MD: Dr. Groner is an academic general pediatrician and program director of the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Academic General Pediatrics Fellowship. The goal of her research is to improve the health of children and adults through research on the effects of secondhand smoke and vaping in the pediatric population. Dr. Groner also has a clinical and research interest in pediatric obesity. Laura Hart, MD, MPH: Dr. Hart is a dual-trained internal medicine and pediatrics physician who came to Nationwide Children’s Hospital after completing a primary care research fellowship and MPH degree. Her research is focused on the transition from pediatric to adult-oriented care, particularly in the primary care setting. Rohan Henry, MD: Dr. Henry is an endocrinologist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital whose clinical interests include adrenal and thyroid disorders. His teaching activities include education on growth and thyroid disorders to the medical student clerkship group and also disorders of the adrenal gland to the pediatric residents. Amrik Khalsa, MD, MPH: Dr. Khalsa is principal investigator in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice and a dual-trained Internal Medicine and Pediatrics physician at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. His research interests lie in obesity prevention, with a particular focus in early childhood (birth-age 5 years) and families from disadvantaged backgrounds. Some of his current work continues to examine the role of parenting and parental influences on their child’s risk of obesity, including early food introduction. Dane Snyder, MD: Dr. Snyder is the Section Chief of the Division of Primary Care Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s, and his clinical interests include asthma, quality improvement, and teaching medical students and residents. In addition to his administrative duties, he provides direct patient care and precepts pediatric residents in their primary care continuity clinic. Olivia Thomas, MD: Dr. Thomas is the Chief Diversity and Health Equity Officer at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the former Section Chief of Ambulatory Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s. She also served as the principal investigator of the Child and Family Health Services Grant, a title V program funded through the Ohio Department of Health. Her work is focused on staff diversification within areas where women, men and minorities are most underrepresented compared to the patient population and community.
Other Clinical Divisions at Nationwide Children’s Hospital
David Axelson, MD: Dr. Axelson’s research concentrated on the phenomenology and treatment of bipolar disorder, depression and irritable mood in children and adolescents. Since moving to Columbus, OH, he has shifted his professional focus to the development of a comprehensive pediatric mental health system that can provide high-quality care to a large population of youth, train the next generation of providers, and be leveraged to perform clinically relevant research. Ehsan Azadani, DDS: Dr. Azadani’s research concentrated on use of general anesthesia in pediatric dentistry, treatment strategies, cost and optimization. Since joining the department of pediatric dentistry in 2018, he has shifted his research to traumatic dental injuries in children and adolescents including epidemiological aspects, treatment outcomes and cost. Kristen Benninger, MD: Dr. Benninger is a neonatologist and principal investigator in the Center for Perinatal Research, with experience in the neurodevelopmental follow-up of NICU infants, the use of evidence-based standardized neurodevelopmental assessments, and in leading prospective research studies. Her research interests include neuroimaging and long-term neurodevelopment of infants with prenatal opioid exposure, as well as studies of new neuroprotective therapies in infants with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). Andrea Bonny, MD: Dr. Bonny is the section chief of Adolescent Medicine at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and a principal investigator in the Center for Clinical and Translational Research, as well as the director of research for the Division of Adolescent Medicine at Nationwide Children’s. Her research focuses on reproductive health care for adolescents and adolescent substance abuse. Eric Butter, PhD: Dr. Butter is the chief of the Section of Psychology at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the director of the Children’s Development Center. His research has focused on the biomedical correlates and potential etiologies of autism spectrum disorders and ADHD, as well as psychological and medical treatment of these disorders. He is currently the PI for several medical network grants and federally-funded research studies focusing on pediatrics. Eileen Chaves, PhD: Dr. Chaves is a pediatric psychologist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Her research includes recent collaborations with the Teen-LABS Consortium (Teen-Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery), examining change, predictors and correlates of weight- and health-related quality of life in adolescents following bariatric surgery. Laura Chavez, PhD, MPH: Dr. Chavez is a senior research scientist in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and was formerly a postdoctoral researcher and fellow through the Division of Health Services Management and Policy at The Ohio State University’s College of Public Health and the Patient-Centered Pediatric Research Program (PC-PReP) at Nationwide Children’s, respectively. Her research focuses on substance abuse, particularly in adolescents, as well as medication treatment and health care use among adolescents with opioid use disorder. Gil Liu, MD: Dr. Liu is the medical director of Partners for Kids, an accountable care organization that is a collaboration between Nationwide Children’s Hospital and more than 2,100 providers and is fully financially responsible for the health care of 325,000 children and adolescents covered by Medicaid in south central and southeastern Ohio. Partners for Kids’ efforts to improve individual and population health focus on six main areas: quality improvement coaching, care navigation, pharmacy, patient outreach, behavioral health, and community and school-based programs. Beau Meyer, DDS, MPH: Dr. Meyer is a pediatric oral health services researcher whose concentration is at the intersection of disease and behavior management for early childhood caries, with special interest in the use of hospital-based care for dental treatment. In addition to traditional methodologies, he is interested in collaborations to apply spatial data techniques and artificial intelligence or machine learning to more deeply understand dental disease and care-seeking patterns in order to improve care delivery and outcomes. Amy Jo Newmeyer, MD: Dr. Newmeyer is the interim chief of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. She has over 25 years of experience in the field of medicine and is board certified in neurodevelopmental disabilities and pediatrics, with an interest in research on neurodevelopmental disorders. Octavio Ramilo, MD: Dr. Ramilo is the chief of Infectious Diseases at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. He has been involved in translational and clinical research related to the role of the host immune response in pathogenesis of infectious diseases for over 20 years. His current research is focused on pathogenesis and treatment of respiratory infections, especially RSV, and the application of genomics technologies for improving diagnosis and understanding of host responses to infectious agents. Janice Townsend, DDS: Dr. Townsend is the chief of Pediatric Dentistry at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. She has been published on a number of research topics including dental education, pain management after dental procedures, and dentistry for children with special needs. Andrew Tran, MD: Dr. Tran has strengths and training in vascular assessment, research, and preventive cardiology. His focus is to increase patient access to care, improve early health screening and risk stratification, and promote timely management for children with cardiovascular (CV) risk factors such as obesity, lipid disorders, and hypertension. Joshua Watson, MD: Dr. Watson is a pediatric infectious diseases physician. His primary research efforts have focused on clinical/translational and quality improvement studies of pediatric urinary tract infections and antimicrobial stewardship.
Abigail Wexner Research Institute
Jeff Bridge, PhD: Dr. Bridge is an epidemiologist and principal investigator in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice. His research focuses on the epidemiology of suicidal behavior in young people, neurocognitive vulnerability to suicidal behavior, and on improving the quality of care for suicidal youth and adolescents who have attempted suicide. Deena Chisolm, PhD: Dr. Chisolm is the Director of the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice in the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Her research focuses on improving the health and healthcare of minority and at-risk adolescents through community development interventions and health policy innovations with an emphasis on children with special health care needs and behavioral health issues. She has explored questions in these areas using a combination of epidemiologic, health services, and qualitative research methods. Jennifer Cooper, PhD: Dr. Cooper is a principal investigator in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice and an epidemiologist and biostatistician with a focus on health services and comparative effectiveness research in pediatric health care, particularly pediatric surgery. Dr. Cooper’s research involves the use of large clinical and administrative databases, and the use and development of novel methods in statistics and data science. Sarah Keim, PhD: Sarah Keim, PhD, is a pediatric and perinatal epidemiologist primarily interested in the role of early life nutritional influences on child development, behavior and growth. A main interest of hers is breastfeeding – the benefits of breastfeeding as well as challenges women and children face with successful feeding. She is also involved in research on childhood obesity, special populations including children born preterm and children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and the effects of prenatal exposures on child outcomes (e.g., marijuana exposure, maternal diet). She conducts both observational studies and clinical trials. Kelly Kelleher, MD: Dr. Kelleher is a pediatrician whose research interests focus on accessibility, effectiveness, and quality of health care services for children and their families, especially those affected by mental disorders, substance abuse, or violence. He has a longstanding interest in formal outcomes research for mental health and substance abuse services. Simon Lin, MD, MBA: Dr. Lin is the Chief Research Information Officer at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and leads a team of more than 30 IT professionals, consisting of user experience designers, game designers, software developers, infrastructure analysts, data security analysts, database analysts, project scientists, and data scientists to collaborate with physicians and researchers on designing, evaluating, and delivering healthcare innovation. Jack Stevens, PhD: Dr. Stevens’ area of expertise is behavioral economics – an interdisciplinary field featuring insights from psychology, economics, and marketing – to enhance decision-making of clinicians and patients in order to promote their long-term best interests. He collaborates with internal and external partners on research and quality improvement projects designed to improve pediatric health, and has spoken nationally and internationally on behavioral economics. Jinyu Xu, PhD: Dr. Xu’s training is in Nutritional Sciences and Epidemiology, and her research interest is in childhood obesity. Specifically, she is interested in understanding the impacts of early life exposures to environment, like diet/nutrition and social stress, on the development of childhood obesity. She is also involved in studying multi-sector interventions to prevent childhood obesity.
The Ohio State University
Sarah Anderson, PhD: Dr. Anderson’s research focuses on understanding psychosocial influences on children’s growth and development, with a particular focus on childhood obesity prevention. Her research has contributed to the understanding of obesity in preschool-aged children through analyses of large cohort studies, including the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B); the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD); and the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Study (FACES). Eugene Arnold, MD: Dr. Arnold’s research focuses on new drug development and alternative and complementary treatments for autism and ADHD. His research includes aromatic essential oil therapy for autism spectrum disorder, omega-3 fatty acids for mood disorders, neurofeedback for ADHD, nutrition and mental health, and clinical trials. Seuli Brill, MD: As research director for the Division of General Internal Medicine at OSU, Dr. Brill leads her own research program and guides other providers in the Division with their research. Dr. Brill’s research is based on provider/patient communication – how doctors talk to patients about medical problems and how they want to be cared for, both in minor ailments and terminal illness. Dr. Brill is passionate about her research and how the language we use impacts real world clinical problems. Christopher Hanks, MD: Dr. Hanks is the medical director of the Center for Autism Services and Transition at OSU and works primarily with patients diagnosed with chronic childhood illness, with a specific focus on autism. Dr. Hanks is involved in programs designed to develop new approaches of treatment for autism and focuses on improving access to care by understanding potential barriers and helping patients navigate the healthcare system. Laura Justice, PhD: Dr. Justice is the executive director of the Schoenbaum Family Center and Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy at OSU. Dr. Justice’s research primarily focuses on young children who exhibit developmental vulnerabilities in language and literacy acquisition. Much of her research considers the effects of teacher- or parent-implemented interventions on children’s learning, including the effective use of storybooks. She is also interested in the state of classroom quality in early childhood and how various aspects of quality affect children’s gains within the classroom. Jill Hollway, PhD, MA: Dr. Hollway’s research focus is individuals with intellectual disabilities, and her past work involved the treatment of severe behavioral problems in children with autism spectrum disorder. More recently, she has been principal investigator or co-investigator on a number of clinical trials and intervention studies in children and adults with autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, and intellectual disabilities. Her research has included both pharma and investigator-driven studies. Bernadette Melnyk, PhD, RN: Dr. Melnyk is a nationally/internationally recognized leader in assisting healthcare organizations translate research-based intervention guidelines into real-world clinical settings in the form of evidence-based practice. As Vice President for Health Promotion and University Chief Wellness Officer at OSU, she has over 30 years of experience in conducting randomized controlled trials with at-risk children, adolescents, young adults, and parents. Keeley Pratt, PhD: Dr. Pratt’s research interests focus on three specific areas of child/adolescent obesity, family and weight-related behaviors: (1) intergenerational family-based factors (i.e. parenting and feeding styles, family functioning) that contribute to or are modifiable in the treatment of child/adolescent obesity; (2) analyzing intergenerational family and child/adolescent outcomes from integrated multidisciplinary care models in the treatment of child/adolescent obesity; and (3) assessing and expanding the field of CFT (and other mental health professions) to include clinician training on systemic weight-related behaviors in families, and training to work with clients and families who are struggling with overweight and obesity. Elisabeth Root, PhD: Dr. Root’s research is situated at the intersection of geography and public health. Using spatial statistical methods and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Dr. Root integrates socioeconomic and environmental context into studies of disease processes and health behaviors. The goals of her research are to: 1) better understand geographical patterns of human health across diverse settings, 2) examine how local and regional context drives these patterns of disease, and 3) model the effect of major health and development interventions across these diverse settings.
