Faculty

Bio

Emily Borman-Shoap joined the Department of Pediatrics in August, 2007, and is the Program Director for the Pediatric Residency Program and Vice Chair for Education. She also works as a general pediatrician at the Fairview Children's Clinic and at the University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital.
Dr. Borman-Shoap graduated from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She then completed her pediatric residency at the University of Minnesota. She received the Susan B. Vincent resident teaching award at the completion of her residency in 2006. She served as a chief resident at the University of Minnesota from 2006-2007.
Her area of focus is medical education with a special emphasis on competency-based medical education, innovation in curricular design, and mentorship.

Bio

Dr. Borowsky is Professor of Pediatrics, Director of the Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Health (DOGPAH), and Gisela and E. Paul Konopka Chair in Adolescent Health and Development at the University of Minnesota. As a general pediatrician, she enjoys caring for patients and their families and teaching future health care professionals at the Community University Health Care Center (CUHCC), a Federally Qualified Health Center serving the diverse community of South Minneapolis. She is passionate about CUHCC's mission of transforming care and education to advance health equity and DOGPAH's commitment to achieving health, justice, and positive development for all children, youth, and families through community-centered health care, research, education, and advocacy. Her research focuses on youth violence prevention, structural and contextual factors underlying health and health behaviors, and advancing health equity. Mentoring medical, graduate, undergraduate, and high school students, as well as residents, fellows, and junior faculty in multiple disciplines continues to be a career highlight.

Research Summary

Social determinants of youth health and equity; Development of effective strategies to promote psychosocial health among children, youth, and families; Prevention of youth interpersonal and self-directed violence
Youth Violence Prevention Expert Alert
Talking youth violence prevention awareness with U of M

Clinical Summary

Pediatric primary health care; Relationship-centered care; Strength-based and upstream actions to promote health and justice

Bio

Calla Brown is an internist and pediatrician with clinical and research interests that include primary care, care of complex chronic medical conditions in children and adults, community health, and health justice. In her current position she practices med/peds primary care at the Community University Health Care Center and is the medical director of YAP [Youth and AIDS Projects].

Research Summary

Dr. Brown is specifically interested in the intersection of health, human rights, and immigration/migration as well as community health and health justice.

Bio

Dr. Eisenberg is a Professor in Pediatrics in the Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Health. She received her baccalaureate degree from the University of Wisconsin and her Master of Public Health from the University of Minnesota, School of Public Health. Dr. Eisenberg earned her Doctor of Science degree from Harvard University School of Public Health and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Adolescent Health at the University of Minnesota.

Research Summary

Dr. Eisenberg focuses her research on social influences on health, behavior, and well-being among adolescents and young adults, and disseminates findings for real-world application. She is particularly interested in interpersonal, organizational, and structural forces that shape the experience of LGBTQ+ youth, including those with intersecting marginalized social positions. Learn more about Dr. Eisenberg's research on the Experts profile and at HealthEASY.

Bio

Janna R. Gewirtz O'Brien, MD, MPH, FAAP, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota and provides clinical care to adolescents and young adults at Hennepin Healthcare in the Adolescent Medicine Clinic embedded within the Pediatrics Clinic in Downtown Minneapolis. Her clinical work, research, and advocacy are deeply interconnected and focus on how primary care and community-based health services can most effectively and equitably serve youth from historically marginalized communities, particularly youth experiencing homelessness. Her clinical interests include adolescent sexual and reproductive health, adolescent pregnancy and parenthood, adolescent mental health and substance use, and eating disorders among diverse populations, with a focus on promoting equity and addressing social drivers of health in primary care and community-based clinical settings. She also serves on the Executive Board of the Minnesota Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and is an active member of Minnesota Doctors for Health Equity, the Minnesota School-based Health Alliance, and the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine.

Bio

Dr. Cathy Jordan, pediatric neuropsychologist by training, is a Professor of Pediatrics as well as the Institute on the Environment's (IonE) Director for Leadership and Education.  At IonE, Cathy leads a team that cultivates sustainability awareness in students and supports sustainability-savvy leaders with the skills that make them more effective change agents.
As a former pediatric neuropsychologist, Cathy has had a long-standing interest in the influence of environments on children's health and development. Early in her career she focused on the influence of environmental risks, such as lead overburden, on children's cognitive and behavioral development. She later turned her attention to the positive impact of nature contact – through nature play, nature-based learning, and therapeutic uses of nature – on children's physical and mental health and educational outcomes and development of a stewardship ethic. Cathy believes that the establishment of a strong connection to the natural world is critical to both child development and the development of concern for our planet, and it is important to establish that connection in childhood.
Cathy also serves as the consulting Director of Research for the Children & Nature Network, a national nonprofit leading a global movement to increase equitable access to nature so that children – and natural places – can thrive. In this role, Cathy leads efforts to make the burgeoning body of research evidence on nature's benefits accessible to diverse audiences and to network researchers and practitioners across the country in efforts to advance research on nature-based learning and the translation of that research to formal and nonformal educational practice.
Cathy has worked extensively in efforts to build capacity for participatory partnerships between academic institutions and communities, and to support the community-engaged scholars that do this work. Cathy co-developed and co-taught for six years a course on community-based participatory research for a mixed audience of graduate students and community leaders. She has also developed several resources for faculty seeking promotion or tenure as community-engaged scholars and for Promotion & Tenure Committee members seeking to enhance their capacity to fairly evaluate community-engaged scholars for career advancement. She offers several professional development workshops to faculty, staff, students, and Promotion & Tenure Committee members at University of Minnesota. In recognition of her contributions to community-engaged scholarship, she is an inaugural inductee of the Academy of Community Engagement Scholarship, and recipient of the 2018 Medical School nomination for the President's Community Engaged Scholar Award, the 2018 Department of Pediatrics Child Health Advocacy Award and the 2012 President's Outstanding Community Service Award.
Cathy earned her B.A. with high honors in psychology from Oberlin College and her PhD in clinical psychology from Wayne State University and completed post-doctoral training in pediatric neuropsychology at the University of Minnesota.

