Meet the TodaysBaby Team

 

Researchers

Eve Colson, MD, MPHE, Principal Investigator, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

Dr. Eve Colson, MHPE is a primary care pediatrician with a special interest in well newborn care. Dr. Colson served as Director of the Well Newborn Nursery at Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut for almost 10 years. In that role, she oversaw clinical operations of the unit, cared for thousands of families and their newborns, and taught hundreds of trainees about family-centered and newborn care. Dr. Colson currently serves as Professor of Pediatrics and Associate Dean for Program Evaluation and Continuous Quality in Education at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She has successfully held leadership roles in various settings including as medical director of an inpatient hospital unit, in medical education administration, and as principal investigator on many grants. Dr. Colson has had consecutive years of funding from NIH to conduct studies to better understand and to change health-related behaviors that impact infant mortality, disparities, and health equity.

 

Michael Corwin, MD, Principal Investigator, Boston University

Dr. Corwin is a Senior Epidemiologist at the Boston University Slone Epidemiology Center and an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Epidemiology at Boston University School of Medicine and Public Health. His research has focused on the epidemiology and physiology of the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. He has been Principal Investigator of the Collaborative Home Infant Monitoring Evaluation (CHIME), and the National Infant Sleep Position (NISP) surveys, the Study of Attitudes and Factors Effecting Infant Care Practices (SAFE) study, and the Social Media and Risk-reduction Training (SMART) study. Dr. Corwin has also been Co-Director of the Massachusetts Center for SIDS, Medical Director of the MCHB (Maternal and Child Health Bureaus) Program to Enhance Performance of SIDS/OID Initiatives, and has participated in the SIDS Global Strategy Working group and NICHD 5-year SIDS Research Plan.

 

Ann Kellams, MD, IBCLC, FAAP, ABM, Principal Investigator, University of Virginia

Ann Kellams, MD, IBCLC is a Professor of Pediatrics and Director of Breastfeeding Medicine at the University of Virginia. She has been a pediatrician for almost 25 years, the last 16 of which have been in Newborn Hospital and Breastfeeding Medicine. Her research focuses on parenting education on breastfeeding and safe sleep infant care practices in both national populations and in the WIC population both across the US and in Virginia. She currently serves on the AAP Section on Breastfeeding Executive Committee and is President of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine. She has previously chaired the USDA National WIC Advisory Committee.

 

Meg Parker, MD, MPH, Co-Investigator, Boston University

Dr. Parker is a Professor of Pediatrics and Academic Chief of Neonatology at UMass Memorial Medical Center, and a neonatal health services researcher. Dr. Parker holds several federal and foundation grants in the area of social disparities in preterm birth outcomes. She has a particular interest in safe sleep and breastfeeding. Dr. Parker is also an expert in multi-site implementation science and is the Co-Chair of the Neonatal Quality Improvement Collaborative of Massachusetts and an Improvement Advisor from the Institute of Healthcare Improvement. Dr. Parker applies a health equity lens to both her local and multi-site quality improvement projects, and she has led several multisite NICU quality improvement projects focused on breastfeeding and family engagement. She is also a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on the Fetus and Newborn (COFN). The most fulfilling parts of Dr. Parker’s career are mentoring and seeing evidence turn into action for our families at the local level. Dr. Parker lives in Brookline, MA with her husband and 3 daughters, aged 13, 10, and 7. She enjoys supporting her daughters in their swimming and gymnastics events, running, and engaging in many Peloton activities!

 

Fern R Hauck, MD, MS, Co-Investigator, University of Virginia.

Dr. Hauck is the Spencer P. Bass, MD Twenty-First Century Professor of Family Medicine and Professor of Public Health Sciences at the University of Virginia. Her research has focused on risk factors and protective factors for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and other causes of sudden infant death, including pacifier use, infant sleep location including bedsharing, and infant feeding, with particular attention to racial-ethnic disparities. Her current research includes multi-center NIH-funded studies to develop innovative methods to disseminate safe sleep and breastfeeding messages using mobile health and social media. She is also conducting research on the genetic and metabolomics contributions to SIDS risk. Dr. Hauck serves as an advisor to numerous federal agencies and SIDS organizations to assist in SIDS and infant mortality-related projects and she is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Task Force on SIDS, which develops evidence-based guidelines for safe infant sleep and prevention of SIDS and other sleep-related deaths. She is the co-author of a parenting guide, “14 Ways to Protect Your Baby from SIDS.”

 

Rachel Moon, MD, Co-Investigator, University of Virginia

Rachel Moon is a pediatrician and SIDS researcher at the University of Virginia.  She received her medical degree from Emory University and completed her pediatric residency at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She is the Harrison Distinguished Teaching Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. Her research centers on SIDS, SIDS risk factors, and how parents make decisions. She is Chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Task Force on SIDS and the Associate Editor of Digital Media for the journal Pediatrics.

 

Marc T. Kiviniemi, Ph.D. CPH, Professor and Chair, University of Kentucky

Marc Kiviniemi is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Health, Behavior & Society at the University of Kentucky. He is a psychologist who studies how people make decisions about health-related behaviors like breastfeeding and safe sleep, and how to best communicate information to people to encourage them to make healthier choices.

 

 

Timothy Heeren, Ph.D., Biostatistician, Boston University

Tim Heeren is a biostatistician at Boston University School of Public Health with a research focus on infant health. Dr. Heeren has served as a biostatistician on a number of projects with the TodaysBaby/SMARTER and SUPERSONIC Studies research teams.

 

Study Staff

Fiona Rice, MPH, Boston University Slone Epidemiology Center, Project Coordinator

Nicole Geller, MPH, Boston University Slone Epidemiology Center, Project Coordinator

Sarah Roth, MPH, Boston University Slone Epidemiology Center, Project Coordinator

Chanel Peguero, MS, Boston University Slone Epidemiology Center, Research Assistant

Nathaly Perez Rojas, BA, Boston University Slone Epidemiology Center, Research Assistant

Katie Boguszewski, MPH, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Research Coordinator