New Faculty Profile: Pediatric IBD Specialist Nicole Davidson, MD

Nicole Davidson, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics, joined the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh in Sept. 2025. Dr. Davidson specializes in treating pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and is the newest faculty addition to the long-standing and growing UPMC Children’s IBD Center.

While pediatric IBD is her main focus, Dr. Davidson also sees patients across the range of pediatric gastroenterology conditions in outpatient and inpatient settings.

Dr. Davidson earned her undergraduate degree in neuroscience at the University of Michigan, followed by her medical degree from The Ohio State University. She remained at Ohio State and Nationwide Children’s Hospital for both her pediatric residency and pediatric gastroenterology fellowship training.

During her training, she developed a clinical focus on inflammatory bowel disease, informed by both her professional experience and her personal diagnosis of Crohn’s disease during adolescence.

“Going into college, I was pretty confident that medicine is where I wanted to be, but my interest in pediatrics really was sparked during my first medical school pediatrics rotation,” Dr. Davidson says. “After that, I knew pediatrics was going to be my home. With my personal experience with IBD, pediatric GI ended up becoming my passion.”

Clinical Practice and Patient Care in the IBD Center

The majority of Dr. Davidson’s clinical work is focused on the longitudinal care of children and adolescents in the multidisciplinary UPMC Children’s IBD Center.

The UPMC Children’s IBD Center is built around a multidisciplinary team that includes dedicated nursing staff, advanced practice providers, dietitians, psychologist, and a clinical pharmacist, in addition to the GI physicians and surgeons.

This team-based structure of the IBD Center supports a coordinated approach to patient care for what are often complex disease courses and treatment regimens that span biologic therapies, medication education and safety, nutrition, surgery, and other needs.

“The IBD team and the Division as a whole have been so welcoming and supportive during my transition from a trainee to an attending,” Dr. Davidson says. “The IBD Center has seen a lot of growth and expansion during the last several years under Dr. Sunseri’s leadership. I’m excited to be a part of the team and Division.”

A Patient Care Approach Informed by Personal Experience

Dr. Davidson’s approach to caring for children and adolescents with IBD is informed, in part, by her own experience living with Crohn’s disease. She is generally open with patients and families about her diagnosis and typically shares this information early in the clinical relationship.

“I think it helps families understand that I recognize what they are navigating day to day, particularly when a diagnosis is made during adolescence,” Dr. Davidson says. “Getting a new diagnosis of IBD is difficult, and so is managing the condition every day. I get that dynamic and I try to use my personal experience as a means for education and empathy.”

Having been diagnosed with IBD during adolescence, Dr. Davidson understands the challenges faced by patients who are managing a new chronic diagnosis during a time of development and personal growth already associated with increasing independence and psychosocial stress. Adolescence itself is a difficult time, even in the absence of chronic illness, and that the added demands living with IBD require additional support and understanding.

This perspective and personal experience also informs Dr. Davidson’s approach to helping prepare patients for the eventual transition from pediatric to adult gastroenterology care.

This focus on transition readiness is reinforced through structured discussions with patients and families as they move closer to adult care. This period of transition from pediatric to adult care is a critical component of long-term disease management success, continuity of care, overall health and quality of life.

“Our IBD Center emphasizes gradual skill-building as patients approach transition age, including taking ownership of medication schedules, understanding treatment plans, and communicating directly with care teams,” Dr. Davidson says. “These steps are important skills for pediatric patients to learn, practice, and ingrain into their daily life.”

Research Interests and Programmatic Engagement

During her fellowship training, she conducted clinical research focused on inflammatory bowel disease, including studies examining biologic therapies and the delivery of multidisciplinary care.

Her primary fellowship research project involved a national survey of IBD providers affiliated with the ImproveCareNow quality improvement network. This study examined how multidisciplinary IBD programs are structured across institutions and explored perceived barriers to providing comprehensive, team-based care.

“One of the consistent findings from this research was that providers view multidisciplinary care as highly important to optimal outcomes, but that institutional and financial barriers often limit what centers are able to provide,” Dr. Davidson says.

As a member of the UPMC Children’s IBD Center, Dr. Davidson plans to collaborate on ongoing clinical studies within the Division focused on IBD care delivery and outcomes as she settles into her faculty and clinical role.

“Pediatric IBD care continues to evolve rapidly, and that is one of the reasons the UPMC Children’s IBD Center also has rapidly evolved and grown over the last few years,” Dr. Davidson says.