Team: Neonatal Class of 2024

Dr. D’Gama completed an Accelerated Research Pathway Pediatric Residency in the Boston Combined Residency Program. She received her undergraduate, medical, and doctorate degrees from Harvard University. She conducted her PhD research in the Christopher Walsh Lab investigating the genetic etiology of autism spectrum disorders, and the intractable epilepsy syndromes hemimegalencephaly and focal cortical dysplasia using next-generation sequencing and single cell technology. Dr. D’Gama is interested in pursuing research in developmental neuroscience and translational genomics during fellowship. She served as chief fellow during her third year of fellowship. During fellowship she investigated genetic mechanisms of disease and advancing equitable precision medicine for infants with genetic disorders, especially infants with epilepsy and neurogenetic conditions. Dr. D’Gama is currently working as an attending neonatologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and Instructor in Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Odumade completed her pediatric residency at the University of California, San Diego. She received her bachelor’s degree at Hamlin University in biology and psychology, her medical degree and PhD at the University of Minnesota Medical School, and completed the Global Health Pediatric Research Fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital. She most recently worked as faculty in the Precision Vaccines Program (PVP) under the division of Infectious Diseases at Boston Children’s Hospital and directed by Dr. Ofer Levy. She worked on several projects including a National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases (NIAID) U19-funded human immunology project consortium (HIPC) study on human in vitro modeling of vaccine responses. She is interested in pursuing translational research focusing on neonatal sepsis. Dr. Odumade is an attending neonatologist at the University of Minnesota Medical Center and M Health Fairview, and holds an appointment as Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Winkler completed her pediatric residency at Massachusetts General Hospital for Children. She received her undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and her medical degree from the University of Massachusetts. During her residency, she generated the standard operating procedure (SOP) for the construction, maintenance, and trouble shooting of a low-cost, sustainable bubble CPAP built from local materials for use in low-resource settings in Uganda. She also participated in a research project with a multidisciplinary team extrapolating the effect of proning in adults to determine efficacy in improving bronchiolitis outcomes in pediatric patients. She would like to continue to work on the development and distribution of affordable medical technologies to resource-limited areas of the world, as well as evaluating the safety and utility of new devices in the care of neonates. Dr. Winkler is an attending neonatologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Instructor in Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Thomas completed her pediatric residency at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She received her undergraduate degree in comparative literature (English and Spanish) from Brown University, and her medical degree from Yale University. Her research during residency looked at the first minutes after birth for newborns with cyanotic congenital heart disease. By characterizing the transitional physiology of these newborns and the resuscitative measures they required, she aimed to deepen understanding of how to manage these challenging deliveries. The abstract for this work was accepted to both the PAS and ESPR conferences. She was a co-leader of Project SPHERE, a resident-led QI project aimed at streamlining and improving family and physician satisfaction with the rounding model by increasing resident teaching at the bedside. During fellowship, she pursued clinical research on infants with congenital anomalies to improve outcomes. Dr. Thomas is an attending neonatologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and an Instructor in Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Hu completed her pediatric residency in the Boston Combined Residency Program. She received her undergraduate degree in ecology and evolutionary biology from the University of Michigan, and her medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. During residency, she worked on a project that involved analyzing a large cohort of infants for whom genetic testing was sent to identify patterns in testing strategy and diagnostic yield. She received a Fred Lovejoy House Officer Research Award from Boston Children’s Hospital in support of this project, and her abstract describing the preliminary results was accepted at the 2020 PAS meeting and the 2020 NEPS meeting. During fellowship, she researched inequalities in genetic testing and diagnosis. Dr. Hu is an attending neonatologist at Bronson Methodist Hospital.

Dr. Sharma completed his pediatric residency at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. He received his undergraduate degree in chemistry from Northwestern University and his medical degree from the University of Cincinnati. During his residency, his primary research focus was the identification of potential antecedent perinatal and neonatal clinical factors associated with the presence of diffuse white matter abnormality in term-adjusted MRI. He was involved in a National Institutes of Health-funded study to identify biomarkers on MR imaging that may better predict neurodevelopmental outcomes of preterm infants. He is interested in the identification and utilization of biomarkers to predict long-term outcomes. He served as chief fellow during her last year of fellowship. Dr. Sharma is an attending neonatologist at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine.

Dr. Loren completed his pediatric residency at University of Washington/Seattle Children’s Hospital. He received his undergraduate degree in organismic and evolutionary biology from Harvard University, and his medical degree from the University of Chicago. During residency, he participated in research on post-partum depression in the era of COVID-19, collecting data regarding rates of depression and social outcomes after NICU stays during the COVID-19 epidemic. He is interested in optimizing lung function and identifying the best nutritional strategies for growth, as well as advocating for appropriate dissemination of evidence-based strategies. Dr. Loren is an attending neonatologist at the University of Vermont Health Network Medical Group and University of Vermont Children’s Hospital. He also holds an appointment as Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine.

Dr. Kalluri completed her pediatric residency in the Boston Combined Residency Program, Urban Health & Advocacy Track. She received her undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering from Tufts University, and her medical degree from Boston University. During residency, she examined the role of maternal primary language on preterm infant outcomes and found that non-English language status is associated with increased infant morbidities; this work was accepted to Pediatric Academic Societies in 2020. She was awarded an American Academy of Pediatrics research grant to examine the relationship between language status and parental participation in NICU care. During fellowship she conducted clinical research to understand and create interventions to reduce disparities, address social determinants of health, and empower underserved families. She was also a fellow in the Harvard-wide Pediatric Health Services Research Fellowship and received her master’s degree in public health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She served as chief fellow during her last year of fellowship. Dr. Kalluri is an attending neonatologist at UMass Memorial Medical Center and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at UMass Chan Medical School.