Pediatrics Leadership

Bio

Bryce A. Binstadt, MD, PhD, is an Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Rheumatology, Allergy, and Immunology and a Distinguished University Teaching Professor. Dr. Binstadt cares for children with arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, dermatomyositis, and related rheumatologic disorders. He heads a laboratory in the University of Minnesota's Center for Immunology focused on understanding the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases with particular emphasis on immune-mediated cardiovascular disease. He is the Director of the Pediatric Rheumatology Fellowship Training Program, an Associate Director of the Medical Scientist Training Program (MD/PhD), and Director of the Pediatric Physician Scientist Training Program.

Dr. Binstadt received his MD degree from Mayo Medical School and his PhD in Immunology from Mayo Graduate School in Rochester, MN. He then completed his residency in the Boston Combined Residency Program in Pediatrics at Boston Children's Hospital and Boston Medical Center, followed by fellowship training in Pediatric Rheumatology at Boston Children's Hospital. He served as an attending physician in the Rheumatology Program at Boston Children's Hospital/Harvard Medical School as well as a research fellow in the Section on Immunology and Immunogenetics at the Joslin Diabetes Center for two years before joining the faculty at the University of Minnesota in 2007. Dr. Binstadt is board-certified in Pediatrics and Pediatric Rheumatology.

Research Summary

Autoimmunity, Innate Immunity
The Binstadt Laboratory is broadly interested in autoimmune disease pathogenesis.

One main line of investigation focuses on how systemic autoimmune diseases lead to cardiovascular inflammation and damage. We use the K/BxN T cell receptor (TCR) transgenic mouse model. K/BxN mice spontaneously develop both inflammatory arthritis and autoimmune valvular carditis. We use this model to study the effector pathways driving the cardiac valve inflammation. Current projects seek to understand the key contributions of macrophage subsets and cytokines in this model.

A second line of research focuses on the potential role of dual TCR T cells in the development of autoimmune diseases. Ongoing projects are focused on a) the contribution of dual TCR T cells to type I diabetes and other autoimmune diseases and b) engineering a dual TCRα reporter mouse.

Finally, new projects seek to understand the contribution of the nervous system to inflammatory arthritis, using the K/BxN serum-transferred arthritis model.

Current Funding Sources:

• National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• American College of Rheumatology/Rheumatology Research Foundation

Clinical Summary

Juvenile dermatomyositis; Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis; Pediatric autoimmune diseases; Systemic lupus erythematosus

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

Dr. Dobyns is Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Division of Genetics and Metabolism at the University of Minnesota. He joined the Faculty in June 2020 for his second tour at the U, having worked in the Division of Pediatric Neurology from 1992-1998. He is a physician-scientist who studies the nature and causes of developmental brain disorders, and is a leading authority on the causes of human brain malformations. While best known for his work on lissencephaly (smooth brain) and megalencephaly (enlarged brain), he provided the original descriptions for more than 10 clinically recognizable and now well-known syndromes including Smith-Magenis syndrome, rapid-onset dystonia-parkinsonism, coloboma-renal syndrome, bilateral frontoparietal cobblestone malformation, megalencephaly-capillary malformation syndrome (MCAP), megalencephaly-polymicrogyria-polydactly-hydrocephalus syndrome (MPPH) and X-linked lissencephaly with abnormal genitalia (XLAG), all of these now linked to the underlying gene or genes. He co-discovered at least 14 pathogenic copy number variants including the well-known deletion 17p13.3 (Miller-Dieker syndrome), deletion 17p11.2 (Smith-Magenis syndrome) and deletion 16p11.2 (autism and intellectual disability), and co-discovered almost 70 human disease genes.
Dr. Dobyns has also designed and published the major classification systems now in use for brain malformation, and several of the terms that we now use for these disorders come from his work, for example: "malformations of cortical development"; "cobblestone malformation", and "dysgyria". He has also made contributions on the causes of neurodegenerative disorders and developmental disorders of other systems, such as vascular malformations. Dr. Dobyns has served as Principle Investigator on major NIH grants since 1999, and recently published his 400th peer-reviewed scientific paper. In recognition of these and other accomplishments, he received the 2018 Bernard Sachs Award for research in neuroscience with relevance to the care of children with neurological disorders from the Child Neurology Society.

Research Summary

Neurodevelopmental disorders especially those associated with abnormal brain size, malformations and epilepsy, vascular malformations, mosaicism. 

