New UW-Developed, Arrhythmia-Visualization Device May Save Lives, Prevent Strokes and Save Hospitals Money
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Above, the AtriAmp supports clear, continuous displays of atrial signals in real time. The device was developed by Nick Von Bergen, MD (Associate Professor, Division of Cardiology) and his team at Atrility Medical. This photo and the accompanying article were shared with permission by the Isthmus Project.
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As a UW Health pediatric cardiac electrophysiologist, Nick Von Bergen, MD, specializes in caring for children with abnormal heart rhythms, making him a highly valued resource who is often consulted after a child comes out of heart surgery – a time when arrhythmias are common and occasionally life threatening.
When a specialist like Von Bergen is called in, he focuses on achieving an accurate, rapid diagnosis with a constant eye on safety. To achieve the best outcome, Von Bergen depends on accurate interpretation of the signals coming from the heart’s electrical activity. Historically, this information is obtained from the bedside monitor or an electrocardiogram (EKG) in which electrodes are placed on the patient’s chest.
Currently the most easily accessible data source, EKG’s fall short of being a “gold standard” for identification of arrhythmias, especially when every minute counts.
“In a typical case, I may be caring for a baby whose heart rate is spiking at 190 after coming out of surgery,” says Von Bergen, “I want to know if that spike is a response to the baby requiring more fluids, or if this is a potentially more serious abnormal heart rhythm we need to address. Unfortunately, bedside monitors are not precise enough and EKGs can take up to 20 minutes to set up. By contrast, a constant stream of real-time accurate data would help us diagnose heart rhythm immediately and treat the child much sooner,” Von Bergen says. “For pediatric and adult patients, having this information can save lives, prevent strokes and reduce hospital expense.”
Another EKG flaw, Von Bergen adds, is that the atrial, or upper chamber heart signals can be very hard to discern compared with the ventricular, or lower chamber heart signals.
“When we rely on bedside monitors,” he says, “discerning accurate atrial signals from an EKG can be like trying to see a small candle burning near a bonfire,” Von Bergen says. “The atrial signals are so small relative to the much larger ventricular signals.”
Sensing an opportunity for improvement, Von Bergen was confident there had to be a better way to care for his patients. He began by cobbling together alligator clips, wires and duct tape. Calling it a “prototype” would be a stretch, but his instincts were in the right place.
Read more.
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100 Years of Care for Children
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Above, posing with American Family Insurance Company’s lead gift for American Family Children’s Hospital are (left to right) Philip Farrell, MD, PhD (Emeritus Dean and Chair of Pediatrics) David Anderson, Donna K. Sollenberger, Harvey Pierce, Dennis Lund, MD, and Aaron L. Friedman, MD (Emeritus Faculty). This photo and the following article were shared with permission by Quarterly.
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When you hear “University of Wisconsin-Madison,” what comes to mind first?
Perhaps it’s the campus’ reputation as one of the nation’s greatest public universities, its status as an internationally known research institution, or its beautiful setting along Lake Mendota. Many identify with the Badgers’ countless achievements over the past generation in football, basketball, hockey and other sports.
Few people, however, may realize that 2020 commemorates the 100th year in which UW-Madison faculty and staff have been caring for hospitalized children. Four campus locations have served as a children’s hospital, although the first three pale in comparison to UW Health’s beautiful, nationally recognized American Family Children’s Hospital, which opened in 2007.
The story began in 1920, with the opening of the Mary Cornelia Bradley Hospital for the Study of Children’s Diseases. Professor Harold C. Bradley, PhD, and his wife, Josephine Bradley, provided most of the funding to construct a pediatric hospital on Linden Drive in memory of their daughter. At age 6, Mary Cornelia Bradley had been stricken with measles, and she died from complications in 1916.
“I am grateful that my grandparents did something so wonderful after something so devastating,” says Peggy Timmerman, the daughter of one of Mary Cornelia Bradley’s brothers. “Although Mary’s death was seldom talked about, I’m told that this generous gift to the university helped my grandmother cope with the tragic loss of her daughter.”
Read more.
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'Superhero of Medicine' Jasmine Zapata Fights Racism and Bias
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Above, a photo of Dr. Jasmine Zapata (Assistant Professor, Division of Neonatology & Newborn Nursery). Photo credit: UWHealth.
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Congratulations to Jasmine Zapata, MD, MPH (Assistant Professor, Neonatology & Newborn Nursery), who received the Wisconsin Medical Society Foundation's annual "Superhero of Medicine" award for her work to reduce disparities and help inspire a more diverse health care workforce.
“Dr. Zapata is a dynamic author, physician, youth empowerment specialist and community leader," stated Janine Stephens, Chief Operating Officer of the Foundation for Black Women's Wellness. Stephens – along with Renee Moe, President and CEO of United Way of Dane County – nominated Dr. Zapata for the award. In the foundation's press release, Marje Murray, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Medical Society Foundation stated, “Just talking to Dr. Zapata makes people want to do and be better. Her work to both inspire and enable young women from underrepresented minorities to think about careers in medicine will truly change the face(s) of health care.”
The award was presented to Dr. Zapata during a virtual ceremony on August 20, 2020.
