In addition to excellence in clinical care, the Critical Care Division at Egleston has demonstrated significant research productivity. The division experience encompasses projects reflecting study design and completion on a single center basis, as well as multi-institutional collaboration; and including bench, clinical and translational research.
We participate in Pediatric Acute Lung injury and Sepsis Investigators (PALISI). In recent years the CCM group has been engaged in the Therapeutic Hypothermia After Pediatric Cardiac Arrest (THAPCA) trial, HALF-PINT and CALF-PINT , a multi-center network of pediatric critical care units evaluating the course and outcomes of thrombocytopenia-associated multiple organ failure (TAMOF), and NEARS-4KIDS. Additionally research interests within the division include oxidative stress during sepsis, development of an innovative continuous renal replacement device, neuro-endocrine axis dysfunction, simulation in education, procedural sedation, sedation during ventilation, enteral feeding methodologies, tandem extracorporeal procedures, ECMO outcomes, continuous EEG monitoring, and markers in acute kidney injury quality improvement.
Emory University provides many avenues for research collaboration including: The CDC, the American Cancer Society, Emory University School of Public Health, VA Hospital, Georgia Institute of Technology and other divisions of the Emory Department of Pediatrics. Opportunities for further post-graduate training in conjunction with fellowship are available, but not required. Options exist to pursue a Master’s in Public Health (MPH) or a Master of Science in Clinical Research at Emory.
Principle investigators include:
Nora Colman, MD
Dr. Colman is an Assistant Professor in Pediatrics in the division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Her research focuses on the delivery of quality and patient safety-focused simulation. She has extensive experience in leading system wide initiatives where simulation has been used as vehicle to meet system wide quality goals. She is also passionate about the role of simulation as a means to proactively identify latent safety threats in new healthcare design. Her strong clinical background coupled with simulation and patient safety experience allows her to impact patient care in multiple facets. Dr. Colman is also an Associate Director of our PCCM fellowship program.
Lihinie deAlmeida, MD
Dr. deAlmeida has been involved in fellowship leadership, medical education, quality improvement and global health. She leads ICU liberation efforts in the PICU, and has research interests in pain and sedation management for mechanically ventilated children, ICU delirium, and early mobility. Her passion is in global child health and improving the delivery of pediatric critical care in resource-limited settings. She has participated in PCCM education in Sri Lanka and Haiti and is a member of the Pediatric Acute Lung Injury and Sepsis Investigators – Global Health (PALISI-GH) network. She currently leads a PICU collaboration and is involved in education and outcomes research with Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. She is faculty of the Global Health Office of Pediatrics at Emory (GHOPE) steering committee and the DOP diversity, equity, and inclusion committee.
Jim Fortenberry, MD, MCCM
Dr. Fortenberry is the Chief Medical Officer for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and former CCM Division Director. Dr. Fortenberry world renown for his expertise in sepsis and extracorporeal therapies.
Jocelyn Grunwell, MD, PhD
Dr. Grunwell obtained her doctorate from UC Berkeley followed by a post-doc at UC San Francisco. She then attended the Stanford School of Medicine, followed by her pediatric residency and PCCM fellowship at Emory. Additionally, she is in the midst of her MSCR and work on her K23, in anticipation of submitting an R01 later this year. She is interested in understanding novel pathobiological mechanisms important to the onset and progression of pediatric acute respiratory distress syndrome and critical and near-fatal asthma with the goal of linking these airway environment endotypic features to clinical phenotypes and to deliver precision medicine to critically ill children. This year, she received the Junior Faculty Research of the Year Award, Emory University Department of Pediatrics.
Kiran Hebbar, MD, FCCM
Dr. Hebbar is the Medical Director of Children’s Simulation Center. His team has been using simulation to improve bedside clinical practice of medical staff, test and improve systems of care in situ and develop novel tools and systematic approaches to assessing safety of clinical spaces through simulation based clinical system testing (SbCST). Dr. Hebbar led Children’s simulation-based hospital design testing (SbHDT) for the Arthur M. Blank Hospital, the largest “cardboard city” preconstruction simulation projects conducted to date with a focus on evidence-based design principles. His team has developed some novel tools for integrating simulation into the design of a new facility and when renovating existing clinical spaces.