Community Collaborators
Mysheika Roberts, MD, MPH: As Health Commissioner for Columbus Public Health, Dr. Roberts is the chief executive officer for the Health Department, with a team of nearly 500 public health professionals and more than 40 programs. Dr. Roberts leads efforts to address critical issues in infant mortality, the opioid epidemic, tobacco use, gun violence and obesity and to impact neighborhood-based approaches that address the social determinants of health to decrease health disparities Carrie Baker: Carrie currently serves as President and CEO of the Healthcare Collaborative of Greater Columbus, an independent, non-profit organization committed to transforming healthcare to ensure that all people in the Columbus region have the best healthcare possible, with special focus on increasing health equity and engaging multiple stakeholders – all provider types, payers, purchasers, and consumers – in improvement and coordination activities.
The work of the PPC-RAG can only be successful by reaching outside of the Division of Primary Care, by engaging other clinical divisions at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, the Abigail Wexner Research Institute (particularly the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice and Research Information Solutions and Innovation), and relevant individuals across The Ohio State University.
Faculty Leader
Alex R. Kemper, MD, MPH, MS Professor and Division Chief, Primary Care Pediatrics
Program Manager
Katie DiCostanzo Program Manager, Primary Care Pediatrics
Members
The work of the PPC-RAG can only be successful by reaching outside of the Division of Primary Care, by engaging other clinical divisions at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, the Abigail Wexner Research Institute (particularly the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice and Research Information Solutions and Innovation), and relevant individuals across The Ohio State University.
Faculty Leader
- Alex R. Kemper, MD, MPH, MS
- Professor and Division Chief, Primary Care Pediatrics
Program Manager
- Katie DiCostanzo
- Program Manager, Primary Care Pediatrics
Members
Division of Primary Care Pediatrics
Sara Bode, MD: Dr. Bode is a primary care pediatrician and the medical director of Care Connection School-Based Health and Mobile Clinics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Her clinical work and research centers around the intersection of health and education and providing care for the underserved. Sarah Denny, MD: Dr. Denny is an emergency room pediatrician interested in injury prevention and advocacy. Injury prevention plays a guiding role in her research, patient advocacy and practice of medicine. She also works with state and federal legislators to support patients and make sure life-saving health information reaches a wider audience, to help families become better advocates for their own children. Ihuoma Eneli, MD, MS: Dr. Eneli is director of the Center for Healthy Weight and Nutrition, a comprehensive pediatric obesity center with activities that include advocacy, prevention, medical weight management and adolescent bariatric surgery. She also directs the Primary Care Obesity Network, which provides obesity-related training, resources and community integration for 21 primary care practices in Central Ohio. She is actively engaged in research and has particular interest in intervention research for pediatric obesity. Amber Essman, DNP: Dr. Essman has contributed and reviewed many manuscripts for undergraduate nursing publishers. Research interests are prevention and anticipatory guidance for pediatric obesity, breastfeeding, pediatric asthma control, barriers to evidence-based practice adherence, and injury prevention with anticipatory guidance. Judy Groner, MD: Dr. Groner is an academic general pediatrician and program director of the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Academic General Pediatrics Fellowship. The goal of her research is to improve the health of children and adults through research on the effects of secondhand smoke and vaping in the pediatric population. Dr. Groner also has a clinical and research interest in pediatric obesity. Laura Hart, MD, MPH: Dr. Hart is a dual-trained internal medicine and pediatrics physician who came to Nationwide Children’s Hospital after completing a primary care research fellowship and MPH degree. Her research is focused on the transition from pediatric to adult-oriented care, particularly in the primary care setting. Rohan Henry, MD: Dr. Henry is an endocrinologist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital whose clinical interests include adrenal and thyroid disorders. His teaching activities include education on growth and thyroid disorders to the medical student clerkship group and also disorders of the adrenal gland to the pediatric residents. Amrik Khalsa, MD, MPH: Dr. Khalsa is principal investigator in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice and a dual-trained Internal Medicine and Pediatrics physician at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. His research interests lie in obesity prevention, with a particular focus in early childhood (birth-age 5 years) and families from disadvantaged backgrounds. Some of his current work continues to examine the role of parenting and parental influences on their child’s risk of obesity, including early food introduction. Dane Snyder, MD: Dr. Snyder is the Section Chief of the Division of Primary Care Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s, and his clinical interests include asthma, quality improvement, and teaching medical students and residents. In addition to his administrative duties, he provides direct patient care and precepts pediatric residents in their primary care continuity clinic. Olivia Thomas, MD: Dr. Thomas is the Chief Diversity and Health Equity Officer at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the former Section Chief of Ambulatory Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s. She also served as the principal investigator of the Child and Family Health Services Grant, a title V program funded through the Ohio Department of Health. Her work is focused on staff diversification within areas where women, men and minorities are most underrepresented compared to the patient population and community.
Other Clinical Divisions at Nationwide Children’s Hospital
David Axelson, MD: Dr. Axelson’s research concentrated on the phenomenology and treatment of bipolar disorder, depression and irritable mood in children and adolescents. Since moving to Columbus, OH, he has shifted his professional focus to the development of a comprehensive pediatric mental health system that can provide high-quality care to a large population of youth, train the next generation of providers, and be leveraged to perform clinically relevant research. Ehsan Azadani, DDS: Dr. Azadani’s research concentrated on use of general anesthesia in pediatric dentistry, treatment strategies, cost and optimization. Since joining the department of pediatric dentistry in 2018, he has shifted his research to traumatic dental injuries in children and adolescents including epidemiological aspects, treatment outcomes and cost. Kristen Benninger, MD: Dr. Benninger is a neonatologist and principal investigator in the Center for Perinatal Research, with experience in the neurodevelopmental follow-up of NICU infants, the use of evidence-based standardized neurodevelopmental assessments, and in leading prospective research studies. Her research interests include neuroimaging and long-term neurodevelopment of infants with prenatal opioid exposure, as well as studies of new neuroprotective therapies in infants with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). Andrea Bonny, MD: Dr. Bonny is the section chief of Adolescent Medicine at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and a principal investigator in the Center for Clinical and Translational Research, as well as the director of research for the Division of Adolescent Medicine at Nationwide Children’s. Her research focuses on reproductive health care for adolescents and adolescent substance abuse. Eric Butter, PhD: Dr. Butter is the chief of the Section of Psychology at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the director of the Children’s Development Center. His research has focused on the biomedical correlates and potential etiologies of autism spectrum disorders and ADHD, as well as psychological and medical treatment of these disorders. He is currently the PI for several medical network grants and federally-funded research studies focusing on pediatrics. Eileen Chaves, PhD: Dr. Chaves is a pediatric psychologist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Her research includes recent collaborations with the Teen-LABS Consortium (Teen-Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery), examining change, predictors and correlates of weight- and health-related quality of life in adolescents following bariatric surgery. Laura Chavez, PhD, MPH: Dr. Chavez is a senior research scientist in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and was formerly a postdoctoral researcher and fellow through the Division of Health Services Management and Policy at The Ohio State University’s College of Public Health and the Patient-Centered Pediatric Research Program (PC-PReP) at Nationwide Children’s, respectively. Her research focuses on substance abuse, particularly in adolescents, as well as medication treatment and health care use among adolescents with opioid use disorder. Gil Liu, MD: Dr. Liu is the medical director of Partners for Kids, an accountable care organization that is a collaboration between Nationwide Children’s Hospital and more than 2,100 providers and is fully financially responsible for the health care of 325,000 children and adolescents covered by Medicaid in south central and southeastern Ohio. Partners for Kids’ efforts to improve individual and population health focus on six main areas: quality improvement coaching, care navigation, pharmacy, patient outreach, behavioral health, and community and school-based programs. Beau Meyer, DDS, MPH: Dr. Meyer is a pediatric oral health services researcher whose concentration is at the intersection of disease and behavior management for early childhood caries, with special interest in the use of hospital-based care for dental treatment. In addition to traditional methodologies, he is interested in collaborations to apply spatial data techniques and artificial intelligence or machine learning to more deeply understand dental disease and care-seeking patterns in order to improve care delivery and outcomes. Amy Jo Newmeyer, MD: Dr. Newmeyer is the interim chief of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. She has over 25 years of experience in the field of medicine and is board certified in neurodevelopmental disabilities and pediatrics, with an interest in research on neurodevelopmental disorders. Octavio Ramilo, MD: Dr. Ramilo is the chief of Infectious Diseases at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. He has been involved in translational and clinical research related to the role of the host immune response in pathogenesis of infectious diseases for over 20 years. His current research is focused on pathogenesis and treatment of respiratory infections, especially RSV, and the application of genomics technologies for improving diagnosis and understanding of host responses to infectious agents. Janice Townsend, DDS: Dr. Townsend is the chief of Pediatric Dentistry at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. She has been published on a number of research topics including dental education, pain management after dental procedures, and dentistry for children with special needs. Andrew Tran, MD: Dr. Tran has strengths and training in vascular assessment, research, and preventive cardiology. His focus is to increase patient access to care, improve early health screening and risk stratification, and promote timely management for children with cardiovascular (CV) risk factors such as obesity, lipid disorders, and hypertension. Joshua Watson, MD: Dr. Watson is a pediatric infectious diseases physician. His primary research efforts have focused on clinical/translational and quality improvement studies of pediatric urinary tract infections and antimicrobial stewardship.
