Dr. Carrie Kitko is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and has served as Medical Director of the pediatric stem cell transplant program since June 2015. Dr. Kitko is passionate about clinical research and has served as site Primary Investigator for several important clinical trials which have resulted in many high impact publications for which she has been a co-author or lead author. She also has extensive leadership experience outside of VUMC. She served as the Vice Chair and then Chair of the Pediatric Transplant and Cellular Therapy Consortium (PTCTC) Graft vs Host Disease (GVHD) committee from 2013-2022. The Center for International Bone Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) is a collaborative resource of data and experts supporting research in cellular therapies to improve patient outcomes. Dr. Kitko served a five-year term on the Pediatric Cancer committee and is currently in her fifth of five years on the GVHD committee. The Children’s Oncology Group (COG) is the leading pediatric oncology clinical trial consortium that every major children’s hospital belongs in order to bring cutting edge clinical trials to our patients. Dr. Kitko was appointed as Chair of the COG Cellular Therapy Committee in August 2023 for a 10-year term.

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Dr. King is interested in medical education with an emphasis on medical simulation, procedural competency, and interprofessional learning. She is also interested in medication safety within the pediatric ICU with a particular research interest in the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of medications in critically ill children.

Dr. Killen is a pediatric and fetal cardiologist with expertise in fetal arrhythmias and prenatal diagnosis of complex congenital disease. Her clinical and research efforts seek to improve the care of mothers and fetuses whose pregnancies are complicated by fetal arrhythmias, including supraventricular tachycardia, long QT syndrome, and SS-A antibody-mediated congenital heart block. Dr. Killen is currently participating in several multi-center studies, including studies sponsored by the Fetal Heart Society, that seek to improve treatment approaches and outcomes for patients with fetal arrhythmias and complex congenital heart disease.

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Dr. Kavanaugh-McHugh is Director of Fetal Cardiology at Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt. Her research efforts have focused on the understanding and treatment of fetal congenital heart disease and fetal arrhythmias both in projects at Vanderbilt and as a collaborator in multicenter research projects. The Fetal Cardiology Team is an active participant in multicenter studies through the Fetal Heart Society and contributes fetal data to the Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care Consortium (PC4). In addition, Dr. Kavanaugh-McHugh has been involved in quality improvement efforts through the American College of Cardiology ACPC Non-Invasive Imaging Quality Metric Team and the National Pediatric Cardiology Quality Improvement Collaborative, which works to improve care and outcomes for babies with HLHS.

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