Bio

Dr. Gross is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics. She completed her MS at North Dakota State University and PhD at Western Michigan University. Her clinical internship was in Behavioral Pediatrics at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and post-doctoral fellowship was at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Gross is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. Dr. Gross is the Section Head and Training Director of the Pediatric Psychology Program at the University of Minnesota. Her clinical interests include pediatric weight management and weight loss surgery; chronic disease management; as well as Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders and other neurodevelopmental disorders. Dr. Gross is actively involved in NIH-funded research in the area of pediatric severe obesity. She is the Associate Director for Clinical Care in the Center for Pediatric Obesity Medicine at the University of Minnesota, and is a member of the Association for Behavior Analysis and The Obesity Society.

Dr. Gross is involved in the following clinics:
- Pediatric Psychology
- Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders
- International Adoption Clinic
- Pediatric Weight Management Clinic
- Teen Weight Loss Surgery Clinic
- Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Follow-up Clinic
- Metabolic Disorders Follow-up Clinic

Bio

Dr. Sameer Gupta is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and the Division Director of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Gupta attended Case Western Reserve University where he received his bachelor's degree in Biomedical Engineering. He then went on to receive his MD degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Dr. Gupta completed his Pediatric Residency and Pediatric Critical Care fellowship at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio.
Dr. Gupta currently serves as Vice President of Medical Affairs for M Health Fairview Masonic Children's Hospital.
Dr. Gupta's academic interests are in ventilator associated events, quality improvement and patient safety.

Clinical Summary

Patient safety; Quality Improvement; Cardiac Critical Care; Organizational Culture

Bio

Jeff Louie, MD, is Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Emergency Medicine and staff physician at M Health Fairview Masonic Children's Hospital.

Research Summary

Quality control and safety; Introduction of new technology to the bedside; Improving education processes for nurses, nurse practitioners, and physicians

Bio

Dr. MacMillan is Professor in Pediatrics in the Division of Blood and Marrow Transplant & Cellular Therapy at the University of Minnesota. Dr. MacMillan received her MSc and MD from the University of Toronto in 1991. She completed residency in Pediatrics and a fellowship in Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at the Hospital for Sick Children at the University of Toronto in 1997. She then completed a fellowship in Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplantation at the University of Minnesota and joined the faculty in 1999.
Dr. MacMillan's clinical focus is allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation for children with malignant and non-malignant diseases, especially Fanconi anemia. Dr. MacMillan is Director of the Kidz1stFund Comprehensive Fanconi Anemia Center at the University of Minnesota, which funds innovative cellular and gene therapy research for Fanconi anemia. Her research interests also include graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), especially the development and implementation of novel strategies to prevent and treat acute GVHD, and the optimization of acute GVHD clinical trial design by determining GVHD risk and best trial endpoints.
Dr. MacMillan holds 3 INDs for cellular therapy and has an excellent understanding of the regulatory requirements of translational research. She has authored more than 150 peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters and is a member of numerous professional societies.

Research Summary

1. Acute Graft-Versus-Host Disease: T regulatory cells to prevent GVHD & Novel pharmacologic agents/ regimens
2. Fanconi anemia: Novel preparative therapies, Gene therapy - multipotent adult stem cell, & Mechanisms to speed immune recovery and reduce infection after transplantation
3. Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia: Novel phase I agents & Novel preparative therapies

Clinical Summary

Clinical specialties: Blood and Marrow Transplantation, Fanconi Anemia, Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia

Bio

Dr. Marmet grew up in Los Angeles, California. He majored in Spanish and Zoology at University of Wisconsin – Madison, and went on to study medicine at Tel Aviv University in Israel, experiencing their system of universal health care. Following Pediatrics residency and an additional teaching year as a chief resident at the University of Minnesota, Dr. Marmet joined South Lake Pediatrics, where he enjoyed being a primary care Pediatrician for six years. During those years, he worked on many quality and process improvement projects, most notably on anaphylaxis and on nutrition and healthy lifestyles. In 2010, Dr. Marmet returned to the University of Minnesota as a Pediatric Hospitalist, to focus on acutely ill children admitted to the hospital. He went on to lead the Division of Pediatric Hospital Medicine, which cares for pediatric patients at three Twin Cities hospitals, in medical and behavioral units, newborn areas, as well as providing chronic pain and palliative care. Dr. Marmet has pursued interests in quality improvement, patient safety, and education. He has been involved in leadership roles in organizational care for newborn babies and children of all ages admitted to the hospital.

Dr. Marmet is a husband, and proud father of three adolescent children. He enjoys travel, reading, movies, skiing, and biking.