Abigail Wexner Research Institute
Jeff Bridge, PhD: Dr. Bridge is an epidemiologist and principal investigator in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice. His research focuses on the epidemiology of suicidal behavior in young people, neurocognitive vulnerability to suicidal behavior, and on improving the quality of care for suicidal youth and adolescents who have attempted suicide. Deena Chisolm, PhD: Dr. Chisolm is the Director of the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice in the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Her research focuses on improving the health and healthcare of minority and at-risk adolescents through community development interventions and health policy innovations with an emphasis on children with special health care needs and behavioral health issues. She has explored questions in these areas using a combination of epidemiologic, health services, and qualitative research methods. Jennifer Cooper, PhD: Dr. Cooper is a principal investigator in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice and an epidemiologist and biostatistician with a focus on health services and comparative effectiveness research in pediatric health care, particularly pediatric surgery. Dr. Cooper’s research involves the use of large clinical and administrative databases, and the use and development of novel methods in statistics and data science. Sarah Keim, PhD: Sarah Keim, PhD, is a pediatric and perinatal epidemiologist primarily interested in the role of early life nutritional influences on child development, behavior and growth. A main interest of hers is breastfeeding – the benefits of breastfeeding as well as challenges women and children face with successful feeding. She is also involved in research on childhood obesity, special populations including children born preterm and children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and the effects of prenatal exposures on child outcomes (e.g., marijuana exposure, maternal diet). She conducts both observational studies and clinical trials. Kelly Kelleher, MD: Dr. Kelleher is a pediatrician whose research interests focus on accessibility, effectiveness, and quality of health care services for children and their families, especially those affected by mental disorders, substance abuse, or violence. He has a longstanding interest in formal outcomes research for mental health and substance abuse services. Simon Lin, MD, MBA: Dr. Lin is the Chief Research Information Officer at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and leads a team of more than 30 IT professionals, consisting of user experience designers, game designers, software developers, infrastructure analysts, data security analysts, database analysts, project scientists, and data scientists to collaborate with physicians and researchers on designing, evaluating, and delivering healthcare innovation. Jack Stevens, PhD: Dr. Stevens’ area of expertise is behavioral economics – an interdisciplinary field featuring insights from psychology, economics, and marketing – to enhance decision-making of clinicians and patients in order to promote their long-term best interests. He collaborates with internal and external partners on research and quality improvement projects designed to improve pediatric health, and has spoken nationally and internationally on behavioral economics. Jinyu Xu, PhD: Dr. Xu’s training is in Nutritional Sciences and Epidemiology, and her research interest is in childhood obesity. Specifically, she is interested in understanding the impacts of early life exposures to environment, like diet/nutrition and social stress, on the development of childhood obesity. She is also involved in studying multi-sector interventions to prevent childhood obesity.
The Ohio State University
Sarah Anderson, PhD: Dr. Anderson’s research focuses on understanding psychosocial influences on children’s growth and development, with a particular focus on childhood obesity prevention. Her research has contributed to the understanding of obesity in preschool-aged children through analyses of large cohort studies, including the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B); the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD); and the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Study (FACES). Eugene Arnold, MD: Dr. Arnold’s research focuses on new drug development and alternative and complementary treatments for autism and ADHD. His research includes aromatic essential oil therapy for autism spectrum disorder, omega-3 fatty acids for mood disorders, neurofeedback for ADHD, nutrition and mental health, and clinical trials. Seuli Brill, MD: As research director for the Division of General Internal Medicine at OSU, Dr. Brill leads her own research program and guides other providers in the Division with their research. Dr. Brill’s research is based on provider/patient communication – how doctors talk to patients about medical problems and how they want to be cared for, both in minor ailments and terminal illness. Dr. Brill is passionate about her research and how the language we use impacts real world clinical problems. Christopher Hanks, MD: Dr. Hanks is the medical director of the Center for Autism Services and Transition at OSU and works primarily with patients diagnosed with chronic childhood illness, with a specific focus on autism. Dr. Hanks is involved in programs designed to develop new approaches of treatment for autism and focuses on improving access to care by understanding potential barriers and helping patients navigate the healthcare system. Laura Justice, PhD: Dr. Justice is the executive director of the Schoenbaum Family Center and Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy at OSU. Dr. Justice’s research primarily focuses on young children who exhibit developmental vulnerabilities in language and literacy acquisition. Much of her research considers the effects of teacher- or parent-implemented interventions on children’s learning, including the effective use of storybooks. She is also interested in the state of classroom quality in early childhood and how various aspects of quality affect children’s gains within the classroom. Jill Hollway, PhD, MA: Dr. Hollway’s research focus is individuals with intellectual disabilities, and her past work involved the treatment of severe behavioral problems in children with autism spectrum disorder. More recently, she has been principal investigator or co-investigator on a number of clinical trials and intervention studies in children and adults with autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, and intellectual disabilities. Her research has included both pharma and investigator-driven studies. Bernadette Melnyk, PhD, RN: Dr. Melnyk is a nationally/internationally recognized leader in assisting healthcare organizations translate research-based intervention guidelines into real-world clinical settings in the form of evidence-based practice. As Vice President for Health Promotion and University Chief Wellness Officer at OSU, she has over 30 years of experience in conducting randomized controlled trials with at-risk children, adolescents, young adults, and parents. Keeley Pratt, PhD: Dr. Pratt’s research interests focus on three specific areas of child/adolescent obesity, family and weight-related behaviors: (1) intergenerational family-based factors (i.e. parenting and feeding styles, family functioning) that contribute to or are modifiable in the treatment of child/adolescent obesity; (2) analyzing intergenerational family and child/adolescent outcomes from integrated multidisciplinary care models in the treatment of child/adolescent obesity; and (3) assessing and expanding the field of CFT (and other mental health professions) to include clinician training on systemic weight-related behaviors in families, and training to work with clients and families who are struggling with overweight and obesity. Elisabeth Root, PhD: Dr. Root’s research is situated at the intersection of geography and public health. Using spatial statistical methods and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Dr. Root integrates socioeconomic and environmental context into studies of disease processes and health behaviors. The goals of her research are to: 1) better understand geographical patterns of human health across diverse settings, 2) examine how local and regional context drives these patterns of disease, and 3) model the effect of major health and development interventions across these diverse settings.
Community Collaborators
Mysheika Roberts, MD, MPH: As Health Commissioner for Columbus Public Health, Dr. Roberts is the chief executive officer for the Health Department, with a team of nearly 500 public health professionals and more than 40 programs. Dr. Roberts leads efforts to address critical issues in infant mortality, the opioid epidemic, tobacco use, gun violence and obesity and to impact neighborhood-based approaches that address the social determinants of health to decrease health disparities Carrie Baker: Carrie currently serves as President and CEO of the Healthcare Collaborative of Greater Columbus, an independent, non-profit organization committed to transforming healthcare to ensure that all people in the Columbus region have the best healthcare possible, with special focus on increasing health equity and engaging multiple stakeholders – all provider types, payers, purchasers, and consumers – in improvement and coordination activities.
Division of Primary Care Pediatrics
Sara Bode, MD: Dr. Bode is a primary care pediatrician and the medical director of Care Connection School-Based Health and Mobile Clinics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Her clinical work and research centers around the intersection of health and education and providing care for the underserved. Sarah Denny, MD: Dr. Denny is an emergency room pediatrician interested in injury prevention and advocacy. Injury prevention plays a guiding role in her research, patient advocacy and practice of medicine. She also works with state and federal legislators to support patients and make sure life-saving health information reaches a wider audience, to help families become better advocates for their own children. Ihuoma Eneli, MD, MS: Dr. Eneli is director of the Center for Healthy Weight and Nutrition, a comprehensive pediatric obesity center with activities that include advocacy, prevention, medical weight management and adolescent bariatric surgery. She also directs the Primary Care Obesity Network, which provides obesity-related training, resources and community integration for 21 primary care practices in Central Ohio. She is actively engaged in research and has particular interest in intervention research for pediatric obesity. Amber Essman, DNP: Dr. Essman has contributed and reviewed many manuscripts for undergraduate nursing publishers. Research interests are prevention and anticipatory guidance for pediatric obesity, breastfeeding, pediatric asthma control, barriers to evidence-based practice adherence, and injury prevention with anticipatory guidance. Judy Groner, MD: Dr. Groner is an academic general pediatrician and program director of the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Academic General Pediatrics Fellowship. The goal of her research is to improve the health of children and adults through research on the effects of secondhand smoke and vaping in the pediatric population. Dr. Groner also has a clinical and research interest in pediatric obesity. Laura Hart, MD, MPH: Dr. Hart is a dual-trained internal medicine and pediatrics physician who came to Nationwide Children’s Hospital after completing a primary care research fellowship and MPH degree. Her research is focused on the transition from pediatric to adult-oriented care, particularly in the primary care setting. Rohan Henry, MD: Dr. Henry is an endocrinologist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital whose clinical interests include adrenal and thyroid disorders. His teaching activities include education on growth and thyroid disorders to the medical student clerkship group and also disorders of the adrenal gland to the pediatric residents. Amrik Khalsa, MD, MPH: Dr. Khalsa is principal investigator in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice and a dual-trained Internal Medicine and Pediatrics physician at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. His research interests lie in obesity prevention, with a particular focus in early childhood (birth-age 5 years) and families from disadvantaged backgrounds. Some of his current work continues to examine the role of parenting and parental influences on their child’s risk of obesity, including early food introduction. Dane Snyder, MD: Dr. Snyder is the Section Chief of the Division of Primary Care Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s, and his clinical interests include asthma, quality improvement, and teaching medical students and residents. In addition to his administrative duties, he provides direct patient care and precepts pediatric residents in their primary care continuity clinic. Olivia Thomas, MD: Dr. Thomas is the Chief Diversity and Health Equity Officer at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the former Section Chief of Ambulatory Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s. She also served as the principal investigator of the Child and Family Health Services Grant, a title V program funded through the Ohio Department of Health. Her work is focused on staff diversification within areas where women, men and minorities are most underrepresented compared to the patient population and community.
