UPMC Children’s Nephrology Division Leadership Changes and News
August 30, 2022
In July 2022, the Division of Pediatric Nephrology at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh announced several leadership changes and appointments.
Jacqueline Ho, MD, MSc, Appointed as New Division Chief
Jacqueline Ho, MD, MSc, associate professor of pediatrics in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh, was appointed as the new Pediatric Nephrology Division Chief. Dr. Ho succeeds Carlton M. Bates, MD, who retired at the end of June 2022.
Dr. Ho joined the Division of Pediatric Nephrology at UPMC Children's in 2010. In addition to her clinical and research work, she has served as the Director of the Pediatric Nephrology Fellowship program and co-Director of the Pediatric Scientist Development Program in the Department of Pediatrics.
Dr. Ho’s research laboratory primarily investigates the causes of chronic kidney disease and renal failure precipitated through abnormal kidney and urinary tract development. She has focused her research efforts on understanding the role of microRNAs in kidney development and disease, with numerous recent papers showing how microRNAs work to regulate nephron progenitor proliferation and survival in the developing kidney. Dr. Ho currently has multiple NIH-funded R01 investigations in progress, and earlier in 2022, she received a Burroughs Wellcome Fund grant to study how in-utero exposure to diabetes affects nephron formation in the kidney of the developing fetus.
Division Clinical Director Michael L. Moritz, MD, FASN, Named a Department of Pediatrics Vice Chair
Division of Pediatric Nephrology Clinical Director Michael L. Moritz, MD, FASN, professor of Pediatrics, was appointed as the new associate vice chair of Clinical Affairs for Ambulatory Care and Innovation in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
In addition to his role as clinical Director in the Division, Dr. Moritz also is the Director of Pediatric Dialysis. Dr. Moritz is one of the country's leading researchers and experts in sodium and water metabolism, and dysnatremias in general. He has done seminal work in these fields, pointing out the dangers of using hypotonic fluids in hospitalized children as it has resulted in numerous cases of iatrogenic death or permanent neurological injury. Dr. Moritz was the first to recommend the use of 0.9% sodium chloride in maintenance fluids in hospitalized children as prophylaxis against developing hospital-acquired hyponatremia. Dr. Moritz also introduced the concept of using repeated 3% sodium chloride boluses to treat hyponatremic encephalopathy, which has now become the accepted therapy.