Research Summary

Community-based Participatory Research; Community-engaged Scholarship; Nature-based educationl; Developmental impact of outdoor experiences on youth

Bio

Sarah M. Kaja, PhD (she/her) is an Assistant Professor in the Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Health. Dr. Kaja received her bachelor's degree from the University of Florida, master's degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and doctoral degree from the University of Minnesota School of Kinesiology. Dr. Kaja also completed a 2-year postdoctoral research fellowship in the Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Health prior to her faculty position.

Research Summary

Dr. Kaja's research focuses on optimizing the contributions of sport and physical activity to young people's development. She is particularly interested in how sport and physical activity environments can support children and adolescents' social and mental health. Dr. Kaja conducts stakeholder-informed observational and intervention research with populations facing concomitant disparities in sport, physical activity, and well-being. 

Bio

Dr. Oshodi is a pediatrician with clinical and research interests that include primary care, care of children with chronic medical conditions and special needs and global health. In her current position she practices at the Fairview University Children's clinic and the Masonic Institute of Developing Brain (MIDB).   

Clinical Summary

Dr. Oshodi's patient care philosophy is rooted in her personal experience as a parent of a medically complex child. She emphasizes transparent communication, actively involving patients and families in decisions, and recognizing parents of special needs children as vital partners in their care. Her approach seamlessly blends empathy and medical expertise.

Bio

Peter Scal, MD, MPH, is an Associate Professor in the Division of Academic General Pediatrics. His work within the Division began in 1995 during medial school research rotation. He is currently undertaking a faculty development fellowship in Health Services Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota/School of Public Health focusing on the systems of care for youth with chronic conditions and transition to adulthood (9/2003-8/2005). He completed a two-year fellowship in Academic General Pediatrics with an emphasis on both the prevention of risk behaviors among adolescents as well as the care for children and adolescents with chronic illness and disability. Prior to his fellowship, he completed Pediatric residency at the University of Minnesota.
Current research projects include an analysis of the factors influencing the adequacy of services meant to foster the transition of adolescent with special health care needs from pediatrics to adult oriented care as well as an analysis of the racial/ethnic disparities in the parent-provider interactions among parents of adolescents with special needs. He recently completed an evaluation of a curriculum for preparing pediatric residents to provide tobacco use prevention and cessation counseling to children, adolescents, and parents as well as analysis of the risk and protective factors for youth tobacco use.
Dr. Scal's clinical and teaching activities are focused at the St. Joseph's Home for Children Community Clinic where he is the Medical Director. St. Joseph's is a community based service center for the children of Hennepin County who are either in, or at risk for, out of home placement. Additionally he attends on the Academic General Pediatrics in-patient service.

Bio

Rebecca Shlafer, PhD, MPH, is an Associate Professor in the Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Health. Dr. Shlafer joined the faculty in September 2012 after completing a two-year, post-doctoral fellowship in the Division (2010-2012). Dr. Shlafer completed her Masters in Human Development and Family Studies at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, and her PhD in Child Psychology at the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Shlafer's research focuses on promoting the health and well-being of children and families exposed to the criminal legal system. Much of her work focuses on the health of children with parents in prison and jail, as well as the programs and policies that impact families affected by incarceration.
Dr. Shlafer has taught the writing seminar for the interdisciplinary training program in Adolescent Health, as well as undergraduate courses in Child Psychology and through the University Honors program. 
In addition to her research and teaching activities, Dr. Shlafer served as a volunteer guardian ad litem in Hennepin County for nearly 10 years where she served as an advocate for abused and neglected children involved in juvenile court.

Bio

Nimi Singh, MD, MPH, is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Adolescent Medicine Fellowship in the Division of Adolescent Health and Medicine at the University of Minnesota. She received her undergraduate degree at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania and her medical degree at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. In conjunction with her residency in Pediatrics and International Child Health at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland Ohio, she pursued a Masters in Medical Anthropology at Case Western Reserve University, and a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Fellowship at the University of Washington in Seattle, where she also received a Masters in Public Health. She then completed her training with a fellowship in Adolescent Medicine at the University of Washington. During her career she has also pursued further training in lifestyle and integrative medicine, honing her expertise in counseling teens on optimizing their health and wellbeing. Dr. Singh is currently pursuing the Clinical Scholars academic track. Her clinical and research interests have focused on disenfranchised youth including homeless and incarcerated youth, and on the mental health needs of youth in varying socioeconomic and cultural contexts. Currently she is focused on exploring, teaching, and evaluating means by which to promote mental health and resilience in youth, as well as in medical students, residents, and medical faculty. In June 2003 and 2007, she was the recipient of the Outstanding Faculty Educator Award by the Dept. of Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine.

Clinical Summary

Adolescent medicine; Adolescent anxiety; Adolescent depression; Adolescent eating disorders