UPMC Children’s Pediatric Endocrinology Division Welcomes New Fellowship Director Kanthi Bangalore Krishna, MD
October 20, 2022
The Division of Pediatric Endocrinology at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh is pleased to welcome Kanthi Bangalore Krishna, MD, to the Division. Dr. Krishna is an associate professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and takes over as the new director of the Pediatric Endocrinology Fellowship Program.
Dr. Krishna earned her medical degree from Bangalore Medical College in India. She completed her pediatric residency at the SUNY Health Sciences Center-Brooklyn, followed by a pediatric endocrinology fellowship at UPMC Children’s.
After fellowship and prior to returning to UPMC Children’s, Dr. Krishna was an associate professor of Pediatrics at PennState Health, practicing in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania area for seven years.
Dr. Krishna's clinical work involves general pediatric endocrinology focusing on diabetes, differences of sex development, and precocious puberty.
“I’m excited to return to Pittsburgh and UPMC Children’s,” says Dr. Krishna. “What drew me back is the wealth of clinical experiences available to clinicians at UPMC Children’s, and the numerous subspecialty clinics and experts leading those areas that provide a solid educational experience for trainees while continuing clinical practice and pursuing research options.”
She has authored research papers involving type 1 diabetes and the role diet and aging play in obesity and metabolic outcomes, and numerous papers, abstracts, and book chapters on various topics related to puberty and differences of sex development. Since 2019, she has been a member of the Pediatric Endocrine Society’s DSD Special Interest Group, where she has recently coordinated the development of video-based education materials for parents of newborn children faced with a DSD diagnosis.
Beyond her clinical care duties, Dr. Krishna has devoted the majority of her time to curriculum development and teaching and mentoring residents, fellows, and medical students in pediatric endocrinology. Her work at PennState Health included roles as the Associate Pediatric Clerkship Director, Program Director for the pediatric endocrinology elective course, and Course Director for the Reproduction and Endocrinology course for medical students, in addition to teaching numerous pediatric and adult endocrinology topics for medical students and post-graduates.
Dr. Krishna also served as the Resident Coach during her tenure at PennState Health, a role that afforded her the opportunity to coach and mentor about seven pediatric residents each year.
She also actively participates in the Education Committee of the Pediatric Endocrine Society, a role that has included work to translate patient-related educational materials from English to Hindi.
Her curriculum development work has focused on developing more robust models and processes for eliciting and providing feedback to/from students on their educational progress.
“I’ve spent a lot of my time trying to develop methods and means for communicating with students on their progress and training to ensure that we’re providing the highest level of training possible, while individualizing the specific needs of students,” says Dr. Krishna. “This has meant, in part, finding ways for the communication stream between faculty and students to be more of a continuous dialogue, one that can adapt in real-time.”
And while Dr. Krishna is new to UPMC Children's and her management of the pediatric endocrinology fellowship program is in its early phases, her overall goals are simple and direct.
“Students today learn much differently than generations that have preceded them, and medical education programs need to account for this, not only to provide exceptional training but also to attract talented and motivated students," says Dr. Krishna. "To that end, how we develop our training programs and the curriculum that constitutes the educational core needs to leverage emerging technologies and methods for learning, but at the same time creating a deeply personal experience for the student where feedback on performance is more objectively measurable, and communication flows back and forth between student/teacher/hospital effectively."
