Academic Appointment
Assistant Professor, Division of Pediatric Critical Care

Academic Office
Children’s Hospital & Medical Center
8200 Dodge Street
Omaha, NE 68114

Main Practice Location
Children’s Hospital & Medical Center
8200 Dodge Street
Omaha, NE 68114

Hospital Appointments
The Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE
Children’s Hospital & Medical Center, Omaha, NE

Medical School
Saba University School of Medicine, Saba, Dutch Caribbean

Residency
Driscoll Children's Hospital, Texas A&M, Corpus Christi, TX

Fellowship
Saint Louis University, Saint Louis, MO

Research Interests
Speciality: Microbiome and Cardiovascular Health

Major Interest: Changes to the microbiome in congenital heart disease and systemic inflammation following cardiopulmonary bypass

Our understanding of how important the intestinal microbiome is continuing to grow. My research involves evaluating the microbiome in patients with congenital heart disease to evaluate dysbiosis and how this influences intestinal barrier dysfunction and systemic inflammation following cardiopulmonary bypass. This includes pro-inflammatory bacteria as well as butyrate and short chain fatty acid producing organisms, and organisms involved in nitrogen respiration. All these components have effects on cardiac function, barrier integrity, pulmonary hypertension, and systemic inflammation. HIF-1α and NF-kB pathways are known to induce immune activation and systemic inflammation through intestinal epithelial cells, and patients with congenital heart disease can have cyanotic heart lesions leading to underlying increased activation of these pathways and causing further dysbiosis, barrier dysfunction, and inflammation. When these patients undergo cardiopulmonary bypass, the amount of systemic inflammation could overwhelm the system leading to low cardiac output syndrome post-operatively. Our lab is evaluating an animal model of cardiopulmonary bypass to determine how changes to the intestinal microbiome influence the degree of barrier dysfunction and systemic inflammation.