Other Clinical Divisions at Nationwide Children’s Hospital
David Axelson, MD: Dr. Axelson’s research concentrated on the phenomenology and treatment of bipolar disorder, depression and irritable mood in children and adolescents. Since moving to Columbus, OH, he has shifted his professional focus to the development of a comprehensive pediatric mental health system that can provide high-quality care to a large population of youth, train the next generation of providers, and be leveraged to perform clinically relevant research. Ehsan Azadani, DDS: Dr. Azadani’s research concentrated on use of general anesthesia in pediatric dentistry, treatment strategies, cost and optimization. Since joining the department of pediatric dentistry in 2018, he has shifted his research to traumatic dental injuries in children and adolescents including epidemiological aspects, treatment outcomes and cost. Kristen Benninger, MD: Dr. Benninger is a neonatologist and principal investigator in the Center for Perinatal Research, with experience in the neurodevelopmental follow-up of NICU infants, the use of evidence-based standardized neurodevelopmental assessments, and in leading prospective research studies. Her research interests include neuroimaging and long-term neurodevelopment of infants with prenatal opioid exposure, as well as studies of new neuroprotective therapies in infants with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). Andrea Bonny, MD: Dr. Bonny is the section chief of Adolescent Medicine at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and a principal investigator in the Center for Clinical and Translational Research, as well as the director of research for the Division of Adolescent Medicine at Nationwide Children’s. Her research focuses on reproductive health care for adolescents and adolescent substance abuse. Eric Butter, PhD: Dr. Butter is the chief of the Section of Psychology at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the director of the Children’s Development Center. His research has focused on the biomedical correlates and potential etiologies of autism spectrum disorders and ADHD, as well as psychological and medical treatment of these disorders. He is currently the PI for several medical network grants and federally-funded research studies focusing on pediatrics. Eileen Chaves, PhD: Dr. Chaves is a pediatric psychologist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Her research includes recent collaborations with the Teen-LABS Consortium (Teen-Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery), examining change, predictors and correlates of weight- and health-related quality of life in adolescents following bariatric surgery. Laura Chavez, PhD, MPH: Dr. Chavez is a senior research scientist in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and was formerly a postdoctoral researcher and fellow through the Division of Health Services Management and Policy at The Ohio State University’s College of Public Health and the Patient-Centered Pediatric Research Program (PC-PReP) at Nationwide Children’s, respectively. Her research focuses on substance abuse, particularly in adolescents, as well as medication treatment and health care use among adolescents with opioid use disorder. Gil Liu, MD: Dr. Liu is the medical director of Partners for Kids, an accountable care organization that is a collaboration between Nationwide Children’s Hospital and more than 2,100 providers and is fully financially responsible for the health care of 325,000 children and adolescents covered by Medicaid in south central and southeastern Ohio. Partners for Kids’ efforts to improve individual and population health focus on six main areas: quality improvement coaching, care navigation, pharmacy, patient outreach, behavioral health, and community and school-based programs. Beau Meyer, DDS, MPH: Dr. Meyer is a pediatric oral health services researcher whose concentration is at the intersection of disease and behavior management for early childhood caries, with special interest in the use of hospital-based care for dental treatment. In addition to traditional methodologies, he is interested in collaborations to apply spatial data techniques and artificial intelligence or machine learning to more deeply understand dental disease and care-seeking patterns in order to improve care delivery and outcomes. Amy Jo Newmeyer, MD: Dr. Newmeyer is the interim chief of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. She has over 25 years of experience in the field of medicine and is board certified in neurodevelopmental disabilities and pediatrics, with an interest in research on neurodevelopmental disorders. Octavio Ramilo, MD: Dr. Ramilo is the chief of Infectious Diseases at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. He has been involved in translational and clinical research related to the role of the host immune response in pathogenesis of infectious diseases for over 20 years. His current research is focused on pathogenesis and treatment of respiratory infections, especially RSV, and the application of genomics technologies for improving diagnosis and understanding of host responses to infectious agents. Janice Townsend, DDS: Dr. Townsend is the chief of Pediatric Dentistry at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. She has been published on a number of research topics including dental education, pain management after dental procedures, and dentistry for children with special needs. Andrew Tran, MD: Dr. Tran has strengths and training in vascular assessment, research, and preventive cardiology. His focus is to increase patient access to care, improve early health screening and risk stratification, and promote timely management for children with cardiovascular (CV) risk factors such as obesity, lipid disorders, and hypertension. Joshua Watson, MD: Dr. Watson is a pediatric infectious diseases physician. His primary research efforts have focused on clinical/translational and quality improvement studies of pediatric urinary tract infections and antimicrobial stewardship.
Abigail Wexner Research Institute
Jeff Bridge, PhD: Dr. Bridge is an epidemiologist and principal investigator in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice. His research focuses on the epidemiology of suicidal behavior in young people, neurocognitive vulnerability to suicidal behavior, and on improving the quality of care for suicidal youth and adolescents who have attempted suicide. Deena Chisolm, PhD: Dr. Chisolm is the Director of the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice in the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Her research focuses on improving the health and healthcare of minority and at-risk adolescents through community development interventions and health policy innovations with an emphasis on children with special health care needs and behavioral health issues. She has explored questions in these areas using a combination of epidemiologic, health services, and qualitative research methods. Jennifer Cooper, PhD: Dr. Cooper is a principal investigator in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice and an epidemiologist and biostatistician with a focus on health services and comparative effectiveness research in pediatric health care, particularly pediatric surgery. Dr. Cooper’s research involves the use of large clinical and administrative databases, and the use and development of novel methods in statistics and data science. Sarah Keim, PhD: Sarah Keim, PhD, is a pediatric and perinatal epidemiologist primarily interested in the role of early life nutritional influences on child development, behavior and growth. A main interest of hers is breastfeeding – the benefits of breastfeeding as well as challenges women and children face with successful feeding. She is also involved in research on childhood obesity, special populations including children born preterm and children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and the effects of prenatal exposures on child outcomes (e.g., marijuana exposure, maternal diet). She conducts both observational studies and clinical trials. Kelly Kelleher, MD: Dr. Kelleher is a pediatrician whose research interests focus on accessibility, effectiveness, and quality of health care services for children and their families, especially those affected by mental disorders, substance abuse, or violence. He has a longstanding interest in formal outcomes research for mental health and substance abuse services. Simon Lin, MD, MBA: Dr. Lin is the Chief Research Information Officer at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and leads a team of more than 30 IT professionals, consisting of user experience designers, game designers, software developers, infrastructure analysts, data security analysts, database analysts, project scientists, and data scientists to collaborate with physicians and researchers on designing, evaluating, and delivering healthcare innovation. Jack Stevens, PhD: Dr. Stevens’ area of expertise is behavioral economics – an interdisciplinary field featuring insights from psychology, economics, and marketing – to enhance decision-making of clinicians and patients in order to promote their long-term best interests. He collaborates with internal and external partners on research and quality improvement projects designed to improve pediatric health, and has spoken nationally and internationally on behavioral economics. Jinyu Xu, PhD: Dr. Xu’s training is in Nutritional Sciences and Epidemiology, and her research interest is in childhood obesity. Specifically, she is interested in understanding the impacts of early life exposures to environment, like diet/nutrition and social stress, on the development of childhood obesity. She is also involved in studying multi-sector interventions to prevent childhood obesity.
The Ohio State University
Sarah Anderson, PhD: Dr. Anderson’s research focuses on understanding psychosocial influences on children’s growth and development, with a particular focus on childhood obesity prevention. Her research has contributed to the understanding of obesity in preschool-aged children through analyses of large cohort studies, including the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B); the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD); and the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Study (FACES). Eugene Arnold, MD: Dr. Arnold’s research focuses on new drug development and alternative and complementary treatments for autism and ADHD. His research includes aromatic essential oil therapy for autism spectrum disorder, omega-3 fatty acids for mood disorders, neurofeedback for ADHD, nutrition and mental health, and clinical trials. Seuli Brill, MD: As research director for the Division of General Internal Medicine at OSU, Dr. Brill leads her own research program and guides other providers in the Division with their research. Dr. Brill’s research is based on provider/patient communication – how doctors talk to patients about medical problems and how they want to be cared for, both in minor ailments and terminal illness. Dr. Brill is passionate about her research and how the language we use impacts real world clinical problems. Christopher Hanks, MD: Dr. Hanks is the medical director of the Center for Autism Services and Transition at OSU and works primarily with patients diagnosed with chronic childhood illness, with a specific focus on autism. Dr. Hanks is involved in programs designed to develop new approaches of treatment for autism and focuses on improving access to care by understanding potential barriers and helping patients navigate the healthcare system. Laura Justice, PhD: Dr. Justice is the executive director of the Schoenbaum Family Center and Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy at OSU. Dr. Justice’s research primarily focuses on young children who exhibit developmental vulnerabilities in language and literacy acquisition. Much of her research considers the effects of teacher- or parent-implemented interventions on children’s learning, including the effective use of storybooks. She is also interested in the state of classroom quality in early childhood and how various aspects of quality affect children’s gains within the classroom. Jill Hollway, PhD, MA: Dr. Hollway’s research focus is individuals with intellectual disabilities, and her past work involved the treatment of severe behavioral problems in children with autism spectrum disorder. More recently, she has been principal investigator or co-investigator on a number of clinical trials and intervention studies in children and adults with autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, and intellectual disabilities. Her research has included both pharma and investigator-driven studies. Bernadette Melnyk, PhD, RN: Dr. Melnyk is a nationally/internationally recognized leader in assisting healthcare organizations translate research-based intervention guidelines into real-world clinical settings in the form of evidence-based practice. As Vice President for Health Promotion and University Chief Wellness Officer at OSU, she has over 30 years of experience in conducting randomized controlled trials with at-risk children, adolescents, young adults, and parents. Keeley Pratt, PhD: Dr. Pratt’s research interests focus on three specific areas of child/adolescent obesity, family and weight-related behaviors: (1) intergenerational family-based factors (i.e. parenting and feeding styles, family functioning) that contribute to or are modifiable in the treatment of child/adolescent obesity; (2) analyzing intergenerational family and child/adolescent outcomes from integrated multidisciplinary care models in the treatment of child/adolescent obesity; and (3) assessing and expanding the field of CFT (and other mental health professions) to include clinician training on systemic weight-related behaviors in families, and training to work with clients and families who are struggling with overweight and obesity. Elisabeth Root, PhD: Dr. Root’s research is situated at the intersection of geography and public health. Using spatial statistical methods and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Dr. Root integrates socioeconomic and environmental context into studies of disease processes and health behaviors. The goals of her research are to: 1) better understand geographical patterns of human health across diverse settings, 2) examine how local and regional context drives these patterns of disease, and 3) model the effect of major health and development interventions across these diverse settings.
Community Collaborators
Mysheika Roberts, MD, MPH: As Health Commissioner for Columbus Public Health, Dr. Roberts is the chief executive officer for the Health Department, with a team of nearly 500 public health professionals and more than 40 programs. Dr. Roberts leads efforts to address critical issues in infant mortality, the opioid epidemic, tobacco use, gun violence and obesity and to impact neighborhood-based approaches that address the social determinants of health to decrease health disparities Carrie Baker: Carrie currently serves as President and CEO of the Healthcare Collaborative of Greater Columbus, an independent, non-profit organization committed to transforming healthcare to ensure that all people in the Columbus region have the best healthcare possible, with special focus on increasing health equity and engaging multiple stakeholders – all provider types, payers, purchasers, and consumers – in improvement and coordination activities.
