My research on medication choices and the effect on post-operative mechanical ventilation revealed that meticulous post-operatively pain and sedation management allows for less opioid exposure and early liberation from ventilator support after cardiac surgery, even for the youngest patients. My more recent publications include a novel approach to analyze high fidelity hemodynamic data including millions of beat-to-beat systolic blood pressure measurements surrounding recorded medication administration in our PCICU. The development of algorithms around therapies and interventions in the ICU using expert systems allows the analysis of time-series data. This provides insight to clinicians who can be prepared to intervene and act accordingly, improving outcomes for these critically ill children. This work in big data sets has led to my pursuit of board certification in Clinical Informatics and membership with the Alliance of AI in Medicine and Pediatric Centers of Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (PCAIM).

Dr. Aamodt’s research focuses on the microenvironmental, molecular and genetic factors involved in development of the endocrine pancreas and diabetes pathophysiology with the goal of identifying new strategies to treat diabetes.

Diabetes is a worsening health crisis not only in the adult population but also with increasing incidence of both type 1 (T1D) and type 2 (T2D) diabetes in the pediatric population. It is often during the first decade of life when patients begin to develop β cell-directed autoimmunity (T1D) or manifest reduced β cell capacity to compensate for insulin resistance (T2D). Pancreatic development is ongoing during this pediatric period including establishment of β cell mass, functional β cell and islet maturation, and dynamic changes in islet composition and architecture. Using a multiomics approach, Dr. Aamodt is working to define the spatial and temporal molecular processes that regulate postnatal pancreas and islet development which is a critical step toward developing new diagnostic tools and strategies for prevention and treatment of both T1D and T2D.

Dr. Cassini's research focuses on finding diagnoses for individuals who have not been diagnosed via typical clinical evaluation and testing. This is accomplished through multidisciplinary specialist evaluations, novel bioinformatics techniques, emerging testing technologies, and collaborative basic science research. This approach also has the potential to further scientific understanding of disease mechanisms, such as new disease gene associations and validation of variant pathogenicity.

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Dr. Dehority's research interests include chronic osteomyelitis and vaccine hesitancy. He is interested in developing a systematic approach to understanding and defining clinical presentations of chronic osteomyelitis. Ultimately, such a framework could be used to design prospective studies to optimize management approaches for this disease. Additionally, he is interested in developing widely-accessible, brief, and engaging point-of-care interventions to educate and foster discussion among vaccine-hesitant individuals, and ultimately, increase vaccine confidence, particularly in rural and underserved populations.

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Dr. Brown’s research interests involve using the electronic medical record to streamline medical care. He works to guide clinical decision-making within the electronic medical record and minimize utilization of unnecessary medical testing and intervention.