What: Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2019 Meeting

When: April 27-30, 2019

Can Pediatric Providers Slow the Opioid Epidemic?

Hot Topic/Topic Symposia Session

Room 307

Saturday, April 27, 2019, 8–10:00 a.m. EDT
 

This session is designed to teach health care providers for adolescents and young adults how they can do their part to help address the opioid crisis in the United States. Joshua Sharfstein, M.D., vice dean for public health practice and community engagement at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a joint appointee in pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, will lead the session with an overview of the nationwide opioid epidemic and explore the reasons why our young people have increasingly become its victims. Later in the session, Colleen Barry, Ph.D., chair of the Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Department of Health Policy and Management, will discuss the epidemiology of mental health and substance use disorders among the young and then highlight opportunities for improving the mental health care system to better deal with the problem.
 

Studies Potentially Link Prenatal Mercury Exposure, Stress to Adolescent Obesity

Platform Session

Ballroom II

Monday, April 29, 2019, 3:30–3:45 p.m. EDT and 5–5:15 p.m. EDT
 

As part of the “Obesity and Disordered Eating: Pregnancy and Early Childhood” session, Johns Hopkins researchers will present findings from two studies looking at possible early-life factors leading to childhood obesity. First, Tina Cheng, M.D., M.P.H., co-director of Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, will discuss a study on which she is a co-investigator. This research shows that mothers who were exposed to mercury and had an insufficient amount of folate in their diet during pregnancy bore children who were at higher risk of being overweight or obese. Later in the session, Neha Anand, a student at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, will highlight a study that examined a suspected link between obesity and stress response/cortisol production in children from low socioeconomic status households.
 

Vaccine Safety: What the Experts Have to Say

Poster Symposia

Room 308

Monday, April 29, 2019, 10:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. EDT
 

Matthew Dudley, Ph.D., M.S.P.H., an epidemiologist in the Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Institute for Vaccine Safety and co-author of The Clinician’s Vaccine Safety Resource Guide: Optimizing Prevention of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases Across the Lifespan, will lead a discussion of findings from a recent scientific review of reported “adverse events following immunization” that found no evidence linking vaccines to diseases such as autism, diabetes and multiple sclerosis.
 

Understanding How School Meditation Programs Reduce Stress, Negative Behaviors

Poster Session

Halls D-G, Board 126

Tuesday, April 30, 2019, 7:30–9:30 a.m. EDT
 

Erica Sibinga, M.D., M.H.S., associate professor of pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and director of ambulatory pediatrics at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, will discuss recent research that provides insight into how and why a mindfulness program — meditation designed to enhance the innate capacity for non-judgmental awareness of present moment experience — is an effective prevention tool for many adolescent mental health problems, including stress, anxiety, aggression and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms.
 

Protein May Be Useful Biomarker to ID Infants with Dangerous Intestinal Condition

Poster Session

Halls D-G, Board 769

Tuesday, April 30, 2019, 7:30–9:30 a.m. EDT
 

The protein galectin-4 has been shown in a recent pilot study to be elevated in the blood of premature infants with intestinal disease, making it a solid candidate as a future tool to detect necrotizing enterocolitis, a life-threatening intestinal inflammatory condition for newborns. Jennifer Fundora, M.D., a clinical fellow in neonatology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, will discuss the findings and the potential for the biomarker to one day be used to diagnose intestinal injury and/or recovery.

In addition to these sessions, oral and poster presentations by Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers on a variety of pediatric-focused topics will take place, including improving health care for underserved populations, preventing infections and new advances in medical procedures. Details about each presentation may be found on the PAS 2019 meeting website and the downloadable PAS meeting app.