Susi Hupp, MD
Dr. Hupp is a graduate of the Creighton School of Medicine, and did her residency at Nationwide, followed by PCCM fellowship at Duke University. She currently splits her time between the Cardiac ICU and the Pediatric ICU. She is an Associate PCCM Fellowship Director.
Pradip Kamat, MBBS, MBA, FCCM
Dr. Kamat did his pediatric residency at LAC+USC Medical Center, LA, CA, followed by a pediatric critical care fellowship at Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA. He was the Director of Children's Sedation Services at Egleston from 2013-2021 and is currently the President-Elect of the Society for Pediatric Sedation. Dr. Kamat produces a weekly “PICU Doc On Call” podcast. Dr. Kamat is interested in sedation related research including the difficult to sedate child in the PICU and sedation related neurotoxicity.
Lisa Lima, MD
Dr. Lima attended the Medical College of Georgia, and did her residency and PCCM fellowship training at Emory University School of Medicine and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston. Additionally she is completing an ECMO & Advanced Therapies fellowship at Emory.
Matt Paden, MD
Dr. Paden's clinical and research interests relate to the use of advanced technologies, including extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), apheresis, and continuous renal replacement therapies (CRRT) in critically ill children. My translational research focus is KIDSCRRT – an NIH and FDA funded novel neonatal & pediatric CRRT device and the development of other pediatric medical devices. Dr. Paden currently serves as the Director of ECMO and Advanced Technologies, and is the Director of the Department of Medicine at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. Dr. Paden is the President of the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO).
Nga Pham, MD
Dr. Pham graduated from Meharry Medical College, did residency at Johns Hopkins All Childrens Hospital, and her PCCM fellowship at Shands Hospital at the University of Florida. She provides oversight for our APP program. She directs PFCCS courses and works closely with our Organ Procurement Organization (LifeLink). She is active in our global outreach in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Jana Stockwell, MD, FCCM
Dr. Stockwell is a Professor of Pediatrics and serves as the Director of the Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine. She is engaged in Quality and Performance Improvement clinical activities, guideline development, and research. Additionally she is Chair, CHOA Credentials Committee and a member of the Quality Committee of the Board of Trustees. Dr. Stockwell was formerly on AAP’s Section on Critical Care Executive Council, Society of Critical Care Medicine’s (SCCM) Pediatric Section Council, and for many years the editor-in-chief of PREP-ICU.
Keiko Tarquinio, MD
Dr. Tarquinio joined Emory after 6 years of junior faculty time at Hasbro Children’s Hospital/Brown University. Her research interests have been antimicrobial effect on medical devices (nanotechnology and assessment of medical biofilm) and airway microbiome. She is an active member of PALISI network as a site PI, involved in VAIN, SiRD previously, and NEAR4KIDS, PICFlu, and Overcoming COVID currently.
Heather Viamonte, MD, MPH
Dr. Viamonte graduated from the Baylor College of Medicine. Her residency was at Baylor and UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, followed by PCCM fellowship at CHOP. She currently splits her time between the Cardiac ICU and the Pediatric ICU, and she serves as the Director of Cardiac ECMO. Dr. Viamonte is also a published author of two novels under a pen name, HK Jacobs.
Mark Mai, MD MHS
Natalie Bishop
Prakad Rajapreyer
Anna Rodenbough
Emory University provides many avenues for research collaboration including: The CDC, the American Cancer Society, Emory University School of Public Health, VA Hospital, Georgia Institute of Technology and other divisions of the Emory Department of Pediatrics. Opportunities for further post-graduate training in conjunction with fellowship are available, but not required. Options exist to pursue a Master’s in Public Health (MPH) or a Master of Science in Clinical Research at Emory.