A Leader in Diagnosing and Treating Infants, Children, and Adolescents With Respiratory Conditions

Pulmonologist showing child how to use inhaler.

Department of Pediatrics Annual Report – 2024

Pulmonology

2024 Pediatrics Annual Report banner
Stephanie Lovinsky-Desir, MD, MS

The Division of Pulmonology provides exemplary multidisciplinary care to children in the New York City area and beyond. Established as one of the first pediatric pulmonology programs in the country over 50 years ago, we are leaders in diagnosing and treating children and adolescents with a wide range of respiratory conditions. Our team includes seven full-time and one part-time faculty members, two nurse practitioners, two nurses, and a clinical research group. The division has nationally recognized clinical and research programs, including: 

Additionally, we offer multidisciplinary care for children dependent on ventilators and other technologies in our tracheostomy clinic and congenital diaphragmatic hernia follow-up clinic. We have expertise in lung disease associated with prematurity, heart disease (pulmonary hypertension), interstitial lung disease, congenital lung malformations, recurrent pneumonia, primary ciliary dyskinesia, and bronchiectasis. The Cystic Fibrosis Center is part of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutic Development network. 

Research

The division is committed to scientific discovery in pediatric pulmonary diseases, and several faculty members and staff are currently funded by the NIH and other large foundations through independent, collaborative, and mentored research awards. 

Education 

Through our fellowship program, we provide comprehensive training to the next generation of leaders in pediatric pulmonary medicine. In recent years, our fellows have been supported through grants from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the T32 Research Training Program in Lung Diseases. 

In 2024...

  • Established a dedicated multidisciplinary asthma clinic with specialists from Pulmonology and Allergy to provide collaborative consultative services to patients with severe or complex asthma 
  • Strengthened our multidisciplinary sleep program for children with complex sleep disorders with the addition of new faculty, including a Sleep Pulmonologist and Sleep Neurologist.  
  • Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia (HHT) program was designated as a Center of Excellence  
  • Strengthened international collaborations with a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Ecuadorian Ministry of Health and Columbia University to provide cystic fibrosis care education in Ecuador 

New Appointments 

Promotions 

Honors and Awards 

  • Aliva De, MD 
    • Fellow of the American Thoracic Society (ATSF) 2024  
  • Stephanie Lovinsky-Desir, MD, MS 
    • Fellow of the American Thoracic Society (ATSF) 2024
 
    • Associate Co-Director for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center 
  • Hossein Sadeghi, MD 
    • Recognition at the Connecticut Chapter of Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Foundation Annual Meeting  

Major Grants 

  • Stephanie Lovinsky-Desir, MD, MS
    • R56 Award- Early Life Predictors of Airway to Lung Dysanapsis  
    • R03 Award- Pollution and Lung Health in Active Youth (PLAY) at School  
  • Meyer Kattan, MD
    • NIH Award- Childhood Asthma in Urban Settings (CAUSE)- Leadership Center 
    • NIH Award- CAUSE Clinical Research Center New York (CAUSE-CRC) 
    • University of Wisconsin- Prevention of asthma exacerbations using Dupilumab in urban children and adolescents (PANDA) 
  • Hossein Sadeghi, MD
    • Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Award- CF accredited center 
    • Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Award-  Columbia University and Ecuador Collaborative Cystic Fibrosis Project (CUEC-CF) 
    • Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Award- Cystic Fibrosis Learning Center Network Award (CFLN) 
    • Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Award – CF-GENES: Addressing Genetic Counseling Access Disparities for Parents of CF Newborn Screen-Positive Infants in New York 

