Research

Division faculty conduct research on a wide variety of children’s health and healthcare issues, including:

  • Improving the health and healthcare of underserved children, including those who are poor, are uninsured, racial/ethnic minorities, immigrants, facing language barriers, and have special healthcare needs
  • Racial/ethnic disparities in children’s health and health care
  • Community-based interventions for improving the health and healthcare of underserved children
  • Insuring uninsured children
  • Testing innovative interventions for chronic disease management
  • Language, culture, and healthcare
  • Latino children’s health
  • Preventing pediatric hospitalization
  • Factors that delay hospital discharges for children; family-centered rounds
  • Prevention of youth violence and bullying (Co-Mentor: Rashmi Shetgiri, M.D.)
  • Preventing teen pregnancy; the HPV vaccine; and use of text messages for adolescent outpatient appointment reminders
  • Understanding and preventing child abuse and neglect
  • Health policy

Faculty Research Interests

Glenn Flores, M.D., FAAP

Professor, Division Director
Judith and Charles Ginsburg Chair in Pediatrics
Research interests include:

  • Improving the health and healthcare of underserved children, including those who are poor, uninsured, racial/ethnic minorities, immigrants, facing language barriers, and have special healthcare needs
  • Racial/ethnic disparities in children’s health and health care
  • Community-based interventions for improving the health and healthcare of underserved children
  • Insuring uninsured children
  • Testing innovative interventions for chronic disease management
  • Language, culture, and healthcare
  • Latino children’s health
  • Preventing pediatric hospitalizations

May Lau, M.D., M.P.H.

Assistant Professor
Research interests include:

  • Racial/ethnic disparities in adolescent health and healthcare
  • Adolescent pregnancy
  • Human papillomavirus vaccination in adolescents
  • Text messaging, and health and healthcare in adolescents

Nancy R. Kelly, M.D., M.P.H.

Associate Professor
Director, Residents’ Continuity Clinic
Research interests include:

  • Resident Education
  • Poison and injury prevention
  • Immunizations

Rashmi Shetgiri, M.D., M.S.H.S.

Assistant Professor
Research interests include:

  • Violence prevention in adolescents
  • Racial/ethnic disparities in health and healthcare
  • Conducting collaborative research with schools and communities to improve the health of underserved children
  • Latino child health
  • Youth development and resilience promotion in adolescents

Vineeta Mittal, M.D.

Associate Professor
Research interests include:

  • Family-centered rounds
  • Improving quality of inpatient care
  • Avoidable hospitalizations

Christy Turer, M.D.

Instructor
Research interests include:

  • Disparities in overweight and obese patients
  • Evaluating safe and effective weight loss interventions for children
  • Factors associated with adverse health outcomes in obese children
  • Behavioral factors associated with improved health outcomes for children of obese mothers
  • Evaluation of the safety, effectiveness, and feasibility of dietary and behavioral interventions to improve obesity-related disease and quality of life for children and families

Cathleen Lang, M.D.

Fellow
Research interests include:

  • Improving the health and healthcare of abused and neglected children, including those who are in foster care and kinship care
  • Child abuse prevention through education
  • Utility of sexual assault forensic exams