Current Opinion in Pediatrics was launched in 1989. It is one of a successful series of review journals whose unique format is designed to provide a systematic and critical assessment of the literature as presented in the many primary journals. The fields of pediatrics are divided into 18 sections that are reviewed once a year. Each section is assigned a Section Editor, a leading authority in the area, who identifies the most important topics at that time. Here we are pleased to introduce the Journal's Section Editors for this issue. SECTION EDITORS Carly GussCarly GussDr Carly Guss graduated from Yale University, USA and University of Michigan Medical School, USA. She completed her residency in pediatrics at Hasbro Children's Hospital/Brown University, USA and a fellowship in adolescent medicine at Boston Children's Hospital, USA. She is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, USA and an attending physician at Boston Children's Hospital, USA. Dr Guss specializes in reproductive endocrine, long-acting reversible contraception, pre-exposure prophylaxis to prevent HIV, gender affirming care, and eating disorder care. She is the co-Medical Director of the Boston HIV Provider and Peer Education Network for Services, a program that provides primary care for adolescents and young adults living with HIV and those at risk for acquiring HIV. Areej HassanAreej HassanAreej Hassan MD, MPH, is an attending in the Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine at Children's Hospital Boston, USA and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, USA. She completed her residency training in Pediatrics at Hasbro Children's Hospital/Brown University, USA before her fellowship in Adolescent Medicine at Boston Children's Hospital. In addition to primary care, Dr Hassan focuses her clinical interests on sexual and reproductive health and reproductive endocrinology and is co-director of the Long-Acting Reversible Contraception Program. She is also the medical director for the Metro Region of the Department of Youth Services overseeing a team providing comprehensive care for youth in the system. Outside of clinical care, Dr Hassan maintains an active role in Global Health and directs global activities for the Adolescent Medicine division. She currently teaches, consults, and is involved in pediatric and adolescent curricula development at multiple sites abroad in Central America and Southeast Asia. Nicole HarterNicole HarterDr Nicole Harter is a board-certified dermatologist and pediatric dermatologist. Dr Harter currently lives in Omaha, Nebraska, USA where she serves on Faculty at the University of Nebraska Medical Centre. Dr Harter is the Chief of Pediatric Dermatology at Children's Hospital & Medical Centre Omaha, USA. Dr Harter attended medical school at the University of Arizona, USA where she was a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha and Gold Humanism Honor Societies and received the Outstanding Senior Award for Distinguished Academic Achievement. She completed her internship in pediatrics at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Centre, USA her dermatology residency at Los Angeles County and University of Southern California (LAC+USC), USA and her fellowship in pediatric dermatology at Northwestern Medical Centre, USA and Lurie Children's Hospital, USA. She also served as associate program director of Children's Hospital Los Angeles’ pediatric dermatology fellowship program prior to her current appointment. Dr Harter's practice focuses on complex medical dermatology, laser therapy, and dermatologic surgery. She is passionate about her commitment to the pediatric dermatology education of residents and fellows. Dr Harter's research has been widely published in medical literature, as well. Sally RadovickSally RadovickSally Radovick, MD, is a Professor of Pediatrics and the Director of the Clinical and Translational Research Institute at the University of Arizona, USA. She received her medical degree from Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, USA completed her residency in pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University, USA and completed her fellowship in pediatric endocrinology at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She has been a faculty member at Case Western Reserve University, Harvard Medical School, the University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins University, and Rutgers University. Dr Radovick specializes in growth and development and pubertal disorders in children. Since 1992, the NIH has continually funded her biomedical research to determine the neuroendocrine basis of growth, pubertal development, and reproduction. She has mentored over 75 graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and early career faculty, with many receiving NIH support for their career development. She has also led NIH training programs for postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty in her leadership roles at Johns Hopkins University, USA and the University of Chicago, USA. Her research is focused on determining the regulation of the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) gene, which has a central role in controlling the onset of puberty. Her group was the first to generate GnRH-expressing neuronal cell lines and map the cellular regulation of this critical gene in vitro, which has increased knowledge of the relationship between growth, puberty, and nutrition. She has developed genetically modified mouse models to elucidate mechanisms of in vivo regulation of GnRH secretion in response to neuroendocrine and growth factor stimulation and sex steroid feedback regulation. Of particular interest has been the determination of the roles of neurotransmitter/hormone receptors in mediating the increase in GnRH secretion to adult levels at puberty, which results in the attainment of fertility. With recent evidence implicating the neuroendocrine protein kisspeptin, responsible for the pubertal onset and reproductive cycling with obesity and metabolism, Dr Radovick has begun exploring novel roles for central and peripheral kisspeptins in controlling metabolic homeostasis. The other major research area has been to characterize the transcription factors essential for normal pituitary development. Her initial studies provided the first genetic mechanism of a child with short stature due to hypopituitarism, implicating a mutation in the Pit-1 gene necessary for pituitary