Pediatric Infectious Diseases

We provide clinical services that are essential for the diagnosis and clinical management of diseases in children caused by acute infections, chronic infections, recurrent infections, and infectious complications associated with other medical problems or surgeries. Physicians in our Pediatric Transplant Infectious Diseases Program and on the Pediatric Immunocompromised Host Infectious Diseases Consult Service provide expert care for children who are at increased risk for infections, such as recipients of stem cell or solid organ transplant, children who are being treated with immunosuppressive medications for other conditions, children with HIV infection, and children with primary immunodeficiencies.

In the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Outpatient Clinic at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, our team provides comprehensive care for children and adolescents with common, unusual, and complex infections, such as congenital infections, bone and joint infections, tuberculosis, and HIV infection. We provide diagnostic expertise to evaluate children with unexplained fevers. Collaborating closely with colleagues in other divisions, we assist in evaluating children with frequent or unusual infections to diagnose abnormalities of the immune system. We also assess risks for infection and interventions to lower those risks, particularly for children with primary immunodeficiencies or initiating immune suppression.

Our division directs and staffs the Michigan Medicine Pediatric Antimicrobial Stewardship Program, which develops and maintains evidence-based antimicrobial prescribing guidelines for children throughout our health system. We also provide pediatric expertise to the Department of Infection Prevention and Epidemiology, which works to prevent and control healthcare-associated infections in patients and workforce members.

Learn more about Pediatric Infectious Diseases patient care

Members of the division are engaged in cutting-edge clinical, translational, and basic science research. Division members collaborate with multiple investigators at the University of Michigan and at other institutions across the country. Research projects focus on many different areas related to infectious diseases, such as viral and bacterial biology and pathogenesis, sepsis, antimicrobial stewardship, and infections in at-risk patients such as transplant recipients and neonates. Division research is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the Charles Woodson Foundation, and a variety of other sources.

Key Faculty & Research Areas

• Suzanne Dawid, MD, PhD: Examines Streptococcus pneumoniae colonization, competition among strains and the effects of vaccination and antibiotic resistance on disease prevalence.
• Michael Watson, MD, PhD: Scholarly interests include improving medical education in Pediatrics and research on bacterial infections of children, especially Group A Streptococcal infections.
• Kengo Inagaki, MD: Focuses on population-based research with an emphasis on infections in transplant patients and other immunocompromised hosts.
• Kay Leopold, MD, MPH: Studies children with congenital CMV (cCMV) and cCMV newborn screening practices in order to improve our detection and management of cCMV.
• Elizabeth Lloyd, MD: Studies the impact of stewardship interventions on antimicrobial use in both hospitalized and outpatient children.
• Alison Tribble, MD, MSCE: Investigates antimicrobial prescribing patterns at children's and community hospitals and interventions to optimize this use.
• John LiPuma, MD: Specializes in bacterial airway infections in cystic fibrosis, employing advanced genetic and microbial community profiling methods to characterize respiratory pathogens.
• Kavita Warrier, MD, MS: Focuses on clinical research in hospital-acquired infections within pediatrics.
• Jason B. Weinberg, MD: Investigates the pathogenesis of adenoviruses and other viruses, focusing on virus-host immune interactions, viral persistence, and how persistent viral infection alters outcomes of other disease processes such as sepsis.