Dr. Pollaro is MANA’s subject matter expert on EPIC, the electronic health record system used nationwide. Recently, he accepted a new role as the Pediatric Clinical Informaticist for the Department of Pediatrics at Atlantic Health System. In this role, he will leverage his Epic expertise and physician builder credentials to bridge the gap between physicians and EMR colleagues, ensuring the platform is well-suited and fine-tuned for both neonatal and pediatric use system wide.
MidAtlantic Neonatology Associates, in collaboration with Atlantic Health System, has started an ACGME-accredited fellowship program in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine to train the next generation of neonatologists. The program, which was endeavored by Dr. Lawrence M. Skolnick, is one of a few Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship programs in New Jersey.
Our success with bringing a fellowship program to MANA is based on our longstanding commitment to excellence in clinical care, scholarship, research, teaching, and collaboration. We pride ourselves on our family-centered neonatal care, provided in a setting that values and fosters academic achievement and personal development. We have taught residents and medical students in our NICUs at Atlantic Health System for decades; and we recognize, not only the importance of training the next generation of competent and compassionate clinicians, but also the benefits that teaching brings to our practice.
Therefore, while our Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship Program may be new, we expect it to be mighty. We intend to provide our fellows maximum, hands-on clinical exposure and robust mentorship from attendings and subspecialists. Our fellows educational experience will be personalized, to ensure that they leave our program as highly-trained as possible.
Ian Griffin, MBChB, MD
Program Director, Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship
Director, Clinical Research, Division of Neonatology
Residents from the Department of Pediatrics at Atlantic Health System were selected to give oral presentations about their research at Goryeb Research Day. Lauren Latawiec, MD (PGY3) presented a case study of airway management in a infant with large congenital ranula; and Rebekah Muthalaly, MD (PGY3) presented findings from her translational research study, titled “Bile Acid Metabolism in Rat Pups Exposed to Phytosterols in Lipid Emulsions.”
Dr. Muthalaly’s research was also selected for poster presentation at the National Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting in Washington, D.C., April 2023.
Both residents were mentored and supported by Dr. Naureen Memon, Neonatologist
Dr. Amy Presti, Co-Director of the Atlantic Fetal and Diagnostic Treatment Center (AFDTC) at Atlantic Health System, was recently featured in an article discussing the ways in which the AFDTC supports families navigating birth anomalies during pregnancy. Under Dr. Presti’s guidance, the center brings together high-risk pregnancy experts, genetic counselors, neonatologists and pediatric subspecialists to give infants the most complete prenatal and postnatal care possible. Read the full article, below.
Dr. Chris Lee recently received funding from the The Legacy of Angels Foundation to continue his important research characterizing and profiling the genetic variants that cause Krabbe disease, and evaluating therapeutics that may improve outcomes for Krabbe disease patients. Dr. Lee’s research lab has been leading discoveries in Krabbe disease research for many years. Most notably, they have pioneered preclinical studies related to enzyme replacement and pharmacological chaperone therapy, and developed many important discovery tools, including cell models, and biochemical and histological assays. Funding from this award will be used to profile psychosine accumulation and evaluate 1-deoxygalactonojirimycin as a potential therapeutic for Krabbe disease.
Krabbe disease is a lysosomal storage disorder with devastating neurological manifestations. It is an autosomal recessive inherited disorder, caused by mutations in the galactosylceramidase (GALC) gene, which severely impairs its function, and leads to extensive demyelination and neurodegeneration in the central and peripheral nervous systems. There are very limited treatment options for Krabbe disease patients, especially for the most common early infantile form, which results in symptoms onset within the first 6 months of life and often causes death before the age of two years.
The Legacy of Angels Foundation aims to direct, fund and promote research to develop and enhance treatments and cures for Krabbe disease and Cystic Fibrosis. They support their mission through research, education and awareness about these destructive diseases; and in support of expanded newborn screening. TLOAF strives to increase the probability of early identification for children with Krabbe disease and Cystic Fibrosis, improve access to care and treatment, and support the development of new therapeutics.
Learn more about The Legacy of Angels Foundation >>
Dr. Mike Pollaro has been named as the Associate Program Director, Pediatric Residency Program, Goryeb Children’s Hospital. Dr. Pollaro, who served as both Chief Resident and Chief Fellow during his own academic training, has a strong commitment to teaching and mentorship. He has been actively involved in the Pediatric Residency Program at Goryeb Children’s Hospital for years. With this new responsibility, Dr. Pollaro will play an increased mentorship role; specifically, helping to guide residents into their post-residency careers and/or fellowship positions. Additionally, Dr. Pollaro is leveraging his interest and expertise, to improve EMR workflows for pediatric residents.
Read more about Dr. Pollaro >>
Congratulations to Dr. Gaines Mimms and Dr. Andrew Schenkman, who were both chosen as New Jersey Monthly Top Doctors in 2021! New Jersey Monthly surveyed more than 26,000 New Jersey doctors to find out which physicians they would choose to treat their own family members. Dr. Mimms and Dr. Schenkman were 2 of the 6 neonatologists selected to receive this top honor. The entire MANA neonatal care staff benefit greatly from their expertise and leadership; but, our patients and families are the biggest winners, as they get to experience they’re life-saving care.
MANA’s neonatal practitioners are an important part of our clinical team. They have diverse training backgrounds, unique skillsets, and many of them have decades of experience caring for newborns in various clinical settings. Leveraging their leadership in our NICUs will allow us to elevate educational needs, in order to achieve the highest practice standards, continuity of care across sites, and patient-family satisfaction. For these reasons, MANA has assembled a Practitioner Leadership Team. The committee’s goals are to coordinate and structure educational opportunities, to evaluate and improve practice policies, and to eliminate incongruencies between our clinical staff and practice sites.
Congratulations to the Practitioner Leadership Team Members
Amy Hatch, NNP – Chairperson
Ruth Snyder, NNP – Discharge Planner and Patient & Family Representative
Francine Merendino – Site Representative at Overlook Medical Center
Danielle Corsi, NNP – Lead of Professional Development
Suzanne Allikas – Site Representative for St Clare’s Denville Hospital
Christine Gilbart – Ad hoc member
Dr. Tom Murphy was featured in the Jewish Standard, in an article titled, “Neonatologists offer special care for babies.” In the article, Dr. Murphy describes why infants might need specialized neonatal care and emphasizes how neonatologists work closely with parents to ensure their infants receive the best care.
We are pleased to announce that Thomas G. Murphy, M.D. has accepted the position of Associate Director at MidAtlantic Neonatology Associates (MANA). Tom joined MANA in July 2015 following his service in the United States Navy and postgraduate training in Pediatrics, Neonatology, and Quality and Safety at Brown University.
In addition to his clinical expertise, Tom serves as Director of Neonatal Quality and Safety at MANA and Director of Pediatric Quality and Safety at Goryeb Children’s Hospital. In these roles, Tom leads safety monitoring and improvement efforts and plays a significant role in ensuring that safe care of the highest quality is delivered.
He is the author of multiple manuscripts in peer reviewed journals, speaks frequently at local and national conferences, and is Co-Director of our annual conference in Neonatology, neoFORUM.