Clinical Summary

Anaphylaxis; Complex medical conditions; General Pediatrics; Hospital-based care; Nutrition and healthy lifestyles

Bio

Dr. Miller completed his Pediatric residency (2000) and Pediatric Endocrinology fellowship (2003) at the Mayo Clinic. He is a Professor in Pediatric Endocrinology, and has been a member of the division since 2003. Dr. Miller has an interest in the role of the growth hormone (GH)/insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system in normal and abnormal growth in children. Additionally, he is interested in the growth and development of children following adversity including cancer and its therapies, fetal alcohol exposure, and international adoption. Dr. Miller is also interested in the endocrine aspects of abnormal glycosylation in children with Congenital Disorders of Glycosylation. Lastly, Dr. Miller is also interested in Achondroplasia and other skeletal dysplasia conditions.

Research Summary

Growth, Puberty and Bone Disorders, Rare Disease

Clinical Summary

General Disorders of Growth and Puberty; Endocrine problems in cancer and bone marrow transplant survivors; Growth and pubertal disorders in children who have experienced early adversity including International Adoption, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Prematurity and Small for Gestational Age; Congenital Disorders of Glycosylation; Adrenoleukodystrophy; Fanconi Anemia; Neurofibromatosis; Prader Willi Syndrome; Russell-Silver Syndrome; Skeletal Dysplasia including Achondroplasia.

Bio

Dr. Pianosi is Canadian by birth, of Italian origin, and thus hold multiple citizenships. He obtained his MD from the University of Toronto, completed a pediatric residency at the University of Ottawa (Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario), and pediatric respiratory medicine fellowship at McGill University (Montreal Children's Hospital.

After his training, he went on to become an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Child Health at the University of Manitoba, then Associate Professor with tenure at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. After practicing in Canada for 15 years, he moved to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota where he practiced for another 12 years, reaching Full Professor level in Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.

In April of 2017 he moved to King's College Hospital, where he spent a little more than a year, but eventually opted to return to the University of Minnesota where he believed he would have the best opportunity to pursue research in an existing exercise testing lab for pediatric subjects.

Research Summary

In recent years, I have turned my attention to studying the clinical problem of dyspnea in children and adolescents. I see many patients with this complaint in clinic, and it turns out that approximately 1/4 patients with POTS report dyspnea as a prominent and sometimes disabling symptom. I have begun collaboration with an expert in cardiovascular pathophysiology in POTS out of New York Medical College. Nevertheless, the overarching theme of my recent work is dyspnea during exercise, to wit I created and validated pictorial, pediatric dyspnea scales. I wish to understand mechanisms of exertional dyspnea in children and adolescents - both those with cardiopulmonary disease and healthy subjects.

Clinical Summary

Asthma; CF; chronic lung disease of prematurity

Bio

Raghavendra ("Raghu") Rao, MD is a tenured Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Division of Neonatology. He earned his MD at Mysore University in India. In addition to his postgraduate training in Mangalore and Chandigarh, India, he spent a year in Pediatric Residency at the University of Minnesota before completing his Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship at the University of Minnesota. When not attending on the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital, Dr. Rao is involved in research on neurodevelopment under normal and adverse perinatal conditions. Dr. Rao's research interests include early life iron deficiency, hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia and intraventricular hemorrhage. He utilizes high-field NMR spectroscopy, molecular and histochemical analyses, and metabolomic and proteomic analyses of biofluids in his research. Dr. Rao's research is funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health, Regenerative Medicine Minnesota and Viking Children's Fund. Dr. Rao is also a faculty member of the Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain and a Senior Advising Member of the Graduate Program in Neuroscience at University of Minnesota.

Research Summary

A major focus of our research is biomarker discovery using proteomic and metabolomic analyses of paired plasma and CSF samples from nonhuman primate infants with early-life iron deficiency. Early-life iron deficiency anemia is associated with long-term neurodevelopmental impairments in human infants and does not respond to iron treatment. Our goal is to discover plasma biomarkers of impending brain dysfunction in the preanemic period that can be used for early treatment of iron deficiency in human infants. This is a collaborative project with researchers from University of Wisconsin Madison and University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Our second goal is to develop novel therapeutic strategies for promoting normal brain development in adverse perinatal conditions. In this area, we are investigating umbilical cord stem cell transfusion as treatment for intraventricular hemorrhage in preterm infants, and intranasal insulin administration as treatment for neonatal hyperglycemia and perinatal iron deficiency in animal models. We collaborate with researchers from the Departments of Pediatrics, Cell Therapeutics, Neurosurgery, Psychology and the Center for Magnetic Resonance Research at the University of Minnesota, and Alzheimer's Research Center at Regions Hospital in St. Paul in these studies.

