Pediatric Pulmonology Research Team | Research | Department of Pediatrics | UC Davis Health

Sara Abu-Nasser’s research focuses on improving care through Quality Improvement projects in several fields including children dependent on ventilators, asthma, and telehealth. She also has clinical research interests in Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia (PCD). Through her research collaborations, she aims to continue to advance the care for children with pulmonary disorders.

PUBLICATIONS:

• PubMed

Ambika Chidambaram's research interest focuses on studying improving outcomes in children with sleep disordered breathing, specifically in children with neuromuscular disease.

PUBLICATIONS:

• PubMed

Sanjay Jhawar research interest focuses on respiratory function evaluation in pediatric neuromuscular patients, pediatric lung function tests, and pathways to lung inflammation.

He is the pediatric director for the Cystic Fibrosis Program at UC Davis, with interest in the study of CFTR modulator use in pediatric Cystic Fibrosis patients. He is also interested in quality improvement in Asthma care and the care of respiratory technology dependent children.

PUBLICATIONS:

• PubMed

Rory Kretzmer’s previous work has focused on the use of long-term ventilation in children with chronic respiratory failure as well as in primary care screening practices for sleep disorders in neurodiverse populations with autism spectrum disorder. Since joining UC Davis, his work has focused on quality improvement and research-based approaches to the use of telehealth including video visits, telemonitoring, and virtual support groups in asthma and other conditions treated by pediatric pulmonologists. He collaborates on multi-institutional patient centered outcomes-based projects for patients with Robin Sequence (a congenital airway anomaly) and is the site principal investigator for two clinical trials aimed at the prevention and treatment of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) respiratory tract infections in infants and children.

PUBLICATIONS:

• PubMed

Kiran Nandalike’s active projects include the utility of limited sleep studies in the inpatient pediatric setting along with sleep apnea and sleep quality screening in pediatric cystic fibrosis patients.

She is the pediatric director for the TDN (therapeutic development network) research network, which conducts various cystic fibrosis related clinical trials. They currently finished recruiting patients for Vertex 445 clinical trial and are currently recruiting patients for AeroVanc phase 3 clinical trial.

PUBLICATIONS:

• PubMed

The goal of my research is to enhance our understanding of the risk factors and pathophysiology of lung disease in individuals with sickle cell disease. Specifically, I have investigated the overlap of sickle cell disease and asthma, changes in lung function measurements, and biomarkers of lung injury in adults and children with sickle cell disease. I am also working to understand the impact of environmental pollutants on disease related complications in individuals with sickle cell disease.

PUBLICATIONS:

• PubMed