Division of Primary Care Pediatrics
Sara Bode, MD: Dr. Bode is a primary care pediatrician and the medical director of Care Connection School-Based Health and Mobile Clinics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Her clinical work and research centers around the intersection of health and education and providing care for the underserved. Sarah Denny, MD: Dr. Denny is an emergency room pediatrician interested in injury prevention and advocacy. Injury prevention plays a guiding role in her research, patient advocacy and practice of medicine. She also works with state and federal legislators to support patients and make sure life-saving health information reaches a wider audience, to help families become better advocates for their own children. Ihuoma Eneli, MD, MS: Dr. Eneli is director of the Center for Healthy Weight and Nutrition, a comprehensive pediatric obesity center with activities that include advocacy, prevention, medical weight management and adolescent bariatric surgery. She also directs the Primary Care Obesity Network, which provides obesity-related training, resources and community integration for 21 primary care practices in Central Ohio. She is actively engaged in research and has particular interest in intervention research for pediatric obesity. Amber Essman, DNP: Dr. Essman has contributed and reviewed many manuscripts for undergraduate nursing publishers. Research interests are prevention and anticipatory guidance for pediatric obesity, breastfeeding, pediatric asthma control, barriers to evidence-based practice adherence, and injury prevention with anticipatory guidance. Judy Groner, MD: Dr. Groner is an academic general pediatrician and program director of the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Academic General Pediatrics Fellowship. The goal of her research is to improve the health of children and adults through research on the effects of secondhand smoke and vaping in the pediatric population. Dr. Groner also has a clinical and research interest in pediatric obesity. Laura Hart, MD, MPH: Dr. Hart is a dual-trained internal medicine and pediatrics physician who came to Nationwide Children’s Hospital after completing a primary care research fellowship and MPH degree. Her research is focused on the transition from pediatric to adult-oriented care, particularly in the primary care setting. Rohan Henry, MD: Dr. Henry is an endocrinologist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital whose clinical interests include adrenal and thyroid disorders. His teaching activities include education on growth and thyroid disorders to the medical student clerkship group and also disorders of the adrenal gland to the pediatric residents. Amrik Khalsa, MD, MPH: Dr. Khalsa is principal investigator in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice and a dual-trained Internal Medicine and Pediatrics physician at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. His research interests lie in obesity prevention, with a particular focus in early childhood (birth-age 5 years) and families from disadvantaged backgrounds. Some of his current work continues to examine the role of parenting and parental influences on their child’s risk of obesity, including early food introduction. Dane Snyder, MD: Dr. Snyder is the Section Chief of the Division of Primary Care Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s, and his clinical interests include asthma, quality improvement, and teaching medical students and residents. In addition to his administrative duties, he provides direct patient care and precepts pediatric residents in their primary care continuity clinic. Olivia Thomas, MD: Dr. Thomas is the Chief Diversity and Health Equity Officer at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the former Section Chief of Ambulatory Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s. She also served as the principal investigator of the Child and Family Health Services Grant, a title V program funded through the Ohio Department of Health. Her work is focused on staff diversification within areas where women, men and minorities are most underrepresented compared to the patient population and community.
Other Clinical Divisions at Nationwide Children’s Hospital
David Axelson, MD: Dr. Axelson’s research concentrated on the phenomenology and treatment of bipolar disorder, depression and irritable mood in children and adolescents. Since moving to Columbus, OH, he has shifted his professional focus to the development of a comprehensive pediatric mental health system that can provide high-quality care to a large population of youth, train the next generation of providers, and be leveraged to perform clinically relevant research. Ehsan Azadani, DDS: Dr. Azadani’s research concentrated on use of general anesthesia in pediatric dentistry, treatment strategies, cost and optimization. Since joining the department of pediatric dentistry in 2018, he has shifted his research to traumatic dental injuries in children and adolescents including epidemiological aspects, treatment outcomes and cost. Kristen Benninger, MD: Dr. Benninger is a neonatologist and principal investigator in the Center for Perinatal Research, with experience in the neurodevelopmental follow-up of NICU infants, the use of evidence-based standardized neurodevelopmental assessments, and in leading prospective research studies. Her research interests include neuroimaging and long-term neurodevelopment of infants with prenatal opioid exposure, as well as studies of new neuroprotective therapies in infants with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). Andrea Bonny, MD: Dr. Bonny is the section chief of Adolescent Medicine at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and a principal investigator in the Center for Clinical and Translational Research, as well as the director of research for the Division of Adolescent Medicine at Nationwide Children’s. Her research focuses on reproductive health care for adolescents and adolescent substance abuse. Eric Butter, PhD: Dr. Butter is the chief of the Section of Psychology at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the director of the Children’s Development Center. His research has focused on the biomedical correlates and potential etiologies of autism spectrum disorders and ADHD, as well as psychological and medical treatment of these disorders. He is currently the PI for several medical network grants and federally-funded research studies focusing on pediatrics. Eileen Chaves, PhD: Dr. Chaves is a pediatric psychologist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Her research includes recent collaborations with the Teen-LABS Consortium (Teen-Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery), examining change, predictors and correlates of weight- and health-related quality of life in adolescents following bariatric surgery. Laura Chavez, PhD, MPH: Dr. Chavez is a senior research scientist in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and was formerly a postdoctoral researcher and fellow through the Division of Health Services Management and Policy at The Ohio State University’s College of Public Health and the Patient-Centered Pediatric Research Program (PC-PReP) at Nationwide Children’s, respectively. Her research focuses on substance abuse, particularly in adolescents, as well as medication treatment and health care use among adolescents with opioid use disorder. Gil Liu, MD: Dr. Liu is the medical director of Partners for Kids, an accountable care organization that is a collaboration between Nationwide Children’s Hospital and more than 2,100 providers and is fully financially responsible for the health care of 325,000 children and adolescents covered by Medicaid in south central and southeastern Ohio. Partners for Kids’ efforts to improve individual and population health focus on six main areas: quality improvement coaching, care navigation, pharmacy, patient outreach, behavioral health, and community and school-based programs. Beau Meyer, DDS, MPH: Dr. Meyer is a pediatric oral health services researcher whose concentration is at the intersection of disease and behavior management for early childhood caries, with special interest in the use of hospital-based care for dental treatment. In addition to traditional methodologies, he is interested in collaborations to apply spatial data techniques and artificial intelligence or machine learning to more deeply understand dental disease and care-seeking patterns in order to improve care delivery and outcomes. Amy Jo Newmeyer, MD: Dr. Newmeyer is the interim chief of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. She has over 25 years of experience in the field of medicine and is board certified in neurodevelopmental disabilities and pediatrics, with an interest in research on neurodevelopmental disorders. Octavio Ramilo, MD: Dr. Ramilo is the chief of Infectious Diseases at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. He has been involved in translational and clinical research related to the role of the host immune response in pathogenesis of infectious diseases for over 20 years. His current research is focused on pathogenesis and treatment of respiratory infections, especially RSV, and the application of genomics technologies for improving diagnosis and understanding of host responses to infectious agents. Janice Townsend, DDS: Dr. Townsend is the chief of Pediatric Dentistry at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. She has been published on a number of research topics including dental education, pain management after dental procedures, and dentistry for children with special needs. Andrew Tran, MD: Dr. Tran has strengths and training in vascular assessment, research, and preventive cardiology. His focus is to increase patient access to care, improve early health screening and risk stratification, and promote timely management for children with cardiovascular (CV) risk factors such as obesity, lipid disorders, and hypertension. Joshua Watson, MD: Dr. Watson is a pediatric infectious diseases physician. His primary research efforts have focused on clinical/translational and quality improvement studies of pediatric urinary tract infections and antimicrobial stewardship.
Abigail Wexner Research Institute
Jeff Bridge, PhD: Dr. Bridge is an epidemiologist and principal investigator in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice. His research focuses on the epidemiology of suicidal behavior in young people, neurocognitive vulnerability to suicidal behavior, and on improving the quality of care for suicidal youth and adolescents who have attempted suicide. Deena Chisolm, PhD: Dr. Chisolm is the Director of the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice in the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Her research focuses on improving the health and healthcare of minority and at-risk adolescents through community development interventions and health policy innovations with an emphasis on children with special health care needs and behavioral health issues. She has explored questions in these areas using a combination of epidemiologic, health services, and qualitative research methods. Jennifer Cooper, PhD: Dr. Cooper is a principal investigator in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice and an epidemiologist and biostatistician with a focus on health services and comparative effectiveness research in pediatric health care, particularly pediatric surgery. Dr. Cooper’s research involves the use of large clinical and administrative databases, and the use and development of novel methods in statistics and data science. Sarah Keim, PhD: Sarah Keim, PhD, is a pediatric and perinatal epidemiologist primarily interested in the role of early life nutritional influences on child development, behavior and growth. A main interest of hers is breastfeeding – the benefits of breastfeeding as well as challenges women and children face with successful feeding. She is also involved in research on childhood obesity, special populations including children born preterm and children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and the effects of prenatal exposures on child outcomes (e.g., marijuana exposure, maternal diet). She conducts both observational studies and clinical trials. Kelly Kelleher, MD: Dr. Kelleher is a pediatrician whose research interests focus on accessibility, effectiveness, and quality of health care services for children and their families, especially those affected by mental disorders, substance abuse, or violence. He has a longstanding interest in formal outcomes research for mental health and substance abuse services. Simon Lin, MD, MBA: Dr. Lin is the Chief Research Information Officer at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and leads a team of more than 30 IT professionals, consisting of user experience designers, game designers, software developers, infrastructure analysts, data security analysts, database analysts, project scientists, and data scientists to collaborate with physicians and researchers on designing, evaluating, and delivering healthcare innovation. Jack Stevens, PhD: Dr. Stevens’ area of expertise is behavioral economics – an interdisciplinary field featuring insights from psychology, economics, and marketing – to enhance decision-making of clinicians and patients in order to promote their long-term best interests. He collaborates with internal and external partners on research and quality improvement projects designed to improve pediatric health, and has spoken nationally and internationally on behavioral economics. Jinyu Xu, PhD: Dr. Xu’s training is in Nutritional Sciences and Epidemiology, and her research interest is in childhood obesity. Specifically, she is interested in understanding the impacts of early life exposures to environment, like diet/nutrition and social stress, on the development of childhood obesity. She is also involved in studying multi-sector interventions to prevent childhood obesity.