Clinical Summary

Neonatal intensive care, Neurodevelopment

Bio

Dr. Michelle Rheault is a board certified pediatric nephrologist and Professor of Pediatrics. She completed her Pediatric Nephrology fellowship at the University of Minnesota in 2006 followed by a research fellowship at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. She joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota in 2008 and is currently the Director of the Division of Pediatric Nephrology and medical director of the pediatric dialysis unit. She is on the steering committee of the Pediatric Nephrology Research Consortium, a clinical research network that aims to facilitate collaboration in pediatric nephrology. Her clinical and research interests include Alport syndrome and other genetic kidney diseases, pediatric glomerular disease, and pediatric end stage kidney disease.

Bio

While cystic fibrosis is considered a pulmonary disease, attention to excellent nutrition and good growth is essential to optimal pulmonary function and extended survival. I consider my role in the management of children with cystic fibrosis to reduce pain and disability associated with gastrointestinal and liver disease in CF, and to offer aggressive interventions to improve nutrition in children unable to achieve normal growth. I am proud to be a member of a team of caregivers dedicated to both superior clinical care of children with CF, and to clinical research to improve survival in this disease.

Clinical Summary

Pancreatic disease; Chronic pancreatitis; Pancreatectomy/auto islet cell transplantation; Pediatric liver disease, particularly Hepatitis B; Gastrointestinal, nutritional and liver disease in cystic fibrosis

Bio

Logan G. Spector's research focuses on the causes of childhood cancer with a focus on childhood leukemia, bone sarcomas, and hepatoblastoma. His work includes both traditional and genetic epidemiologic approaches. He works in collaboration with colleagues and trainees locally, nationally and internationally through the University of Minnesota, Children's Oncology Group and the Childhood Cancer and Leukemia International Consortium (CLIC). In addition, Dr. Spector collaborates with departmental colleagues in cardiology, rheumatology, and infectious diseases to study other pediatric outcomes. Dr. Spector is immediate past Chair of the Children's Oncology Group Epidemiology Committee; a former standing member of the NIH Cancer, Cardiovascular, and Sleep Epidemiology panel B study section; and an ad hoc reviewer for many journals. Currently Dr. Spector is Chair of CLIC, which pools epidemiologic studies of pediatric cancers from across the world to better ascertain their causes.
Training and experience: Dr. Spector received his PhD in Epidemiology in 2002 from Emory University, where he conducted his dissertation research on childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. After a year as a National Cancer Institute-funded postdoctoral fellow at the University of Minnesota, he joined the faculty as Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Epidemiology/Clinical Research at the University of Minnesota.

Research Summary

Childhood Cancer & Leukemia International Consortium: clic.ngo

Bio

Dr. Steinberger is a Professor and Division Director in Pediatric Cardiology. She is the Director of the Pediatric Lipid Clinic at the University of Minnesota, Medical Director of the Pediatric Echocardiography Laboratory at the University of Minnesota Medical Center and Director of Research at the University of Minnesota National Center of Excellence in Women's Health.
Dr. Steinberger earned her MD degree at Sackler School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University in Israel and completed her residency in Pediatrics at the Golda Medical Center, Hasharon Hospital, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University in Israel. She completed a fellowship in Pediatric Cardiology at the University of Minnesota and obtained a Master's degree in Clinical Research, School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Steinberger's research interests are focused on clinical and epidemiologic studies of metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, and cardiovascular risk factors in children and young adults. She has been and continues to be funded by the NIH in these studies. She currently serves on several committees of the American Heart Association and on expert panels in areas of preventive cardiology.

Clinical Summary

Echocardiography; Hyperlipidemia; Preventive Cardiology

Bio

Dr. Brenda Weigel is currently the Director of the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology. She is a professor cross-appointed at the University of Minnesota's Cancer Center and the Department of Pediatrics, and the recipient of the Lehman/Children's Cancer Research Fund Endowed Chair in Pediatric Cancer. She is also the Co-Director of the Sarcoma Program for the Masonic Cancer Center, and an Associate Director of the Cancer Experimental Therapeutics Initiative for the Masonic Cancer Center.

Dr. Weigel received her medical degree from MacMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and did her residency in Pediatrics at the University of Western Ontario. She came to the University of Minnesota in 1996 to do a Fellowship in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplant. During her four-year fellowship, Dr. Weigel worked in the lab of Dr. Bruce Blazar and developed a murine model of rhabdomyosarcoma.

Clinical Summary

Sarcomas; developmental therapeutics; leukemias