Faculty research
The physician-researchers on our staff have pioneered influential new methods of studying pediatric liver disease and transplantation and receive substantial funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Their significant investment in and commitment to research allows the Siragusa Transplantation Center to lead the way in improving the health of children with liver disease.
Estella M. Alonso, MD, is a nationally recognized researcher in medical and psychosocial outcomes in children following liver transplantation. The studies she is involved with seek to identify factors and treatments that are associated with better medical outcomes, quality of life and normal growth and development following the transplant process. Her current research projects include the following:
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Dr. Alonso leads the Pediatric Liver Transplant Outcomes Research group at Children's Memorial which includes physicians, nurses, psychologists and public health experts united in the study of growth, physical health and psychological development following liver transplantation.
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She is the leader of the Functional Outcomes Group (FOG) research project, which is a multi-center project funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH) to study health related quality of life and
cognitive development in children who have survived liver transplantation. The FOG study will assemble quality of life data from over 1000 children at various intervals after transplantation and attempt to identify medical practices that could optimize physical, cognitive and social function in future pediatric recipients. In collaboration with psychologist Lisa Sorensen, PhD, FOG investigators at nineteen centers across North America are performing detailed longitudinal neuro-cognitive testing on pediatric liver transplant recipients.
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She is a member of the leadership group of the Studies of Pediatric Liver Transplantation (SPLIT), an NIH-funded consortium collecting observational data on more than 2/3 of the children receiving liver transplantation in the United States and Canada.
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Dr. Alonso also has a long standing track record in research in the clinical care of patients with acute
liver failure. As a member of the steering committee for the Pediatric Acute Liver Failure (PALF) study group, another NIH-funded pediatric consortium, she has been actively involved in research to better understand the role of
acetaminophen in liver injury. Through this consortium, Children's Memorial participates in a treatment trial of the medication N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) which may help the failing liver recover from oxidant
stress associated with liver cell injury and which may enhance regeneration of healthy liver cells.
Juan Carlos Caicedo, MD, is a transplant surgeon interested the full spectrum of adult and pediatric transplantation surgery, including pediatric and adult kidney, pancreas, liver and small bowel transplantation, as well as hepatopancreatobiliary surgery, vascular access and laparoscopic donor nephrectomy.
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Clinical/surgical outcomes research at Northwestern Memorial Hospital with a special interest in outcomes in solid organ transplantation in Hispanic patients. In addition, his interests include quality of life after transplantation and health communication and literacy of patients after organ transplantation.
Udeme D. Ekong, MD, is a pediatric hepatologist interested in studying immune tolerance in liver transplantation. Her current research projects include the following:
- Dr. Ekong is the center principal investigator for a study on Immunosuppression Withdrawal for Pediatric Living Donor Liver Transplant Recipients. This is a multi-center project funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH) that involves a gradual and complete withdrawal of immunosuppression in pediatric patients who have undergone living donor liver transplantation. This study aims to evaluate allograft tolerance including its duration in living donor liver transplant recipients, to assess the safety of immunosuppression withdrawal as well as to define immunologic and genetic profiles that could potentially distinguish recipients who are tolerant of their graft from non-tolerant recipients.
- Dr. Ekong is also a recipient of the Child Health Research Career Development Award from the Department of Pediatrics, Northwestern University. This award sponsors her research in in-vitro surrogates of functional tolerance in liver transplant recipients. The study seeks to identify ways to detect the presence of immune alloreactivity between liver transplant recipients and their respective donors and understand the mechanisms that underlie the absence of immune alloreactivity.
Anton I. Skaro, MD, PhD, is a transplant surgeon interested the full spectrum of adult and pediatric transplantation surgery, including pediatric and adult kidney, pancreas, liver and small bowel transplantation, as well as hepatopancreatobiliary surgery, vascular access and laparoscopic donor nephrectomy. In addition, he has completed a PhD in transplantation-immunology, which focused on cytotoxic T lymphocyte effector mechanisms involved in the development of chronic allograft rejection. His current research projects include the following:
- A collaborative effort at Children's Memorial Research Center focused on the investigation of the immunologic mechanisms involved in transplantation tolerance.
- Clinical/surgical outcomes research at Northwestern Memorial Hospital with a special interest in patient-centered outcomes following transplantation and the provision of quality surgical care to patients with organ failure.
Riccardo A. Superina, MD, is an internationally recognized pediatric surgeon dedicated to advancing surgery in pediatric transplantation, pediatric liver disorders, living-donor and reduced-size, split-liver transplantation, liver disease (biliary atresia), hepato-biliary surgery and bowel transplantation. His current research projects include the following:
- He is chairman of the Surgical Committee of the Biliary Atresia Research Consortium (BARC), an NIH-funded international study on the cause and treatment of biliary atresia. Biliary atresia is currently the number one cause of liver transplantation in children.
- Dr. Superina is also interested in portal hypertension. With the help of philanthropic support, he and his team are expanding and improving the information available on treatment options for portal hypertension for both families and health care professionals.
- Additionally, he heads a research lab to study the effects of portal vein thrombosis on the liver, which includes clinical and basic science studies, funded primarily from philanthropic support. He has operated on more than 80 children with portal vein thrombosis. These children have been referred here from Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Cuba and Canada, in addition to over 20 states in the U.S. He has been invited to three continents and seven countries to demonstrate and teach portal hypertension surgery in children.
Maria T. Greene, MD, is a pediatric hepatologist interested in studying gut immunology and autoimmune liver disease. Her current research projects include the following:
- Dr. Greene is currently conducting research on the evaluation of new serologic testing for celiac disease in collaboration with Dr. O'Gorman, director of the Diagnostic Immunology and Flow Cytometry Laboratories at Children's Memorial Hospital.
- She is also a principal investigator in a study looking at how common small bowel bacterial overgrowth is present in children with functional disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome. Small bowel bacterial overgrowth can be easily treated with antibiotics. The results of this research will help gastroenterologists decide to what extent patients with functional abdominal pain and irritable bowel syndrome would benefit from the use of antibiotic therapy.
- Dr. Greene presented the results of her research on outcomes of medical therapy for pediatric autoimmune hepatitis at the Digestive Disease Week Conference in 2008.
Peter F. Whitington, MD, is an internationally recognized pediatric hepatologist interested in studying liver diseases of children, specifically biliary atresia, genetic cholestasis, obesity-associated fatty liver disease, and neonatal hemochromatosis. His current research projects include the following:
- Dr. Whitington serves as the site principal investigator for the Biliary Atresia Research Consortium (BARC), a multi-year, multi-center study funded by the National Institutes for Health. This research aims to improve future care of children with biliary atresia, currently the leading indicator for pediatric liver transplants in the United States.
- He is director of the Digestive Diseases and Immunobiology Research Center at Children's Memorial Research Center. The center was created in 2006 with a mission to promote through basic and translational research a better understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms and therapies of diseases of the digestive system, in particular the immune mechanisms of inflammatory diseases, transplantation and tolerance. The center is interest-driver, consisting of a small group of dedicated, enthusiastic, and productive researchers, all of whom study the mechanisms of diseases involving the liver and intestines. They have common interests in immunology, cell signaling, and cell death as they relate to digestive diseases.
- In addition, Dr. Whitington heads a lab that studies the pathophysiology of childhood liver diseases. The lab is involved in translational research utilizing animal and cell-based models and molecular approaches to understand the immune mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of neonatal hemochromatosis and biliary atresia. In addition, they are also interested in hepatocyte “survival” cell signaling involved in nutrient sensing and fatty liver disease and in the protective response to cholestasis.