Associate Professor
University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine
I am Associate professor of Pediatrics at UTHSC and Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital. I completed residency at Saint Louis University and pursued Pediatric Infectious Diseases Fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine where I also earned a Master of Science in the Clinical Scientist Training Program. During training, my main research focus was on the clinical and Molecular Epidemiology of Staphylococcus aureus infections.
My clinical activity is centered around outpatient and inpatient evaluation and treatment of pediatric infectious diseases. I have a special clinical and research interest in musculoskeletal infections, particularly due to S. aureus, and I was part of the IDSA and PIDS committee that developed guidelines for management of those infections in children. In addition, I am invested in the early identification of Congenital infections, particularly in identifying predictors of outcomes in Congenital CMV infection and evaluating outcomes infants born from women with of Hepatitis C and opioid use disorder. I lead a saliva PCR-based universal Congenital CMV screening program within our healthcare system, and I am passionate about caring for those patients and their families.
I also serve as a PI and Co-PI in clinical research trials with the goal of improving our knowledge in treatment and prevention of pediatric infections.