Ferdinand was born in the Philippines and immigrated to Texas where he lived for 10 years. He and his family then moved to Northern California where he earned his undergraduate degree in Microbial Biology at University of California, Berkeley. He spent a gap year with AmeriCorps serving the community in health education. Ferdinand then moved to the Midwest where he discovered the joy and complexity of pediatric medicine while attending Creighton University School of Medicine. Now settled in the South, he completed his pediatric residency here at Vanderbilt and is excited to be staying as a fellow to pursue his passion in pediatric pulmonology.

Ferdinand enjoys hiking and exploring Nashville with his sweet dog, Lucy. He enjoys all that Music City has to offer, trying new restaurants, visiting various music venues, and listening to live poetry.

Publications During Fellowship:

1. Martenies, S., Zhang, M., Corrigan, A. Kvit. A., Shields, T.; Wheaton, W.; Around Him, D., Aschner, J., Talavera-Barber, M., Barrett, E., Bastain, T., Bendixsen, C., Breton, C., Bush, N., Cacho, F., Camargo, C., Carroll, K., Carter, B., Cassidy-Bushrow, A., Cowell, W., Croen, L., Dabelea, D., Duarte, C., Dunlop, A., Everson, T., Habre, R., Hartert, T., Helderman, J., Hipwell, A., Margaret R. Karagas, M., Barry M. Lester, B., Kaja Z. LeWinn, K., Magzamen, S., Morello-Frosch, R., O'Connor, T., Padula, A., Petriello, M., Sathyanarayana, S., Stanford, J., Woodruff, T., Wright, R., Amii M. Kress, A. Developing a National Scale Exposure Index for Combined Environmental Hazards and Social Stressors and Applications to the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Cohort. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, July 2023; 20(14), 6339; doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20146339.
2. Aris, I., Perng, W., Dabelea, D., Padula, A, Alshawabkeh, A., Vélez-Vega, C., Aschner, J., Camargo, C., Sussman, T., Dunlop, A., Elliott, A., Ferrara, A., Zhu, Y., Joseph, C., Singh, A., Hartert, T., Cacho, F., Karagas, M., North-Reid, T., Lester, B., Kelly, N., Ganiban, J., Chu, S., O’Connor, T., Fry, R., Norman, G., Trasande, L., Restrepo, B., James, P., Oken, E.. Associations of neighborhood opportunity and social vulnerability with trajectories of childhood body mass index and obesity among US children. JAMA Network Open, Dec. 2022; 5(12), e2247957-e2247957. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.47957

Presentations During Fellowship:

1. Jan. 2023 “Two Cases of Pediatric Inhalation Injury,” Pediatric Pulmonary and Sleep Case Conference Series, American Thoracic Society
2. Nov. 2022 “Review of Pediatric Burns and Inhalation Injury” (with Drs. Anne Wagner and Elizabeth Dale Slater), Pediatric Pulmonary Fellow Case, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN
3. Cacho, F., Gebretsadik, T., Anderson, L., Rosas-Salazar, C., Ortiz, J., Ryan, P., Dupont, W., Hartert, T. Rates and risk factors for RSV infection among term healthy infants in a population-based US cohort. American Thoracic Society, International Conference. Washington, DC. May 2023.
4. Cacho, F., Gebretsadik, T., Anderson, L., Rosas-Salazar, C., Ortiz, J., Ryan, P., Dupont, W., Hartert, T. RSV infection rates and risk factors in a population-based US cohort of term healthy infants. Department of Pediatrics Research Retreat. Nashville, TN. Apr 2023.

Honors and Awards:

1. Environmental Toxicology T32 Training Program, Vanderbilt University Medical Center (2023-Present)
2. Fellow Teaching Award, Vanderbilt Department of Pediatrics (2023)
3. Outstanding Clinical Research Abstract, Vanderbilt Department of Pediatrics Research Retreat (2023)