Pediatrics

Awards & Recognition

2024 US News & World Report

In 2024, the UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital ranked nationally in eight out of ten pediatric subspecialty areas: 

Behavioral Health Top 50 

Cancer #50

Cardiology & Heart Surgery #35

Gastroenterology and Gastrointestinal Surgery #24

Nephrology #32

Neurology and Neurosurgery #42

Orthopaedics #42

Urology #31

Overall, the children’s hospital ranked 6th in the Pacific region and 5th in California. This is the 18th consecutive year that UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital has been nationally ranked in multiple subspecialties, reflecting broad and sustained excellence.

The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA placed in the top tier in the research category and earned a high rating in primary care. DGSOM placed #12 in their diversity index.

FY24 Awards and Recognition

  • Dr. Martin Anderson was appointed as interim division chief of Adolescent Medicine. 
  • Dr. Cody Aros was selected as one of the Resident Scholars to participate in the 2024 Frontiers-in-Science Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana.
  • Dr. Elizabeth Barnert, with her colleague Dr. Laura Abrams (Luskin School of Public Affairs), received a $1 million contract from the California Health & Human Services’ Office of Youth and Community Restoration to help create standards of care for young people moved to county-run programs. In addition, Dr. Barnert was elected to the American Pediatric Society and appointment as chair of the National Commission of Correctional Health Care (NCCHC) Juvenile Health Committee. She was also selected as a 2024 Southern California Regional Chapter Recognition Awardee from the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine.
  • Dr. Sushma Boppana was selected as one of the Resident Scholars to participate in the 2024 Frontiers-in-Science Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana.
  • Tae Butler (medical student) was presented with the 2024 John Adams Award for Pediatrics. 
  • Dr. Jaqueline Casillas was elected to serve a five-year term on the Voting Body Steering Committee for the Children's Oncology Group
  • Dr. Alvin Chan was selected as a scholar for the UCLA K12 Child Health Research Center Development Award (CHRCDA). Project: "Targeting Intestinal Lipid Absorption with Bile Acid Manipulation in Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease" (Mentor: Thomas Vallim)
  • Dr. Rabia Cheema was appointed as the Associate Medical Director of the UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital. She was also selected as one of the 2024 Robert C. Neerhout Teaching Award recipients, along with Dr. Shahram Yazdani. 
  • Dr. Alan Chin was appointed as Assistant Designated Institutional Official.
  • Dr. Alison Chu was elected to the DPGP Board to represent all the department practice plan members at large, along with Dr. Robert Venick. 
  • Dr. Ronald Cotliar became a member of the Association of Professors of Dermatology.
  • Dr. Pradeep Cooray (resident) was the recipient of the 2024 John A. Fricker Teaching Award. 
  • Dr. Brittny Dike (resident) was one of four awardees in the country to be selected as a recipient of the National Medical Association (NMA) Pediatric Section Dr. Billie Wright Adams Scholarship Award. 
  • Dr. Huan Dong (fellow) received the CDC-Hubert Global Health Award. 
  • Dr. Bonny Drago was awarded the Physician Champion of the quarter by the Los Robles Hospital administration for demonstrating exceptional service excellence and exemplifying their core values of Teamwork, Respect, professionalism, compassion and communication.
  • Dr. Robert Ettenger was selected as a recipient of the 2023-24 UCLA Edward A. Dickson Emeritus Professorship Award.
  • Dr. Cambria Garrell was selected as recipient of the 2024 Special Person Award. 
  • Chai-Chi Huang from the UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital was awarded the Barco’s Nightingale 2023 Award for Volunteerism
  • Dr. John Hwang (resident) was awarded the 2024 Alice Litman Moss Award, along with Dr. Nathan VanderVeen (resident).
  • Dr. Steve Jonas was selected as the 2024 Society for Pediatric Research Young Investigator Awardee. This award is a great recognition of Dr. Jonas’ accomplishments and potential for an outstanding career as a pediatric physician scientist. 
  • Dr. Kalpashri Kesavan was the recipient of the 2024 UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center Board of Advisors Inspirational Physician Award.
  • Dr. James Lin was re-elected to represent Pediatrics in Santa Monica-UCLA and Orthopedic Hospital Medical Staff Executive Committee (MSEC).
  • Dr. Steve Mittelman was elected to the presidency of DPGP, along with Dr. Mindy Ross. 
  • Dr. Anna-Barbara Moscicki was selected as the 2024 Douglas K. Richardson Awardee selected by the Society of Pediatric Research (SPR). This award is a tribute to Dr. Moscicki’s impactful life-long work in Adolescent medicine related to STI and HPV.
  • Dr. Nicholas Rosculet (fellow) received the 2024 Fellow Award for Excellence in Teaching. 
  • Dr. Elaine Rosen was selected as a 2024 UCLA Exceptional Physician.
  • Dr. Mindy Ross was elected to the presidency of DPGP, along with Dr. Steve Mittelman. 
  • Dr. Sadath Sayeed was appointed as the Director of the Global Health Program.
  • Dr. Neeraj Srivastava was appointed as the Medical Director of UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital. 
  • Dr. Robert Venick was appointed as the interim division chief of Gastroenterology. In addition, he was elected to the DPGP Board to represent all the department practice plan members at large, along with Dr. Alison Chu. 
  • Dr. Moira Szilagyi was awarded the 2024 Academic Pediatric Association George Armstrong Lecture Award, along with Dr. Peter Szilagyi. 
  • Dr. Peter Szilagyi was awarded the 2024 Academic Pediatric Association George Armstrong Lecture Award, along with Dr. Moira Szilagyi.
  • Dr. Nathan VanderDeen (resident) was awarded the 2024 Alice Litman Moss Award, along with Dr. John Hwang (resident).Dr. Shahram Yazdani was selected as one of the 2024 Robert C. Neerhout Teaching Award recipients, along with Dr. Rabia Cheema. 
  • Dr. Angela Ziegler (fellow) was selected as the 2024 William F. Friedman Endowed Fellowship awardee for her project: "Identifying the role of THY-1 in the pathogenesis of endocardial fibroelastosis"
     