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25 Pediatrics Faculty Awarded 'Top Teacher' for 2019-2020
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Congratulations to the 25 pediatrics faculty members who were selected for the Top Teacher award by medical students and residents. The following are the 2019-2020 award recipients:
- Ann Allen, MD (Assistant Professor, Hospital Medicine)
- Brittany Allen, MD (Assistant Professor, General Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine)
- Nicole Baumann-Blackmore, MD (Clinical Associate Professor, Neonatology & Newborn Nursery)
- Paula Cody, MD, MPH (Associate Professor, General Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine)
- Ryan Coller, MD, MPH (Assistant Professor and Division Chief, Hospital Medicine)
- Ellen Connor, MD (Professor, Endocrinology & Diabetes)
- James Conway, MD (Professor, Global Pediatrics and Infectious Diseases)
- Carol Diamond, MD (Associate Professor, Hematology, Oncology & Bone Marrow Transplant)
- Jonathan Fliegel, MD (Associate Professor, Hospital Medicine)
- Laura Holt, MD (Clinical Assistant Professor, General Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine)
- Laura Houser, MD (Clinical Associate Professor, General Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine and Global Pediatrics)
- Derek Hoyme, MD (Assistant Professor, Cardiology)
- Lalitha Iyer, MD (Clinical Assistant Professor, General Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine)
- Sanjeev Jain, MD, FAAP (Clinical Associate Professor, General Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine)
- Kathleen Kastner, MD (Assistant Professor, Developmental Pediatrics & Rehabilitation Medicine)
- Michelle Kelly, MD (Associate Professor, Hospital Medicine)
- Bruce Klein, MD (Professor and Division Chief, Infectious Diseases)
- Troy Kleist, MD (Clinical Assistant Professor, General Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine)
- Katherine Lemon, MD (Clinical Associate Professor, General Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine)
- Joseph McBride, MD (Assistant Professor, Infectious Diseases)
- Nina Menda, MD (Assistant Professor, Neonatology & Newborn Nursery)
- Kirstin Nackers, MD (Assistant Professor, Hospital Medicine)
- Megan Neuman, MD (Clinical Associate Professor, General Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine)
- Amy Plumb, MD (Associate Professor, General Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine)
- Diane Puccetti, MD (Associate Professor, Hematology, Oncology & Bone Marrow Transplant)
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New Grants
Christian Capitini, MD, Awarded ICTR Pilot Grant with Jenny Gumperz, PhD
 Congratulations to Principal Investigator Christian Capitini, MD (Associate Professor, Hematology, Oncology & Bone Marrow Transplant), along with Co-PI Jenny Gumperz, PhD, Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology, and pediatrics fellow Nicholas Hess, PhD, on the funding of their pilot grant entitled, “Uncovering Predictive Cellular Biomarkers of Graft-Versus-Host-Disease (GVHD) Following Hematopoetic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT).” This $25,000 Translational Basic & Clinical Research pilot grant was funded by the UW Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR), and the primary aim is to investigate whether circulating T cells show similar indicators of activation in human HSCT patients who go on to develop aGVHD (acute graft-vs-host-disease). This will be accomplished by testing left-over blood routinely collected from HSCT patients here at UW for analysis. The results from this project have the potential to address an unmet need for early predictive biomarkers to assess aGVHD risk in HSCT patients. A link to all ICTR pilot awards for 2020 can be found here.
Doug Dean III, PhD, Awarded Pilot Research Core Revitalization Program Grant
 Congratulations to Principal Investigator Doug Dean III, PhD (Assistant Professor, Neonatology & Newborn Nursery) whose project “Computing Resources for Rapid Reconstruction and Analysis of Next Generation Magnetic Resonance” was selected by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education’s pilot Research Core Revitalization Program. The $127,712 grant will facilitate upgrading and expanding computing resources of the Brain Imaging Core (BIC) at the Waisman Center’s Intellectual & Developmental Research Center in order to support the rapid increasing computational demands of such methods. The project’s Co-PI is Steven Kecskemeti, PhD, Waisman Center, and Co-Investigator Andrew Alexander, PhD, Department of Medical Physics and Psychiatry. More details about the BIC and this project can be found here.
Emma Mohr, MD, PhD, Awarded NIH Supplement
 Emma Mohr, MD, PhD (Assistant Professor, Infectious Diseases) was recently awarded a Critical Life Supplement from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases (NIH/NIAID) to her mentored clinical scientist research career development award (K08 AI139341). This supplement provides $50,183 in funding to support additional staff to assist her in achieving the goals of her research project, "Defining Maternal and Neonatal Antibody Responses in Congenital Zika Virus Infection," which aims to define the relationship between the antibody response during congenital Zika infection and outcomes of infection.
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"Dear Mary, you have done an amazing job bringing the Pediatric Complex Care Program meetings into a formal, structured, respectful and effective use of everyone's time over its relatively brief lifespan. I am continually impressed by the engagement of all members of the team, and the great ideas that are inspired through the discussion. You've also done an outstanding job transitioning (and adapting) the modes and content to the COVID-era. Very proud to work with you!'"
