Sections

The largest sections are General & Community Pediatrics which includes Children's Health Service Research (79 faculty), Neonatology (42 faculty), Pulmonary/Critical Care and Allergy (32 faculty), Hematology/Oncology (22 faculty), Cardiology (22 faculty) and Adolescent Medicine (13 faculty). Each of the above sections has large clinical operations and large federally funded research programs.

The General and Community Pediatrics (GCP) faculty provide primary care to 60,000 children within Indiana University Medical Group-Primary Care (IUMG-PC). IUMG-PC includes both community health centers that serve an inner city, largely Medicaid population and "metro sites" that serve suburban communities with more privately insured families. Fifteen faculty in our pediatric hospitalist group staff five hospitals throughout the city. Resident education programs incorporate our Dyson initiative curriculum that emphasizes service learning, community partnerships, public health and advocacy. Children’s Health Services Research (CHSR) is the research arm of GCP. With 7 research faculty and a $4M annual budget, it is one of the largest programs of its kind in the U.S. CHSR runs PresNet, a practice based research network, including 22 IU and 15 private pediatric practices throughout Indianapolis. Research includes an extensive medical informatics program focusing on decision support, electronic medical records and secondary data analysis; a geostatistics group, studying environmental factors affecting children’s health; a health policy analysis group that works closely with Indiana Medicaid; child abuse research; and child health studies in Kenya. CHSR also has a postdoctoral fellowship program in health services research supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Policy.

The Neonatology Section provides care to babies in 240 NICU beds in eight hospitals. There are 35 neonatologists and 25 neonatal nurse practitioners who provide clinical care. The NICU at Riley has 55 beds and 800 admissions per year; the total number of patients seen by neonatologists at all sites is more than 5000 annually. There are a number of unique programs within the section which include the Family Support Program (directed by two parents who had personal experience with their children in the NICU and who are employed full time in this program); the Global Network NIH research grant with Moi University in Kenya, directed by Ed Liechty; the Riley Mother and Baby Hospital of Kenya; a partnership between the Section and University of Hildago in Mexico; and bioethics. Neonatology faculty hold or have held almost every major leadership position nationally in organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Society of Hematology and the International Society of Experimental Hematology. They are internationally recognized for their expertise in stem cell biology, fetal and neonatal nutrition and metabolism, leukemia and other cancers, and bone metabolism.

The Section of Pediatric Pulmonology, Critical Care and Allergy has 32 faculty members, 28 of whom do clinical care. The section covers PICU’s at three hospitals encompassing 50 beds. They have more than 4000 patients with asthma and more than 400 patients with cystic fibrosis under care at multiple sites around the state. The Section has a number of innovative programs including a home ventilator program, the SAIL program for obese asthmatics, an infant lung disease program and the ASTHMA ER at IU Health North. They operate the largest pediatric sleep lab in the country. A vigorous clinical science and basic science research program focuses on the developing lung and airways and on cell signaling in asthma. The Section has 10 NIH grants in addition to many foundation and commercial grants.

The Section of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology has 22 faculty members, 7 of whom are involved primarily in research. There are currently four endowed chairs. The clinical cancer program is large and comprehensive-200 new oncology patients annually, representing 85–90% of new patients in the state. The clinical faculty covers a 19 bed inpatient unit, a 6-bed inpatient stem cell transplant unit, and an outpatient clinic with 12 examination rooms, 1 procedure room, and 14 infusion/observation beds. The program includes a NCI-supported Phase I new agent clinical trial program, clinics in sickle cell disease and coagulation/thrombosis, and a cancer survivor program.

The Section of Pediatric Cardiology has 15 clinical faculty, has monthly outreach clinics at 14 sites throughout the state, provides comprehensive cardiac care to over 11,000 children, and participates in the cardiovascular surgical program delivering care to patients from other countries. Each year the faculty perform over 500 cardiac catheterization procedures, interpret over 12,000 ECHOs including transthoracic, transesophageal and fetal, and have expertise in cardiac MRI and CT. The program is a founding member of the Pediatric Heart Transplantation Study and has performed over 100 transplants. We have three pediatric cardiovascular surgeons who perform over 600 surgical procedures per year. In addition to the clinical program there are six basic science researchers in the Cardiac Developmental Biology Program, all whom have NIH grants and there is a large ($11 million) Program Project Grant.

The Section of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetology has 10 full-time and 4 part-time faculty. The section provides comprehensive care to children with endocrine disorders including 2,000 children with diabetes at Riley downtown, Riley North and multiple satellite clinics throughout the State. Highlights of the clinical program include multidisciplinary Metabolic Bone Disease and Obesity clinics, a Type II diabetes clinic, and centralized coordination of Newborn Screening Follow-up for congenital hypothyroidism and CAH. The Section is actively engaged in both clinical and basic research in areas of diabetes, disorders of growth and puberty, disorders of sex development, osteogenesis imperfecta and hypopituitarism. A new type I diabetes basic research program has been initiated with $12 million philanthropic support.

The Section of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition includes 9 faculty physicians (2 hepatologists) caring for children during 10,000 visits and they perform 2,000 endoscopic procedures annually. Special programs include a Liver Program, IBD clinic, Motility lab, Eosinophilic Esophagitis clinic, Intestinal Rehabilitation clinic and a new Obesity Program. Riley has had a liver transplant program since 1987 and a small bowel transplant program since 2003. Research programs include translational research in energy metabolism in IBD, treatment of fatty liver, diagnosis and treatment of eosinophillic esophagitis, management of viral hepatitis, and treatment of inflammatory bowel disease. The group has a national presence in the GI subspecialty organizations and has participated actively in developing national practice guidelines in the field.

The Adolescent Medicine Section faculty includes 7 physicians, 3 psychologists, a nurse, a social worker and a dietitian. With over 40,000 adolescent clinic visits per year, it is one of the preeminent academic training programs in the country. Section faculty and trainees have published 265 scientific articles and book chapters. Extramural support approximates $3 million per year including 5 NIH R0-1 grants, a HRSA-MCHB training grant and 3 mentor research awards as well as multiple other federal, state, and industry grants.