We are excited to welcome to the newest group of fellows/subspecialty residents to UNC Children’s! Our fellowship programs are committed to fostering the development of future generations of physicians and scientists who will go on to improve the health of children in North Carolina and across the globe.

The American Pediatric Society (APS) council members have formally elected Benny Joyner, MD, MPH, and Kenya McNeal-Trice, MD, to Active membership with the society. Active member nominations are accepted for individuals who reside in the United States or Canada who have distinguished themselves as child health leaders, teachers, scholars, policymakers, and/or clinicians and whose important contributions are recognized nationally and/or internationally, as determined by the Council, and who have well-established credentials as teachers, scholars, policymakers, and/or clinicians and whose contributions have advanced child health.

Meg Kihlstrom, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Critical Care Medicine, and Kenya McNeal-Trice, MD, Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Hospital Pediatrics, have been awarded the Denny, Simon, Tingelstad Academic Service Award from the North Carolina Pediatric Society in recognition of their work with the Pediatric Residency Program at UNC.

Paul Shea, MD, has been named curriculum representative for simulation, experiential learning and training for the UNC School of Medicine. He will start his position in August 2022.

We are excited to recognize our faculty and trainees for their recent Academy of Educator (AOE) accomplishments.  We are so grateful for their enthusiasm, dedication, and talents as UNC AOE educators. Founded in 2006, the Academy of Educators is designed to emphasize teaching and support faculty development both in Chapel Hill and across the state.

Meg Kihlstrom, MD was promoted to Associate Professor of Pediatrics effective May 1, 2022. Since becoming a faculty member in 2015, Dr. Kihlstrom has had a strong commitment to the Department of Pediatrics’ Education mission,  In March of 2021, Dr. Kihlstrom was named as Program Director of the Pediatric Residency Program at UNC.

We are excited to congratulate Pediatrics department members recently inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha (AΩA). Election to Alpha Omega Alpha signifies a lasting commitment to scholarship, leadership, professionalism, and service. Membership in the society confers recognition of someone’s dedication to the profession and art of healing.

Dr. Leong joined the Department of Pediatrics as faculty in the Division of Critical Care Medicine on August 1, 2021. In 2012, Dr. Leong completed his degree in Osteopathic Medicine from Touro College in New York City and in June of 2021, he completed a Critical Care Medicine Fellowship at the University of Maryland in Baltimore

Renee Ducatte joined the Department of Pediatrics on May 17th as an APP in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine. Ms. Ducatte completed her BSN at UNC-Chapel Hill in 2016 and went on to completed her MSN at the Duke University School of Nursing in 2020. Beginning in 2016, she worked for 2 years as a nurse in the PICU at Duke University and then in the Cardio Vascular Intensive Care Unit at Levine Children’s Hospital, in Charlotte