cell lineage determination and differentiation. She has described the mechanisms by which novel mutations in other pituitary-specific transcription factors are responsible for pituitary hormone deficiencies. Her current NIH funding includes an R01 to determine the role of sex steroids in puberty and reproductive cycling and a U01 to determine the genetics of short stature. She is a co-investigator in a study to determine the role of sex steroids in hepatic glucose production in diabetes and epidemiologic studies to determine the predictors of diabetic ketoacidosis. Dr Radovick has authored or co-authored more than 150 peer-reviewed scientific publications and has been invited to write a dozen book chapters in her field. She is the author of “Puberty in the Female and its Disorders” in Sperling's textbook, Pediatric Endocrinology, and “Normal and aberrant growth” in Williams Textbook of Endocrinology. She is the Editor of Frontiers in Pediatric Endocrinology, Pituitary and Current Opinion in Pediatric Endocrinology. She has had leadership roles in professional organizations, including the Endocrine Society, and was President of the Pediatric Endocrine Society and the Growth Hormone Research Society. She served on several NIH study sections and was the previous Chair of the Integrative and Clinical Endocrinology and Reproduction (ICER) NIH study section. Henry H BernsteinDr Bernstein is a Professor of Pediatrics at Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell in New York, USA. He taps into his extensive 41–year experience as an academic general pediatrician in private practice, the National Health Service Corps, and as Chief of General Academic Pediatrics at urban, suburban, and rural children's hospitals with a passion for vaccination, infectious diseases, medical education, health promotion, and disease prevention to promote the health and well-being of children, their families, and their communities. His private, community-based primary care (generalist) experiences in combination with academic leadership responsibilities have provided him with a value-added, translational science perspective, unique from many others in academia. This tacit knowledge enables him to fulfil a lifelong passion of communicating, educating, and translating science into clinical settings, educational venues, policymaking, and media interactions to advance the health of children. Research is consistently woven into the fabric of Dr Bernstein's clinical practice, which has served as a “laboratory” for his active studies. His research and quality improvement initiatives focus on issues important to Academic General Pediatrics and community-based practice, including immunizations, infectious diseases, postpartum newborn discharge, childhood obesity, breastfeeding, health promotion, preventive health screening in primary care, technology and medical education. His commitment, innovative spirit, and enthusiasm also encompass many facets of medical education along the continuum from training and mentoring future physicians to fostering lifelong learning and supporting the continuous professional development of practicing pediatricians. Dr Bernstein is a former voting member of the US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) and of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice (ACIP). He serves as a consultant on the ACIP COVID-19, Influenza, and the Combined Adult and Pediatric Immunization Schedules workgroups. He also is an ex-officio member of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ (AAP) Committee on Infectious Diseases (Red Book Committee) and was Associate Editor of the AAP's Red Book Online (aapredbook.org) for 18 years. In addition, he was the founding Editor-in-Chief of PediaLink (pedialink.org), the AAP's online home for lifelong learning for 18 years, and past Chair of the interdisciplinary Bright Futures Health Promotion Workgroup starting in 1997, which created a distinctive health promotion curriculum, videos, and a companion educational website (pediatricsinpractice.org). Additionally, he was a leader in practice-based research for more than 2 decades as the state coordinator of the AAP's Pediatric Research in Office Settings (PROS) national PBRN, first in Pennsylvania and then in Massachusetts. Dr Bernstein presently is Editor-in-Chief of Pediatric Care Online, the AAP's practical and convenient online resource that integrates a full range of essential AAP-trusted clinical and educational content at point-of-care. Pediatric Care Online (pediatriccareonline.org) is a dynamic, comprehensive source for pediatric-specific information, including algorithms, videos, tool kits, patient handouts, and more. In addition, he has been Editor of the Office Pediatrics Series in Current Opinion in Pediatrics since 1995 (31 years) which offers sharp commentary, expert insights, and concise summaries of pivotal studies to keep readers at the forefront of Pediatrics. He also was Senior Editor of Pediatrics on the public website of Harvard Medical School's Health Publications Division for 17 years. He regularly shares his knowledge and expertise by educating the public, writing for health information websites and often participating in media interviews on a variety of pediatric health care issues including immunizations, diagnosis and treatment of common childhood infectious diseases and conditions, and practical information for parents, teachers and caregivers. In the spirit of lifelong learning, Dr Bernstein earned a Master's degree in Healthcare Management (MHCM) at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health in 2013 and has been a faculty member ever since guiding students annually with their year-long practicum projects in this Executive Education Master's degree program. In addition, he teaches in a pediatric-focused course for select senior students at Princeton University annually since 2019. He completed his residency training in pediatrics at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia after earning his medical degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey - School of Osteopathic Medicine and has maintained his board certification by the American Board of Pediatrics. Hank and his wife, Sophie, have been married for 45 years, are extremely proud of their 40-year-old daughter, Lauren, and 35-year-old son, David, and are “over the moon” with their 4 grandchildren - Eva, Vienne, Nico, and Ellis.
Hassan et al. (Thu,) studied this question.