Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh pediatrician Alejandro Hoberman, MD, is at the forefront nationally in efforts to improve the diagnosis and treatment of two of the most frequently occurring pediatric illnesses, acute otitis media (AOM), and urinary tract infections (UTI). AOM is the most common pediatric illness for which antibiotics are prescribed: Three of four children have AOM by age 3. UTI is the most frequently occurring serious bacterial illness, particularly in infant girls with fever.

Dr. Hoberman graduated from medical school in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he also completed a general pediatrics residency at the Children’s Hospital of Buenos Aires. He then came to the United States for fellowship training in ambulatory pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, under Jack L. Paradise and Kenneth Rogers. He then joined the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh and Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, where he leads the Division of General Academic Pediatrics. Dr. Hoberman has published his research findings in the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA and other highly rated peer-reviewed journals. In 2000, Dr. Hoberman was established as the first Jack L. Paradise, MD, Endowed Professor of Pediatric Research at Children’s.

Dr. Hoberman’s research contributions have included various randomized clinical trials evaluating diagnosis, management, follow-up and prevention of UTI and AOM in children. He has developed multimedia educational programs aimed at improving diagnostic accuracy in children with AOM, which have been used in instructing large number of trainees worldwide. Together with Phillip Kaleida, MD, another Children’s pediatrician, and other members of the Division of General Academic Pediatrics, Dr. Hoberman developed a program to help train medical residents across the country in the diagnosis of AOM. They obtained funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the development of an innovative project called ePROM (enhancing Proficiency in Otitis Media). This program includes Web-based interactive modules, individualized telemedicine feedback and reinforcement of skill by training champions at each residency program. Dr. Hoberman has also been the principal investigator of a collaborative (involving general pediatrics and general internal medicine) Faculty Development in Primary Care Training Program, funded by the Health Resources Services Administration. The overall purpose of this collaborative faculty development program is to create a new generation of primary care clinician researchers in pediatrics, internal medicine and medicine-pediatrics. They must work effectively in interdisciplinary teams, address public health priorities, be culturally competent, consult those who are impacted by their care and research, and develop leadership skills to translate results into policy.

Dr. Hoberman recently received funding from the National Institutes of Immunology Allergy and Infectious Diseases/National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development to study in a randomized, placebo-controlled trial, the efficacy of antimicrobial treatment in young children with AOM. This year, he was selected by the National Institutes of Diabetes Digestive and Kidney Diseases as the principal investigator of a Pediatric Nephrology/Urology Clinical Treatment Center, which will conduct at Children’s Hospital — in collaboration with five other U.S. sites — a large randomized, placebo-controlled study evaluating the efficacy of antimicrobial prophylaxis in young children with vesicoureteral reflux diagnosed following a first UTI. Patient enrollment in these studies is anticipated to commence Oct. 1, 2006.