OPAR Team

Ohio Pediatric Asthma Repository

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital

OPAR Central Coordinating Center

Gurjit K Khurana Hershey, MD, PhD

Director, Division of Asthma Research
Co-Director, Office of Pediatric Clinical Fellowships
Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Dr. Gurjit Khurana Hershey is the Director of the Division of Asthma Research and is an Endowed Professor of Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. She graduated with Highest Distinction Honors in Biochemistry from the University of Iowa. She then completed the MD/PhD program at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. After completing a pediatrics residency at St. Louis Children's Hospital Medical Center, Dr. Hershey went on to complete a fellowship in allergy/immunology at St. Louis Children's Hospital Medical Center. Dr. Hershey was appointed to the faculty at the University of Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in 1997. Since that time, she has built a large research program focused on delineating the mechanisms of allergic inflammation. She has been continuously NIH funded for over 17 years, and is the PI of an NIH-funded U19 Asthma and Allergic Diseases Cooperative Research Center, the site Director of the Inner City Asthma Consortium, and the PI of the Ohio Pediatric Asthma Repository. She has published over 130 articles in journals including the New England Journal of Medicine.

Dr. Hershey is a member of the National Advisory Allergy and Infectious Diseases Council (NAAIDC) of the National Institutes of Health. She is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. She serves on the Executive Program Committee, is Chair of the Basic and Clinical Immunology Interest Section, Vice Chair of the Interest Section Coordinating Committee, Chair of the Grant Review Committee, and is the Chair of the Genetics, Molecular Biology, and Epidemiology committee of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI). She is an active board member of the American Board of Allergy and Immunology (ABAI), and she is an appointed Chair of the Conjoint Standards Committee and Conflict of Interest Committee for the ABAI. She is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, American Pediatric Society, and the Society for Pediatric Research. Dr. Khurana Hershey is a 2008 participant of the Drexel Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine Program, 2013 Harvard Senior Faculty Leadership Program, and 2014 Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairs. She was named One of the Five Leading Women in Healthcare in the Greater Cincinnati Metropolitan Area by Women's Business Cincinnati Magazine, and nominated Outstanding Woman at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. Dr. Khurana Hershey is a Diplomate of the American Board of Allergy and Immunology and the American Board of Pediatrics.

Site Investigators

Carolyn Kercsmar, MD

Co-Director, Division of Pulmonary Medicine
Director, Asthma Center
Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Patrick Ryan, PhD, MS

Associate Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics
Department of Environmental Health

Jeffrey Simmons, MD

Director of Clinical Operations and Quality, Division of Hospital Medicine
Director, Pediatric Hospitalist Medicine Fellowship
Associate Safety Officer, James M. Anderson Center for Health Services Excellence
Attending Physician, Division of Hospital Medicine
Associate Professor, UC Department of Pediatric

Statistical Team

Lisa Martin, PhD

Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics
Human Genetics
Division of Biostatistics & Epidemiology

Coordinators & Staff

Akron Children’s Hospital

Samantha Gunkelman, MD

Director of the Pediatric EBM/Journal Clubs
Pediatric Hospitalist

Samantha M. Gunkelman, MD graduated from the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine in 2006. She works in Akron, OH and specializes in Pediatrics. Dr. Gunkelman is affiliated with Akron Children’s Hospital.

Dayton Children’s Hospital

Shalini Forbis, MD, MPH

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Wright State University

Shalini Forbis, MD, MPH completed medical school and pediatric residency training at the Medical College of Ohio at Toledo. In addition to being an Assistant Professor at Wright State University she is also a partner at the Children’s Health Clinic. Her main responsibilities include research, clinical patient care duties & medical education. Her research interest includes the topic of health disparities in underserved populations with specific interest in health literacy as well as pediatric asthma.

Site Investigators

Gary Mueller, MD

Medical Director, Cystic Fibrosis
Center Pediatric Pulmonary Specialist

Coordinators & Staff

Nationwide Children’s Hospital

Karen McCoy, MD

Chief, Pulmonary Medicine
Chief, Division of Pediatric Pulmonology
Professor of Pediatrics, The Ohio State University College of Medicine

Karen S. McCoy, MD, is Chief of the Section of Pulmonary Medicine at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and Chief of the Division of Pediatric Pulmonology and a Professor of Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Her clinical interests focus on managing patients of all ages with cystic fibrosis (CF) and pediatric asthma. Dr. McCoy’s research interests revolve around clinical outcomes and trials in cystic fibrosis and asthma. She is the principal investigator for the CF Translational Therapeutic Development Center and the Asthma Clinical Research Center. She is the Director of the CF Center, Associate Director of the fellowship-training program in pediatric pulmonology, Medical Director for Infant and Non-infant Pulmonary Function, Respiratory Care and the CF Newborn Screening Program.

Site Investigators

Daniel Cohen, MD

Associate Director, Emergency Medicine
Associate Professor, Clinical Pediatrics, The Ohio State University College of Medicine

Coordinators & Staff

ProMedica Russell J. Ebeid Children’s Hospital

Pierre Vauthy, MD

Pediatric Pulmonologist

Pierre Vauthy, MD is a pediatric pulmonologist in Toledo, Ohio and is affiliated with multiple hospitals in the area, including Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center and Nationwide Children's Hospital. He received his medical degree from New York Medical College and has been in practice for 42 years. He is one of 4 doctors at Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center and one of 16 at Nationwide Children's Hospital who specialize in Pediatric Pulmonology.

Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital Cleveland

Kristie Ross, MD

Assistant Professor, Pediatrics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

Kristie Ross, MD, is a specialist in pediatric pulmonology and sleep medicine (lung conditions and diseases and sleep problems) and Clinical Director of the Division of Pulmonology, Allergy, Immunology and Sleep Medicine, and Co-Director of the Rainbow Asthma Center at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital. She is Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Dr. Ross graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in biology from Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va., where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She earned her medical degree from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va. Dr. Ross has been involved in clinical research since 2002, mainly focused on pediatric asthma.

Site Investigators

David Speicher, MD

Assistant Professor, Pediatrics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

Coordinators & Staff