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.

Erin Talati Paquette

Associate Professor of Pediatrics (Critical Care) and School of Law

I am interested in developing and promoting best practices in health care at the intersection of medical practice, ethics and policy. My current research involves studying the informed consent process for children participating in research and for parents making decisions for their children, evaluating disparities in research enrollment and participation, and in the use of medico-legal partnerships to address the social determinants of health. Additional interests include the role for conflict resolution training to improve communication in the ICU, evaluating health care access in relation to...

Rebecca Stephen

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Hospital-Based Medicine)

Rebecca Stephen, M.D. is an Instructor of Pediatrics and the PICU Site Leader for Hospital Based Medicine at Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. She leads Quality and Safety initiatives, including serving as the institutional medical lead for the national collaborative Improving Pediatric Sepsis Outcomes. She is taking masters coursework to obtain an additional degree in Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety at Northwestern University, expected May 2019. She also serves as a clinical quality and education specialist for Telehealth Programs at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's H...

John V Lavigne

Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Child Psychology) and Pediatrics

Preschooler's behavior problems; Psychological interventions in pediatric primary care Not presently accepting students to work in this lab

Brian Tho Hang

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Emergency Medicine)

With dual certifications in pediatric emergency medicine and primary care sports medicine, my past research interests have incorporated these two fields. My previous projects focused on sports related head injury evaluations both in the field with sports medicine and in the emergency room. Other interests that I have is utilizing ultrasound for musculoskeletal evaluations in the clinic and emergency room settings.

Amanda Marma Perak

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Cardiology) and Preventive Medicine (Epidemiology)

Dr. Perak is committed to preventing cardiovascular diseases (e.g., heart attack) by promoting optimal health from the beginning of life. Her research centers on defining and intervening at the origins of cardiometabolic function. Specific areas of focus include molecular mechanisms of cardiovascular health development (e.g., microbiome), maternal-fetal cardiometabolic health, and behavioral intervention. Her clinical and teaching interests are in preventive cardiology and noninvasive cardiac imaging.

Lazaro N Sanchez-Pinto

Associate Professor of Pediatrics (Critical Care) and Preventive Medicine (Health and Biomedical Informatics)

Dr. L. Nelson Sanchez-Pinto is a pediatric critical care physician, biomedical informatics specialist, and clinical data scientist. He graduated from medical school at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 2006, and then completed a Pediatrics residency program at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in 2011, and a fellowship in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine at Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) in 2014. He obtained advanced fellowship training in informatics and data science research also at CHLA and completed a Masters of Biomedical Informatics program at Oregon Health & ...

Deirdre I De Ranieri

Associate Professor of Pediatrics (Rheumatology)

Dr. De Ranieri’s clinical interests are diverse. She sees children with a broad range of systemic autoimmune diseases, such as childhood lupus, dermatomyositis, periodic fevers, juvenile arthritis, and vasculitis. Dr. De Ranieri uses Musculoskeletal Ultrasound (MSK US) in her practice to help accurately diagnose, monitor and treat (via guided intervention) joint and tendon disease in children with JIA. She has served on the Examination Development Committee for the Rheumatology MSK US Certification Exam, and she has taught both beginning and advanced musculoskeletal ultrasound courses at natio...

Ben Z Katz

Professor of Pediatrics (Infectious Diseases)

1980; New York University School of Medicine; New York, N.Y.; M.D., Medicine 1980-1983: New York University Medical Center; New York, N.Y.; Resident, Department of Pediatrics 1983-1986: Yale University School of Medicine; New Haven, CT. Postdoctoral Fellow, Pediatric Infectious Diseases; Viral Pathophysiology; George Miller, M.D., Preceptor. 1986-1987: Instructor, Departments of Pediatrics and Epidemiology & Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine; New Haven, CT. 1987-1991: Assistant Professor, Departments of Pediatrics and Epidemiology & Public Health, Yale University School of Medi...

Alma R Bicknese

Associate Professor of Pediatrics (Neurology and Epilepsy)

I am a pediatric neurologist interested in all aspects of a child's welfare. My emphasis is on paroxysmal diseases- those that intermittently incapacitate children such as migraine headaches and epilepsy. I also have long standing interest in the biology of brain formation and in brain malformations.