NEWS
Marshall University Joan C . Edwards School of Medicine Marshall Health Expands Pediatric Specialty Care
Learning your child has a chronic health condition is hard enough without the added worry of coordinating repeat visits to multiple health care providers who are sometimes hours away . The department of pediatrics at Marshall Health and the Marshall University Joan C . Edwards School of Medicine made part of their mission to ensure West Virginia ’ s youngest citizens have access to care close to home , which has resulted in expanded pediatric subspecialty services across southern counties in recent years .
“ We have intentionally sought to increase the variety of subspecialists at Marshall Health ,” said Susan L . Flesher , M . D ., professor and interim chair of pediatrics . “ It ’ s so much easier for families and children to receive care closer to where they live . It reduces the time children have to be out of school and the additional expense and inconvenience of traveling for treatment .”
In the last year alone , Marshall Health launched new specialty care lines in pediatric emergency medicine , pediatric endocrinology and pediatric nephrology . In addition , new specialists in developmental-behavioral pediatrics , neonatal-perinatal medicine , and pediatric infectious disease were added to the pediatrics team .
Marshall Health ’ s mission to provide comprehensive care led to the identification of specific subspecialty care needs . “ From there , much of our recruitment strategy for expanding pediatric care happened by word of mouth , and that in turn fueled the expansion of sub-specialty medical education and training opportunities ,” Flesher said .
One example is developmental-behavioral specialist , Beth Emrick , M . D ., who joined Marshall Health this fall to help expedite care for patients with ADHD , autism spectrum disorder , learning disorders , and developmental delays . Another instance is pediatric nephrologist Edward Nehus , M . D ., a Gallipolis , Ohio , native who joined Marshall ’ s pediatric faculty earlier this year . Nehus had been practicing out of state at a major children ’ s hospital and returned to the region to be closer to his family and fill a gap in services for patients with kidney conditions .
“ I am excited to be part of the department of pediatrics at Marshall University and establish excellent nephrology care for children here in West Virginia and the surrounding region ,” Nehus said . “ In addition to providing care for children with common kidney diseases , such as hypertension and urinary abnormalities , we are establishing acute nephrology care for hospitalized children who are critically ill . This will serve to support existing subspecialty programs and enable us to keep higher-acuity patients here at Marshall , where our patients ’ families consider home .”
Marshall Health specialists have a symbiotic relationship with Hoops Family Children ’ s Hospital at Cabell Huntington Hospital ( Hoops ). The resulting effect has been a network of specialty care support to pediatricians throughout West Virginia .
As part of Marshall Health ’ s primary teaching hospital , Hoops serves as the primary inpatient setting for all of Marshall Health ’ s pediatric specialists . Depending on the severity of a case , a pediatric patient may be admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit or the regular pediatric unit at Hoops . Likewise , pediatric faculty members take on leading roles at Hoops , including Eduardo Pino , M . D ., who serves as medical director of the children ’ s hospital , and a number of other faculty who serve as medical directors of every unit at Hoops .
Marshall University Researcher Receives $ 1.36 million for Kidney Research
Sandrine V . Pierre , Ph . D ., associate professor of biomedical sciences at the Joan C . Edwards School of Medicine and interim director of the Marshall Institute for Interdisciplinary Research ( MIIR ), has been awarded a Research Project Grant ( R01 ), one of the most competitive grants issued by the National Institutes of Health ( NIH ).
Pierre was awarded the $ 1.36 million , four-year grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to study the regulatory mechanism of salt handling by the kidney and malfunction of this mechanism that compromises the body ’ s ability to remove salt . The new study will draw upon the renowned expertise of Marshall investigators on the signaling and scaffolding function of the Na / K-ATPase protein and its impact on cardiovascular function .
“ The mishandling of salt balance by the body contributes to the development and progression of many common diseases , including hypertension and organ damage due to failure to remove excess amount of salt ,” Pierre said . “ Therefore , the proposed investigation has profound basic and clinical implications and may also provide new targets for developing better therapeutics .”
Pierre will work with a team of researchers across the Joan C . Edwards School of Medicine with expertise in renal physiology and preclinical studies of Na / K-ATPase receptor function .
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