The Ohio State University
Sarah Anderson, PhD: Dr. Anderson’s research focuses on understanding psychosocial influences on children’s growth and development, with a particular focus on childhood obesity prevention. Her research has contributed to the understanding of obesity in preschool-aged children through analyses of large cohort studies, including the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B); the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD); and the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Study (FACES). Eugene Arnold, MD: Dr. Arnold’s research focuses on new drug development and alternative and complementary treatments for autism and ADHD. His research includes aromatic essential oil therapy for autism spectrum disorder, omega-3 fatty acids for mood disorders, neurofeedback for ADHD, nutrition and mental health, and clinical trials. Seuli Brill, MD: As research director for the Division of General Internal Medicine at OSU, Dr. Brill leads her own research program and guides other providers in the Division with their research. Dr. Brill’s research is based on provider/patient communication – how doctors talk to patients about medical problems and how they want to be cared for, both in minor ailments and terminal illness. Dr. Brill is passionate about her research and how the language we use impacts real world clinical problems. Christopher Hanks, MD: Dr. Hanks is the medical director of the Center for Autism Services and Transition at OSU and works primarily with patients diagnosed with chronic childhood illness, with a specific focus on autism. Dr. Hanks is involved in programs designed to develop new approaches of treatment for autism and focuses on improving access to care by understanding potential barriers and helping patients navigate the healthcare system. Laura Justice, PhD: Dr. Justice is the executive director of the Schoenbaum Family Center and Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy at OSU. Dr. Justice’s research primarily focuses on young children who exhibit developmental vulnerabilities in language and literacy acquisition. Much of her research considers the effects of teacher- or parent-implemented interventions on children’s learning, including the effective use of storybooks. She is also interested in the state of classroom quality in early childhood and how various aspects of quality affect children’s gains within the classroom. Jill Hollway, PhD, MA: Dr. Hollway’s research focus is individuals with intellectual disabilities, and her past work involved the treatment of severe behavioral problems in children with autism spectrum disorder. More recently, she has been principal investigator or co-investigator on a number of clinical trials and intervention studies in children and adults with autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, and intellectual disabilities. Her research has included both pharma and investigator-driven studies. Bernadette Melnyk, PhD, RN: Dr. Melnyk is a nationally/internationally recognized leader in assisting healthcare organizations translate research-based intervention guidelines into real-world clinical settings in the form of evidence-based practice. As Vice President for Health Promotion and University Chief Wellness Officer at OSU, she has over 30 years of experience in conducting randomized controlled trials with at-risk children, adolescents, young adults, and parents. Keeley Pratt, PhD: Dr. Pratt’s research interests focus on three specific areas of child/adolescent obesity, family and weight-related behaviors: (1) intergenerational family-based factors (i.e. parenting and feeding styles, family functioning) that contribute to or are modifiable in the treatment of child/adolescent obesity; (2) analyzing intergenerational family and child/adolescent outcomes from integrated multidisciplinary care models in the treatment of child/adolescent obesity; and (3) assessing and expanding the field of CFT (and other mental health professions) to include clinician training on systemic weight-related behaviors in families, and training to work with clients and families who are struggling with overweight and obesity. Elisabeth Root, PhD: Dr. Root’s research is situated at the intersection of geography and public health. Using spatial statistical methods and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Dr. Root integrates socioeconomic and environmental context into studies of disease processes and health behaviors. The goals of her research are to: 1) better understand geographical patterns of human health across diverse settings, 2) examine how local and regional context drives these patterns of disease, and 3) model the effect of major health and development interventions across these diverse settings.
Community Collaborators
Mysheika Roberts, MD, MPH: As Health Commissioner for Columbus Public Health, Dr. Roberts is the chief executive officer for the Health Department, with a team of nearly 500 public health professionals and more than 40 programs. Dr. Roberts leads efforts to address critical issues in infant mortality, the opioid epidemic, tobacco use, gun violence and obesity and to impact neighborhood-based approaches that address the social determinants of health to decrease health disparities Carrie Baker: Carrie currently serves as President and CEO of the Healthcare Collaborative of Greater Columbus, an independent, non-profit organization committed to transforming healthcare to ensure that all people in the Columbus region have the best healthcare possible, with special focus on increasing health equity and engaging multiple stakeholders – all provider types, payers, purchasers, and consumers – in improvement and coordination activities.
Sara Bode, MD: Dr. Bode is a primary care pediatrician and the medical director of Care Connection School-Based Health and Mobile Clinics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Her clinical work and research centers around the intersection of health and education and providing care for the underserved. Sarah Denny, MD: Dr. Denny is an emergency room pediatrician interested in injury prevention and advocacy. Injury prevention plays a guiding role in her research, patient advocacy and practice of medicine. She also works with state and federal legislators to support patients and make sure life-saving health information reaches a wider audience, to help families become better advocates for their own children. Ihuoma Eneli, MD, MS: Dr. Eneli is director of the Center for Healthy Weight and Nutrition, a comprehensive pediatric obesity center with activities that include advocacy, prevention, medical weight management and adolescent bariatric surgery. She also directs the Primary Care Obesity Network, which provides obesity-related training, resources and community integration for 21 primary care practices in Central Ohio. She is actively engaged in research and has particular interest in intervention research for pediatric obesity. Amber Essman, DNP: Dr. Essman has contributed and reviewed many manuscripts for undergraduate nursing publishers. Research interests are prevention and anticipatory guidance for pediatric obesity, breastfeeding, pediatric asthma control, barriers to evidence-based practice adherence, and injury prevention with anticipatory guidance. Judy Groner, MD: Dr. Groner is an academic general pediatrician and program director of the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Academic General Pediatrics Fellowship. The goal of her research is to improve the health of children and adults through research on the effects of secondhand smoke and vaping in the pediatric population. Dr. Groner also has a clinical and research interest in pediatric obesity. Laura Hart, MD, MPH: Dr. Hart is a dual-trained internal medicine and pediatrics physician who came to Nationwide Children’s Hospital after completing a primary care research fellowship and MPH degree. Her research is focused on the transition from pediatric to adult-oriented care, particularly in the primary care setting. Rohan Henry, MD: Dr. Henry is an endocrinologist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital whose clinical interests include adrenal and thyroid disorders. His teaching activities include education on growth and thyroid disorders to the medical student clerkship group and also disorders of the adrenal gland to the pediatric residents. Amrik Khalsa, MD, MPH: Dr. Khalsa is principal investigator in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice and a dual-trained Internal Medicine and Pediatrics physician at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. His research interests lie in obesity prevention, with a particular focus in early childhood (birth-age 5 years) and families from disadvantaged backgrounds. Some of his current work continues to examine the role of parenting and parental influences on their child’s risk of obesity, including early food introduction. Dane Snyder, MD: Dr. Snyder is the Section Chief of the Division of Primary Care Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s, and his clinical interests include asthma, quality improvement, and teaching medical students and residents. In addition to his administrative duties, he provides direct patient care and precepts pediatric residents in their primary care continuity clinic. Olivia Thomas, MD: Dr. Thomas is the Chief Diversity and Health Equity Officer at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the former Section Chief of Ambulatory Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s. She also served as the principal investigator of the Child and Family Health Services Grant, a title V program funded through the Ohio Department of Health. Her work is focused on staff diversification within areas where women, men and minorities are most underrepresented compared to the patient population and community.
- Sara Bode, MD: Dr. Bode is a primary care pediatrician and the medical director of Care Connection School-Based Health and Mobile Clinics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Her clinical work and research centers around the intersection of health and education and providing care for the underserved.
- Sarah Denny, MD: Dr. Denny is an emergency room pediatrician interested in injury prevention and advocacy. Injury prevention plays a guiding role in her research, patient advocacy and practice of medicine. She also works with state and federal legislators to support patients and make sure life-saving health information reaches a wider audience, to help families become better advocates for their own children.
- Ihuoma Eneli, MD, MS: Dr. Eneli is director of the Center for Healthy Weight and Nutrition, a comprehensive pediatric obesity center with activities that include advocacy, prevention, medical weight management and adolescent bariatric surgery. She also directs the Primary Care Obesity Network, which provides obesity-related training, resources and community integration for 21 primary care practices in Central Ohio. She is actively engaged in research and has particular interest in intervention research for pediatric obesity.
- Amber Essman, DNP: Dr. Essman has contributed and reviewed many manuscripts for undergraduate nursing publishers. Research interests are prevention and anticipatory guidance for pediatric obesity, breastfeeding, pediatric asthma control, barriers to evidence-based practice adherence, and injury prevention with anticipatory guidance.
- Judy Groner, MD: Dr. Groner is an academic general pediatrician and program director of the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Academic General Pediatrics Fellowship. The goal of her research is to improve the health of children and adults through research on the effects of secondhand smoke and vaping in the pediatric population. Dr. Groner also has a clinical and research interest in pediatric obesity.
- Laura Hart, MD, MPH: Dr. Hart is a dual-trained internal medicine and pediatrics physician who came to Nationwide Children’s Hospital after completing a primary care research fellowship and MPH degree. Her research is focused on the transition from pediatric to adult-oriented care, particularly in the primary care setting.
- Rohan Henry, MD: Dr. Henry is an endocrinologist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital whose clinical interests include adrenal and thyroid disorders. His teaching activities include education on growth and thyroid disorders to the medical student clerkship group and also disorders of the adrenal gland to the pediatric residents.
- Amrik Khalsa, MD, MPH: Dr. Khalsa is principal investigator in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice and a dual-trained Internal Medicine and Pediatrics physician at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. His research interests lie in obesity prevention, with a particular focus in early childhood (birth-age 5 years) and families from disadvantaged backgrounds. Some of his current work continues to examine the role of parenting and parental influences on their child’s risk of obesity, including early food introduction.
- Dane Snyder, MD: Dr. Snyder is the Section Chief of the Division of Primary Care Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s, and his clinical interests include asthma, quality improvement, and teaching medical students and residents. In addition to his administrative duties, he provides direct patient care and precepts pediatric residents in their primary care continuity clinic.
- Olivia Thomas, MD: Dr. Thomas is the Chief Diversity and Health Equity Officer at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the former Section Chief of Ambulatory Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s. She also served as the principal investigator of the Child and Family Health Services Grant, a title V program funded through the Ohio Department of Health. Her work is focused on staff diversification within areas where women, men and minorities are most underrepresented compared to the patient population and community.
