About Us

Quality Initiatives

The Department of Pediatrics is committed to continuous improvement in all domains and focuses on the Institute of Medicine's six domains of healthcare quality. We perform, support and train in improvement science and partner with Northwestern University for more comprehensive training. We will consider our program a success when we view everything as an opportunity for improvement.

Healthcare quality and safety initiatives are critical to providing optimal healthcare as well as reducing variations of care that will facilitate greater learning in all forms of research. Faculty involved in these initiatives help train medical students, residents and fellows in quality and safety.

The Department of Pediatrics is looking to expand the number of faculty members with healthcare quality and safety expertise. We offer several opportunities for faculty to expand their expertise in these areas:

Certificate Course for Improvement Scholars

This six-month course involves multidisciplinary faculty and participants including physicians. Scholars learn in didactic sessions and initiate an improvement project in their microsystem to accelerate their learning.

Journal Writing Club

We have initiated an Improvement Writers group that will advance optimal utilization of SQUIRE guidelines in September 2018. Graduates of this program are expected to submit healthcare quality and safety manuscripts, help teach the ensuing session and serve as mentors for other colleagues working in these areas.

Value in Healthcare

Faculty involved in quality and safety initiatives are currently developing a method for quantifying value in healthcare. This will enable the institution to prioritize work based on metrics that matter most to our patients and their families.

Rebecca Unger

Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics (Community Based Primary Care)

Dr Unger is a general pediatrician and offers well child care from birth through adolescence. She has a special interest in nutrition, prevention and treatment of childhood obesity, and family fitness.

Denise M Goodman

Professor of Pediatrics (Critical Care)

De. Goodman obtained her undergraduate degree from Niagara University (BS Physics and BA Chemistry) and her Medical Degree from State University of New York at Buffalo. She completed her pediatrics residency at Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, and pediatric critical care medicine fellowship at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. She was a faculty member at the University of Minnesota before coming to Northwestern University Feinberg SOM. She has continued to pursue additional training. She obtained her Masters of Science in Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Hea...

Bria Marielle Coates

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Critical Care)

I am a physician-scientist who specializes in pediatric critical care medicine. I received my MD from the University of Washington and completed my Residency in Pediatrics and Fellowship in Critical Care Medicine at Northwestern University. I joined the faculty in the Pediatric Critical Care Division in 2011.

James W Collins, Jr

Professor of Pediatrics (Neonatology)

Dr. Collins earned BS and MD degrees from the University of Michigan and a MPH from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He’s the medical director of the neonatal intensive care unit and the associate program director of the pediatric residency program at Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. He has authored numerous research articles and is a frequent lecturer on issues related to birth outcomes. Dr. Collins has received several awards for his research, teaching, and leadership in infant health.

Ellen Gould Chadwick

Professor of Pediatrics (Infectious Diseases)

Dr. Chadwick is Irene Heinz Given and John LaPorte Given Chair in Pediatrics, Director of the Section of Pediatric, Adolescent and Maternal HIV Infection and attending physician in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. She is Professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine. She joined the Northwestern faculty in 1985 after completing her pediatric residency and fellowship in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Children's Memorial Hospital at the McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University.

Meghan A Coghlan

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Neonatology)

My expertise is taking care of critically ill and/or medically complex neonates, as well as developing and enacting specialized postnatal plans. I utilize and encourage a team approach to patient care which includes family participation. As Co-Director of the Chicago Institute for Fetal Health, I meet with families before birth for prenatal consultations to help them understand the fetal diagnosis and create a plan for any baby suspected to have a challenging diagnosis or need for specialized medical care after birth. I collaborate with the pediatric and OB/MFM specialists as well as each indi...

Tracy S Gertler

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Neurology and Epilepsy) and Pharmacology

Dr. Gertler completed her undergraduate degree in molecular biology and neuroscience at Princeton University, her medical school degree at Northwestern University Feinberg school of medicine, her graduate degree studying neuromodulation in altered dopamingeric states in the basal ganglia at Northwestern University in the lab of Dr. D. James Surmeier, and her pediatrics/child neurology residency at Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago.

Paul T Schumacker

Professor of Pediatrics (Neonatology), Cell and Developmental Biology and Medicine (Pulmonary and Critical Care)

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