The Department of Pediatrics and Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital is pleased to announce the establishment of the Section of Pediatric Immunology and Rheumatology. The new section will offer specialized care for our patients facing conditions due to immune dysregulation, including a broad spectrum of rheumatologic, autoinflammatory, autoimmune disease and will eventually include those with primary immunodeficiencies. The new section will be led by Interim Section Chief Ian Ferguson, MD. Other inaugural members of the section include pediatric rheumatologists Kathleen Corbin, MD, and Dan Glaser, MD. We will be launching a search for an additional faculty member with expertise in pediatric immunodeficiency and immune dysregulation to join the section.
Pediatric patients with primary immunodeficiencies will continue to be seen by Jenny Shin, MD, PhD, and patients with allergic and immunologic conditions will continue to be treated by our outstanding group of pediatric allergy/immunology faculty and advanced practice providers (APPs) in the Section of Pediatric Allergy, Sleep and Pulmonology. This includes Stephanie Leeds, MD, Gary Soffer, MD, Julie Flom, MD, MPH, Kelsey Kaman, MD, Matt Balanda, APRN, Taylor Pecora-Saipe, APRN, and Joanna Samoskevich, APRN. These faculty and APPs will have secondary appointments in the Section of Immunology and Rheumatology to ensure seamless care for our patients. The referral process to these specialists will remain the same and appointments will be made with a specific provider based on the reason for referral.
Effective May 1, 2024, Ian Ferguson, MD, associate professor of pediatrics, will serve as interim section chief of Pediatric Immunology and Rheumatology. Dr. Ferguson received his medical degree from New Jersey Medical School (UMDNJ) and completed his residency in pediatrics at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Board certified in pediatrics and pediatric rheumatology; he completed his subspecialty training in Pediatric Rheumatology at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. He joined our faculty in 2015 and his research focuses on the clinical and immunobiologic picture in the development of autoimmunity and its regression over time.
Dr. Ferguson was also 2023’s Arthritis Foundation Medical Honoree and has been an invited speaker at the CDC’s Clinical Immunization Safety Assessment and the Clinical Immunology Society Case Conference Webinar Series, as well as a presenter at the American Association of Immunology National Meeting, American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology National Meeting, and the EULAR (European League Against Rheumatism) Annual Meeting, among many others.
Please join us in welcoming our newest section and congratulating Dr. Ferguson on this new role!