David Axelson, MD: Dr. Axelson’s research concentrated on the phenomenology and treatment of bipolar disorder, depression and irritable mood in children and adolescents. Since moving to Columbus, OH, he has shifted his professional focus to the development of a comprehensive pediatric mental health system that can provide high-quality care to a large population of youth, train the next generation of providers, and be leveraged to perform clinically relevant research. Ehsan Azadani, DDS: Dr. Azadani’s research concentrated on use of general anesthesia in pediatric dentistry, treatment strategies, cost and optimization. Since joining the department of pediatric dentistry in 2018, he has shifted his research to traumatic dental injuries in children and adolescents including epidemiological aspects, treatment outcomes and cost. Kristen Benninger, MD: Dr. Benninger is a neonatologist and principal investigator in the Center for Perinatal Research, with experience in the neurodevelopmental follow-up of NICU infants, the use of evidence-based standardized neurodevelopmental assessments, and in leading prospective research studies. Her research interests include neuroimaging and long-term neurodevelopment of infants with prenatal opioid exposure, as well as studies of new neuroprotective therapies in infants with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). Andrea Bonny, MD: Dr. Bonny is the section chief of Adolescent Medicine at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and a principal investigator in the Center for Clinical and Translational Research, as well as the director of research for the Division of Adolescent Medicine at Nationwide Children’s. Her research focuses on reproductive health care for adolescents and adolescent substance abuse. Eric Butter, PhD: Dr. Butter is the chief of the Section of Psychology at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the director of the Children’s Development Center. His research has focused on the biomedical correlates and potential etiologies of autism spectrum disorders and ADHD, as well as psychological and medical treatment of these disorders. He is currently the PI for several medical network grants and federally-funded research studies focusing on pediatrics. Eileen Chaves, PhD: Dr. Chaves is a pediatric psychologist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Her research includes recent collaborations with the Teen-LABS Consortium (Teen-Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery), examining change, predictors and correlates of weight- and health-related quality of life in adolescents following bariatric surgery. Laura Chavez, PhD, MPH: Dr. Chavez is a senior research scientist in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and was formerly a postdoctoral researcher and fellow through the Division of Health Services Management and Policy at The Ohio State University’s College of Public Health and the Patient-Centered Pediatric Research Program (PC-PReP) at Nationwide Children’s, respectively. Her research focuses on substance abuse, particularly in adolescents, as well as medication treatment and health care use among adolescents with opioid use disorder. Gil Liu, MD: Dr. Liu is the medical director of Partners for Kids, an accountable care organization that is a collaboration between Nationwide Children’s Hospital and more than 2,100 providers and is fully financially responsible for the health care of 325,000 children and adolescents covered by Medicaid in south central and southeastern Ohio. Partners for Kids’ efforts to improve individual and population health focus on six main areas: quality improvement coaching, care navigation, pharmacy, patient outreach, behavioral health, and community and school-based programs. Beau Meyer, DDS, MPH: Dr. Meyer is a pediatric oral health services researcher whose concentration is at the intersection of disease and behavior management for early childhood caries, with special interest in the use of hospital-based care for dental treatment. In addition to traditional methodologies, he is interested in collaborations to apply spatial data techniques and artificial intelligence or machine learning to more deeply understand dental disease and care-seeking patterns in order to improve care delivery and outcomes. Amy Jo Newmeyer, MD: Dr. Newmeyer is the interim chief of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. She has over 25 years of experience in the field of medicine and is board certified in neurodevelopmental disabilities and pediatrics, with an interest in research on neurodevelopmental disorders. Octavio Ramilo, MD: Dr. Ramilo is the chief of Infectious Diseases at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. He has been involved in translational and clinical research related to the role of the host immune response in pathogenesis of infectious diseases for over 20 years. His current research is focused on pathogenesis and treatment of respiratory infections, especially RSV, and the application of genomics technologies for improving diagnosis and understanding of host responses to infectious agents. Janice Townsend, DDS: Dr. Townsend is the chief of Pediatric Dentistry at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. She has been published on a number of research topics including dental education, pain management after dental procedures, and dentistry for children with special needs. Andrew Tran, MD: Dr. Tran has strengths and training in vascular assessment, research, and preventive cardiology. His focus is to increase patient access to care, improve early health screening and risk stratification, and promote timely management for children with cardiovascular (CV) risk factors such as obesity, lipid disorders, and hypertension. Joshua Watson, MD: Dr. Watson is a pediatric infectious diseases physician. His primary research efforts have focused on clinical/translational and quality improvement studies of pediatric urinary tract infections and antimicrobial stewardship.
- David Axelson, MD: Dr. Axelson’s research concentrated on the phenomenology and treatment of bipolar disorder, depression and irritable mood in children and adolescents. Since moving to Columbus, OH, he has shifted his professional focus to the development of a comprehensive pediatric mental health system that can provide high-quality care to a large population of youth, train the next generation of providers, and be leveraged to perform clinically relevant research.
- Ehsan Azadani, DDS: Dr. Azadani’s research concentrated on use of general anesthesia in pediatric dentistry, treatment strategies, cost and optimization. Since joining the department of pediatric dentistry in 2018, he has shifted his research to traumatic dental injuries in children and adolescents including epidemiological aspects, treatment outcomes and cost.
- Kristen Benninger, MD: Dr. Benninger is a neonatologist and principal investigator in the Center for Perinatal Research, with experience in the neurodevelopmental follow-up of NICU infants, the use of evidence-based standardized neurodevelopmental assessments, and in leading prospective research studies. Her research interests include neuroimaging and long-term neurodevelopment of infants with prenatal opioid exposure, as well as studies of new neuroprotective therapies in infants with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE).
- Andrea Bonny, MD: Dr. Bonny is the section chief of Adolescent Medicine at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and a principal investigator in the Center for Clinical and Translational Research, as well as the director of research for the Division of Adolescent Medicine at Nationwide Children’s. Her research focuses on reproductive health care for adolescents and adolescent substance abuse.
- Eric Butter, PhD: Dr. Butter is the chief of the Section of Psychology at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the director of the Children’s Development Center. His research has focused on the biomedical correlates and potential etiologies of autism spectrum disorders and ADHD, as well as psychological and medical treatment of these disorders. He is currently the PI for several medical network grants and federally-funded research studies focusing on pediatrics.
- Eileen Chaves, PhD: Dr. Chaves is a pediatric psychologist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Her research includes recent collaborations with the Teen-LABS Consortium (Teen-Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery), examining change, predictors and correlates of weight- and health-related quality of life in adolescents following bariatric surgery.
- Laura Chavez, PhD, MPH: Dr. Chavez is a senior research scientist in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and was formerly a postdoctoral researcher and fellow through the Division of Health Services Management and Policy at The Ohio State University’s College of Public Health and the Patient-Centered Pediatric Research Program (PC-PReP) at Nationwide Children’s, respectively. Her research focuses on substance abuse, particularly in adolescents, as well as medication treatment and health care use among adolescents with opioid use disorder.
- Gil Liu, MD: Dr. Liu is the medical director of Partners for Kids, an accountable care organization that is a collaboration between Nationwide Children’s Hospital and more than 2,100 providers and is fully financially responsible for the health care of 325,000 children and adolescents covered by Medicaid in south central and southeastern Ohio. Partners for Kids’ efforts to improve individual and population health focus on six main areas: quality improvement coaching, care navigation, pharmacy, patient outreach, behavioral health, and community and school-based programs.
- Beau Meyer, DDS, MPH: Dr. Meyer is a pediatric oral health services researcher whose concentration is at the intersection of disease and behavior management for early childhood caries, with special interest in the use of hospital-based care for dental treatment. In addition to traditional methodologies, he is interested in collaborations to apply spatial data techniques and artificial intelligence or machine learning to more deeply understand dental disease and care-seeking patterns in order to improve care delivery and outcomes.
- Amy Jo Newmeyer, MD: Dr. Newmeyer is the interim chief of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. She has over 25 years of experience in the field of medicine and is board certified in neurodevelopmental disabilities and pediatrics, with an interest in research on neurodevelopmental disorders.
- Octavio Ramilo, MD: Dr. Ramilo is the chief of Infectious Diseases at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. He has been involved in translational and clinical research related to the role of the host immune response in pathogenesis of infectious diseases for over 20 years. His current research is focused on pathogenesis and treatment of respiratory infections, especially RSV, and the application of genomics technologies for improving diagnosis and understanding of host responses to infectious agents.
- Janice Townsend, DDS: Dr. Townsend is the chief of Pediatric Dentistry at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. She has been published on a number of research topics including dental education, pain management after dental procedures, and dentistry for children with special needs.
- Andrew Tran, MD: Dr. Tran has strengths and training in vascular assessment, research, and preventive cardiology. His focus is to increase patient access to care, improve early health screening and risk stratification, and promote timely management for children with cardiovascular (CV) risk factors such as obesity, lipid disorders, and hypertension.
- Joshua Watson, MD: Dr. Watson is a pediatric infectious diseases physician. His primary research efforts have focused on clinical/translational and quality improvement studies of pediatric urinary tract infections and antimicrobial stewardship.
Jeff Bridge, PhD: Dr. Bridge is an epidemiologist and principal investigator in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice. His research focuses on the epidemiology of suicidal behavior in young people, neurocognitive vulnerability to suicidal behavior, and on improving the quality of care for suicidal youth and adolescents who have attempted suicide. Deena Chisolm, PhD: Dr. Chisolm is the Director of the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice in the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Her research focuses on improving the health and healthcare of minority and at-risk adolescents through community development interventions and health policy innovations with an emphasis on children with special health care needs and behavioral health issues. She has explored questions in these areas using a combination of epidemiologic, health services, and qualitative research methods. Jennifer Cooper, PhD: Dr. Cooper is a principal investigator in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice and an epidemiologist and biostatistician with a focus on health services and comparative effectiveness research in pediatric health care, particularly pediatric surgery. Dr. Cooper’s research involves the use of large clinical and administrative databases, and the use and development of novel methods in statistics and data science. Sarah Keim, PhD: Sarah Keim, PhD, is a pediatric and perinatal epidemiologist primarily interested in the role of early life nutritional influences on child development, behavior and growth. A main interest of hers is breastfeeding – the benefits of breastfeeding as well as challenges women and children face with successful feeding. She is also involved in research on childhood obesity, special populations including children born preterm and children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and the effects of prenatal exposures on child outcomes (e.g., marijuana exposure, maternal diet). She conducts both observational studies and clinical trials. Kelly Kelleher, MD: Dr. Kelleher is a pediatrician whose research interests focus on accessibility, effectiveness, and quality of health care services for children and their families, especially those affected by mental disorders, substance abuse, or violence. He has a longstanding interest in formal outcomes research for mental health and substance abuse services. Simon Lin, MD, MBA: Dr. Lin is the Chief Research Information Officer at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and leads a team of more than 30 IT professionals, consisting of user experience designers, game designers, software developers, infrastructure analysts, data security analysts, database analysts, project scientists, and data scientists to collaborate with physicians and researchers on designing, evaluating, and delivering healthcare innovation. Jack Stevens, PhD: Dr. Stevens’ area of expertise is behavioral economics – an interdisciplinary field featuring insights from psychology, economics, and marketing – to enhance decision-making of clinicians and patients in order to promote their long-term best interests. He collaborates with internal and external partners on research and quality improvement projects designed to improve pediatric health, and has spoken nationally and internationally on behavioral economics. Jinyu Xu, PhD: Dr. Xu’s training is in Nutritional Sciences and Epidemiology, and her research interest is in childhood obesity. Specifically, she is interested in understanding the impacts of early life exposures to environment, like diet/nutrition and social stress, on the development of childhood obesity. She is also involved in studying multi-sector interventions to prevent childhood obesity.
- Jeff Bridge, PhD: Dr. Bridge is an epidemiologist and principal investigator in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice. His research focuses on the epidemiology of suicidal behavior in young people, neurocognitive vulnerability to suicidal behavior, and on improving the quality of care for suicidal youth and adolescents who have attempted suicide.
