About Us

Quality Initiatives

The Department of Pediatrics is committed to continuous improvement in all domains and focuses on the Institute of Medicine's six domains of healthcare quality. We perform, support and train in improvement science and partner with Northwestern University for more comprehensive training. We will consider our program a success when we view everything as an opportunity for improvement.

Healthcare quality and safety initiatives are critical to providing optimal healthcare as well as reducing variations of care that will facilitate greater learning in all forms of research. Faculty involved in these initiatives help train medical students, residents and fellows in quality and safety.

The Department of Pediatrics is looking to expand the number of faculty members with healthcare quality and safety expertise. We offer several opportunities for faculty to expand their expertise in these areas:

Certificate Course for Improvement Scholars

This six-month course involves multidisciplinary faculty and participants including physicians. Scholars learn in didactic sessions and initiate an improvement project in their microsystem to accelerate their learning.

Journal Writing Club

We have initiated an Improvement Writers group that will advance optimal utilization of SQUIRE guidelines in September 2018. Graduates of this program are expected to submit healthcare quality and safety manuscripts, help teach the ensuing session and serve as mentors for other colleagues working in these areas.

Value in Healthcare

Faculty involved in quality and safety initiatives are currently developing a method for quantifying value in healthcare. This will enable the institution to prioritize work based on metrics that matter most to our patients and their families.

Jaclyn Winikoff Wallis

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Primary Care-Outreach)

Career goal: to continue to grow as a caring and empathic pediatrician for the community while furthering the education of medical trainees. I enjoy caring for children of all ages; from perinatal/newborn medicine through adolescence, in the inpatient and sick/outpatient setting.

Cheryl K Lee

Assistant Professor of Medicine (Hospital Medicine) and Pediatrics

I am a hospital-based physician, in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at Northwestern Memorial and Lurie Children's Hospitals. In addition, I serve as key clinical faculty in the Internal Medicine Residency, which affords me the opportunity to further the practice of Evidence-Based Medicine among our trainees.

David O Walterhouse

Professor of Pediatrics (Hematology, Oncology, and Stem Cell Transplantation)

As a member of the soft tissue sarcoma committee of the Children's Oncology Group (COG), my primary clinical research interest lies in the area of clinical trials for pediatric patients with soft tissue sarcomas. I have served as study chair for a group-wide phase III COG clinical trial for rhabdomyosarcoma. I also serve as Institutional Principal Investigator for COG. My primary basic research interest lies in understanding the regulation and function of the GLI1 oncogene, as well as understanding the role of Hedgehog-GLI1 signal transduction in pediatric solid tumors.

Andrea C Pardo

Associate Professor of Pediatrics (Neurology and Epilepsy)

One of the motivations that has permeated and guided my research career is understanding the role of brain development in the pathogenesis of neurological diseases. My career as a researcher started in the basic sciences studying the role of glial precursors in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. As a fellow and junior faculty, I studied the role of hypoxia in oligodendrocyte development and its effect on white matter injury. I have continued to develop as a neonatal neurologist and neurocritical care neurologist. Currently, I serve as interim director of the Neurocritical Care Program at Lurie Children's.

Carolyn C Foster

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Advanced General Pediatrics and Primary Care)

Dr. Foster is a primary care pediatrician with a career interest in health care delivery innovation for children with medical complexity and technology dependence. She received her a medical doctorate from Harvard University and her health services research fellowship training from the University of Washington and Seattle Children's Hospital after a year as chief pediatric resident. As a physician-investigator, she is passionate about developing evidence-based health care interventions for children with medical complexity (i.e., multiple co-morbidities, technology dependence) that maximize the...

Mina K Dulcan

Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Child and Adolescent Psychiatry) and Pediatrics

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, child psychiatric epidemiology