Selected Publications 

  • Lovinsky-Desir S, Riley IL, Bryant-Stephens T, De Keyser H, Forno E, Kozik AJ, Louisias M, Matsui EC, Sheares BJ, Thakur N, Apter AJ, Beck AF, Bentley-Edwards KL, Berkowitz C, Braxton C, Dean J, Jones CP, Koinis-Mitchell D, Okelo SO, Taylor-Cousar JL, Teach SJ, Wechsler ME, Gaffin JM, Federico MJ. Research Priorities in Pediatric Asthma Morbidity: Addressing the Impacts of Systemic Racism on Children with Asthma in the United States. An Official American Thoracic Society Workshop Report. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2024 Oct;21(10):1349-1364.  
  • De A, Jung KH, Davis H, Siddiqi A, Kattan M, Quinn J, Rundle A, Green NS, Lovinsky-Desir S*. Effects of Air Pollution on Respiratory Events and Pain Crises among Children with Sickle Cell Disease in New York City. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2024 Dec;21(12):1733-1741 
  • Sadeghi H, Kay DM, Langfelder-Schwind E, DeCelie-Germana JK, Berdella M, Soultan ZN, Goetz DM, Caggana M, Fortner CN, Giusti R, Kaslovsky R, Stevens C, Tavakoli N, Voter K, Welter JJ, Kier C; New York State Cystic Fibrosis Newborn Screening Consortium. Characterization of 223 infants with CFTR-related metabolic syndrome/Cystic fibrosis screen positive, inconclusive diagnosis (CRMS/CFSPID) identified during the first three years of newborn screening via IRT-DNA-SEQ in New York State. J Cyst Fibros, 2024 Nov 11:S1569-1993(24)01808-3. 
  • Rai N, Chang A, Kass A, Berger S, Sein AS, De A*. Impact of an Online Curriculum on Pediatric Pulmonary Trainee Learning. ATS Sch. 2024 Mar 19;5(2):254-258. doi: 10.34197/ats-scholar.2023-0119BR. eCollection 2024 Jun 1. 
  • Quittell LM, Simon RH, Morgan W. A model for oversight of rare disease studies: The 25-year experience of the cystic fibrosis foundation data safety monitoring board. 
  • J Cyst Fibros. 2024 Jul;23(4):734-738. doi: 10.1016/j.jcf.2024.05.001. Epub 2024 May 7.PMID: 38719765 
  • Hysinger E, Murray L, Shaikh F, Paisley A, Vicencio A, Shah R, Grant C, Harkin TJ, Haas A, Phinizy P, Corcoran A, Piccione J, Burg G. Endobronchial Valves for Persistent Air Leak in Children with Necrotizing Pneumonia. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2024 Dec;21(12):1781-1784. doi: 10.1513/AnnalsATS.202401-034RL. PMID: 39236302. 
  • Nelson JE, Sanchez KM, Yao Y, Jin Z, Zitsman JL, Kattan M, Garofano RP, Layton AM, De A*. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing among pediatric patients with severe obesity prior to bariatric surgery. Progress in Pediatric Cardiology. Volume 72, March 2024, 101708.  
  • Non AL, Li X, Jones MR, Oken E, Hartert T, Schoettler N, Gold DR, Ramratnam S, Schauberger EM, Tantisira K, Bacharier LB, Conrad DJ, Carroll KN, Nkoy FL, Luttmann-Gibson H, Gilliland FD, Breton CV, Kattan M, Lemanske RF Jr, Litonjua AA, McEvoy CT, Rivera-Spoljaric K, Rosas-Salazar C, Joseph CLM, Palmore M, Ryan PH, Wegienka G, Sitarik AR, Singh AM, Miller RL, Zoratti EM, Ownby D, Camargo CA Jr, Aschner JL, Stroustrup A, Farzan SF, Karagas MR, Jackson DJ, Gern JE; ECHO Cohort Consortium. Comparison of Race-neutral Versus Race-specific Spirometry Equations for Evaluation of Child Asthma. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2024 Dec 6. doi: 10.1164/rccm.202407-1288OC. Online ahead of print. PMID: 39642347 
  • Jung KH, Argenio KL, Jackson DJ, Miller RL, Perzanowski MS, Rundle AG, Bacharier LB, Busse WW, Cohen RT, Visness CM, Gill MA, Gruchalla RS, Hershey GK, Kado RK, Sherenian MG, Liu AH, Makhija MM, Pillai DK, Rivera-Spoljaric K, Gergen PJ, Altman MC, Sandel MT, Sorkness CA, Kattan M, Lovinsky-Desir S*. Home and School Pollutant Exposure, Respiratory Outcomes, and Influence of Historical Redlining. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2024 Jul 9:S0091-6749(24)00679-1. 
  • Lovinsky-Desir S, Hirsh JA, Hoffman EA, Allen NB, Bertoni AG, Guo J, Jacobs DR Jr, Laine AF, Malinsky D, Michos ED, Sack C, Shen W, Watson KE, Wysoczanski A, Barr RG, Smith BM. Indices of Childhood Socioeconomic Status and Dysanapsis among Older Adults: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis Lung Study. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2024 May 15. 

Highlights