- Deena Chisolm, PhD: Dr. Chisolm is the Director of the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice in the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Her research focuses on improving the health and healthcare of minority and at-risk adolescents through community development interventions and health policy innovations with an emphasis on children with special health care needs and behavioral health issues. She has explored questions in these areas using a combination of epidemiologic, health services, and qualitative research methods.
- Jennifer Cooper, PhD: Dr. Cooper is a principal investigator in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice and an epidemiologist and biostatistician with a focus on health services and comparative effectiveness research in pediatric health care, particularly pediatric surgery. Dr. Cooper’s research involves the use of large clinical and administrative databases, and the use and development of novel methods in statistics and data science.
- Sarah Keim, PhD: Sarah Keim, PhD, is a pediatric and perinatal epidemiologist primarily interested in the role of early life nutritional influences on child development, behavior and growth. A main interest of hers is breastfeeding – the benefits of breastfeeding as well as challenges women and children face with successful feeding. She is also involved in research on childhood obesity, special populations including children born preterm and children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and the effects of prenatal exposures on child outcomes (e.g., marijuana exposure, maternal diet). She conducts both observational studies and clinical trials.
- Kelly Kelleher, MD: Dr. Kelleher is a pediatrician whose research interests focus on accessibility, effectiveness, and quality of health care services for children and their families, especially those affected by mental disorders, substance abuse, or violence. He has a longstanding interest in formal outcomes research for mental health and substance abuse services.
- Simon Lin, MD, MBA: Dr. Lin is the Chief Research Information Officer at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and leads a team of more than 30 IT professionals, consisting of user experience designers, game designers, software developers, infrastructure analysts, data security analysts, database analysts, project scientists, and data scientists to collaborate with physicians and researchers on designing, evaluating, and delivering healthcare innovation.
- Jack Stevens, PhD: Dr. Stevens’ area of expertise is behavioral economics – an interdisciplinary field featuring insights from psychology, economics, and marketing – to enhance decision-making of clinicians and patients in order to promote their long-term best interests. He collaborates with internal and external partners on research and quality improvement projects designed to improve pediatric health, and has spoken nationally and internationally on behavioral economics.
- Jinyu Xu, PhD: Dr. Xu’s training is in Nutritional Sciences and Epidemiology, and her research interest is in childhood obesity. Specifically, she is interested in understanding the impacts of early life exposures to environment, like diet/nutrition and social stress, on the development of childhood obesity. She is also involved in studying multi-sector interventions to prevent childhood obesity.
Sarah Anderson, PhD: Dr. Anderson’s research focuses on understanding psychosocial influences on children’s growth and development, with a particular focus on childhood obesity prevention. Her research has contributed to the understanding of obesity in preschool-aged children through analyses of large cohort studies, including the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B); the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD); and the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Study (FACES). Eugene Arnold, MD: Dr. Arnold’s research focuses on new drug development and alternative and complementary treatments for autism and ADHD. His research includes aromatic essential oil therapy for autism spectrum disorder, omega-3 fatty acids for mood disorders, neurofeedback for ADHD, nutrition and mental health, and clinical trials. Seuli Brill, MD: As research director for the Division of General Internal Medicine at OSU, Dr. Brill leads her own research program and guides other providers in the Division with their research. Dr. Brill’s research is based on provider/patient communication – how doctors talk to patients about medical problems and how they want to be cared for, both in minor ailments and terminal illness. Dr. Brill is passionate about her research and how the language we use impacts real world clinical problems. Christopher Hanks, MD: Dr. Hanks is the medical director of the Center for Autism Services and Transition at OSU and works primarily with patients diagnosed with chronic childhood illness, with a specific focus on autism. Dr. Hanks is involved in programs designed to develop new approaches of treatment for autism and focuses on improving access to care by understanding potential barriers and helping patients navigate the healthcare system. Laura Justice, PhD: Dr. Justice is the executive director of the Schoenbaum Family Center and Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy at OSU. Dr. Justice’s research primarily focuses on young children who exhibit developmental vulnerabilities in language and literacy acquisition. Much of her research considers the effects of teacher- or parent-implemented interventions on children’s learning, including the effective use of storybooks. She is also interested in the state of classroom quality in early childhood and how various aspects of quality affect children’s gains within the classroom. Jill Hollway, PhD, MA: Dr. Hollway’s research focus is individuals with intellectual disabilities, and her past work involved the treatment of severe behavioral problems in children with autism spectrum disorder. More recently, she has been principal investigator or co-investigator on a number of clinical trials and intervention studies in children and adults with autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, and intellectual disabilities. Her research has included both pharma and investigator-driven studies. Bernadette Melnyk, PhD, RN: Dr. Melnyk is a nationally/internationally recognized leader in assisting healthcare organizations translate research-based intervention guidelines into real-world clinical settings in the form of evidence-based practice. As Vice President for Health Promotion and University Chief Wellness Officer at OSU, she has over 30 years of experience in conducting randomized controlled trials with at-risk children, adolescents, young adults, and parents. Keeley Pratt, PhD: Dr. Pratt’s research interests focus on three specific areas of child/adolescent obesity, family and weight-related behaviors: (1) intergenerational family-based factors (i.e. parenting and feeding styles, family functioning) that contribute to or are modifiable in the treatment of child/adolescent obesity; (2) analyzing intergenerational family and child/adolescent outcomes from integrated multidisciplinary care models in the treatment of child/adolescent obesity; and (3) assessing and expanding the field of CFT (and other mental health professions) to include clinician training on systemic weight-related behaviors in families, and training to work with clients and families who are struggling with overweight and obesity. Elisabeth Root, PhD: Dr. Root’s research is situated at the intersection of geography and public health. Using spatial statistical methods and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Dr. Root integrates socioeconomic and environmental context into studies of disease processes and health behaviors. The goals of her research are to: 1) better understand geographical patterns of human health across diverse settings, 2) examine how local and regional context drives these patterns of disease, and 3) model the effect of major health and development interventions across these diverse settings.
- Sarah Anderson, PhD: Dr. Anderson’s research focuses on understanding psychosocial influences on children’s growth and development, with a particular focus on childhood obesity prevention. Her research has contributed to the understanding of obesity in preschool-aged children through analyses of large cohort studies, including the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B); the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD); and the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Study (FACES).
- Eugene Arnold, MD: Dr. Arnold’s research focuses on new drug development and alternative and complementary treatments for autism and ADHD. His research includes aromatic essential oil therapy for autism spectrum disorder, omega-3 fatty acids for mood disorders, neurofeedback for ADHD, nutrition and mental health, and clinical trials.
- Seuli Brill, MD: As research director for the Division of General Internal Medicine at OSU, Dr. Brill leads her own research program and guides other providers in the Division with their research. Dr. Brill’s research is based on provider/patient communication – how doctors talk to patients about medical problems and how they want to be cared for, both in minor ailments and terminal illness. Dr. Brill is passionate about her research and how the language we use impacts real world clinical problems.
- Christopher Hanks, MD: Dr. Hanks is the medical director of the Center for Autism Services and Transition at OSU and works primarily with patients diagnosed with chronic childhood illness, with a specific focus on autism. Dr. Hanks is involved in programs designed to develop new approaches of treatment for autism and focuses on improving access to care by understanding potential barriers and helping patients navigate the healthcare system.
- Laura Justice, PhD: Dr. Justice is the executive director of the Schoenbaum Family Center and Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy at OSU. Dr. Justice’s research primarily focuses on young children who exhibit developmental vulnerabilities in language and literacy acquisition. Much of her research considers the effects of teacher- or parent-implemented interventions on children’s learning, including the effective use of storybooks. She is also interested in the state of classroom quality in early childhood and how various aspects of quality affect children’s gains within the classroom.
- Jill Hollway, PhD, MA: Dr. Hollway’s research focus is individuals with intellectual disabilities, and her past work involved the treatment of severe behavioral problems in children with autism spectrum disorder. More recently, she has been principal investigator or co-investigator on a number of clinical trials and intervention studies in children and adults with autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, and intellectual disabilities. Her research has included both pharma and investigator-driven studies.
- Bernadette Melnyk, PhD, RN: Dr. Melnyk is a nationally/internationally recognized leader in assisting healthcare organizations translate research-based intervention guidelines into real-world clinical settings in the form of evidence-based practice. As Vice President for Health Promotion and University Chief Wellness Officer at OSU, she has over 30 years of experience in conducting randomized controlled trials with at-risk children, adolescents, young adults, and parents.
- Keeley Pratt, PhD: Dr. Pratt’s research interests focus on three specific areas of child/adolescent obesity, family and weight-related behaviors: (1) intergenerational family-based factors (i.e. parenting and feeding styles, family functioning) that contribute to or are modifiable in the treatment of child/adolescent obesity; (2) analyzing intergenerational family and child/adolescent outcomes from integrated multidisciplinary care models in the treatment of child/adolescent obesity; and (3) assessing and expanding the field of CFT (and other mental health professions) to include clinician training on systemic weight-related behaviors in families, and training to work with clients and families who are struggling with overweight and obesity.
- Elisabeth Root, PhD: Dr. Root’s research is situated at the intersection of geography and public health. Using spatial statistical methods and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Dr. Root integrates socioeconomic and environmental context into studies of disease processes and health behaviors. The goals of her research are to: 1) better understand geographical patterns of human health across diverse settings, 2) examine how local and regional context drives these patterns of disease, and 3) model the effect of major health and development interventions across these diverse settings.
Mysheika Roberts, MD, MPH: As Health Commissioner for Columbus Public Health, Dr. Roberts is the chief executive officer for the Health Department, with a team of nearly 500 public health professionals and more than 40 programs. Dr. Roberts leads efforts to address critical issues in infant mortality, the opioid epidemic, tobacco use, gun violence and obesity and to impact neighborhood-based approaches that address the social determinants of health to decrease health disparities Carrie Baker: Carrie currently serves as President and CEO of the Healthcare Collaborative of Greater Columbus, an independent, non-profit organization committed to transforming healthcare to ensure that all people in the Columbus region have the best healthcare possible, with special focus on increasing health equity and engaging multiple stakeholders – all provider types, payers, purchasers, and consumers – in improvement and coordination activities.
- Mysheika Roberts, MD, MPH: As Health Commissioner for Columbus Public Health, Dr. Roberts is the chief executive officer for the Health Department, with a team of nearly 500 public health professionals and more than 40 programs. Dr. Roberts leads efforts to address critical issues in infant mortality, the opioid epidemic, tobacco use, gun violence and obesity and to impact neighborhood-based approaches that address the social determinants of health to decrease health disparities
- Carrie Baker: Carrie currently serves as President and CEO of the Healthcare Collaborative of Greater Columbus, an independent, non-profit organization committed to transforming healthcare to ensure that all people in the Columbus region have the best healthcare possible, with special focus on increasing health equity and engaging multiple stakeholders – all provider types, payers, purchasers, and consumers – in improvement and coordination activities.