FY24 Team Awards and Recognition

  • Cultural North Star Awards
    • The Pediatric Women in Science and Doctors of Medicine (WiSDoM) Affinity Group and Pathology JEDI Committee were selected as one of the inaugural recipients of the Cultural North Star in Action Grants for their joint proposal to host a "Drawing Out DEI: Exploring Bias and Allyship through Drawing" workshop.  Team: Peds WiSDoM (Dr. Elizabeth Barnert, Dr. Mindy Ross (MPI), Dr. Vivian Chang) and Pathology DEI Committee (Toshi Ching, Dr. David Lu, Dr. Eduardo "Danny" Rodriguez, Monique Trinh (MPI), Dr. Dawn Ward). 
    • The UCLA Health HEDI Affinity Group La Comunidad was selected as one of the inaugural recipients of the Cultural North Star in Action Grants for their proposal: “La Vecindad - Building Community Through Storytelling.” Team: Nydia Flores (Pediatrics) and Carla Gonzalez (Anesthesiology). 
    • The Program Coordinator Leadership Committee (PCLC) received a Cultural North Star in Action grant for their proposal to create a professional development series for coordinators with the goal of increasing the retention rate of program coordinators at UCLA. Cherie Lewis and Jennifer Martinez sit on the PCLC representing the Department of Pediatrics. 
    • The Body Empowerment Project (BEP) received a 2023 Cultural North Star Award. BEP works to prevent eating disorders in adolescents, specifically in populations that lack access to treatment, representation, and preventive care. At UCLA, the aim of this student organization is to reduce eating disorder risk and empower adolescents/young adults to find body acceptance and self-worth by delivering a research-validated body-positive and social justice-oriented curriculum through an innovative near-peer mentorship panel. The primary goal of the organization is to reduce healthcare disparities and promote equitable access to a novel community health intervention. Team: Student Members (Hannah Lee, Matthew Yan, Christina Miranda - Second Year Stanford Medical Student, Body Image Task Force) and Faculty Members (Dr. Jason Bahk, Dr. Rebecca Dudovitz, Dr. Elaine Rosen, Dr. Hope W. Levin, Dr. Deborah Lehman, Dr. Tracy Wallace, Dr. Theresa Thibodeaux)
  • 2024 JEDI Grant Program Awards
    • Dr. Christine Bui: "Serious Illness Communication Education for Pediatric Fellows"
    • Dr. Christine Thang: "Enhancing Equity in Pediatric Outpatient Care: Exploring the Feasibility and Impact of Language Interpreters in the Interdisciplinary Craniofacial Clinic"
    • Ms. Nydia Flores: "Encouraging Psychological Safety Among Staff"
    • Drs. Simran Gambhir and Xiao Ben Wang: "The Health Equity Check-In: A Medical Education Intervention"
  • UCLA Health Resident/Fellow Informaticist Project Virtual Symposium
    • Dr. Elizabeth Volpicelli (Mentor: Dr. Carlos Lerner)
    • Dr. John Hwang (Mentor: Dr. Paul Lukac) 
    • Dr. Camille Hamilton (Mentor Dr. Jennifer Singer) 
    • Dr. Morgan Quezada-Lopez (Mentor: Deepa Kulkarni) was selected as one of the 11th annual UCLA Health Resident Informaticist Project Virtual Symposium winners