Academic Administration

The Department of Pediatrics is fortunate to have a very strong presence and administrative support on both the University of Connecticut Health Center (UConn Health) and Connecticut Children’s campuses. With faculty based at multiple institutions, administration of the Department of Pediatrics is comprised of centrally managed academic functions for affiliated faculty, and decentralized business and research management functions for all faculty.

The senior operations manager, Esperanza Lesmes, in collaboration with the offices of both Pediatrics and Surgery Chairs staffed at Connecticut Children’s, manages academic appointments, reappointments and promotions; the academic merit plan for affiliated faculty; academic faculty contracts; and in collaboration with Deborah Hornblow, per diem editor, produces the Departments of Pediatrics and Surgical Subspecialties Annual Report and the Faculty Resource Guide. The administrative staff in the chair’s office maintains close communication with the Department of Pediatrics Academic Office at UConn Health. Julie Vigil, administrative manager, and her team at the Pediatric Offices at UConn manage the academic budgets, including tenured faculty support, components of the residency budget, discretionary accounts, and UConn Health-based sponsored programs as well as faculty appointments and academic merit for the UConn in-residence faculty. The Pediatric academic office serves as the support and key logistical link between the decentralized offices within other institutions/ departments and UConn Health’s administrative and financial offices.

NEW FACULTY MEMBERS

Hassan El Chebib, MD, Infectious Diseases and Immunology; Caitlin Heyden, DO, Cardiology; Raina Sinha, MD, Cardiothoracic Surgery; Lila Worden, MD, Neurology; Ana Garnecho, MD, Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics; Abraham Khorasani, MD, and Esther Oziel, MD, Primary Care Center; Laura McKay, MD, Hematology-Oncology; Michelle McKee, MD, Emergency Medicine; Nancy Louis, MD, NICU; Jonah Mandell, DO, Urgent Care; Elliot Melendez, MD, PICU; Lori Pelletier, PhD, Quality and Patient Safety; Neurology; Barbara Adams, DNP, James Gerace, DHSc, Petronella Stoltz, PNP-BC, Advanced Practice Providers; Mark Rieger, MD, and Ana Katsman, MD, Orthopedic Surgery; Leah Gregorio, MD, Middlesex Hospital; Kirin Suri, MD, the Hospital for Special Care; Julieta Bonvin-Sallago, MD, Research; and Lisa Backus, PhD, Amy Signore, PhD, Child and Adolescent Psychology. Our 2020-21 chief residents, Jessica Takores, MD, Amy Miller, MD, and Sarah Mackey, DO, were granted faculty appointments in the Department of Pediatrics.

JOINT APPOINTMENTS

Ashley Groshong, PhD, Amy Hunter, PhD, Department of Medicine; Jennifer Downs, MD, Saili Kalaskar, MBBS, Lovejit Kaur, MBBS, Lynn Mangini, MD, Kashmeer Zablan, MD, Jennifer Zajac, DO, Child & Adolescent Psychiatry; David Hersh, MD, and Raina Sinha, MD, Surgery.

COMMUNITY-BASED FACULTY

Damian D. Dos Santos, MD, Alicia Dodson, MD, Yesu Kumar Matta, MD, Mary A. Simon, MD, Martha Sternberg, MD, Clinical Longitudinal Immersion in the Community (CLIC).