I am very pleased to announce Dr. Sarah Haskell as Division Director for Critical Care effective December 1, 2021. Dr. Haskell has been Interim Division Director since September 1, 2021.

Dr. Haskell received her BS in Exercise Science from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln in 2001 and her DO from Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences in 2005. She then completed her pediatric residency at Iowa from 2005-2008, and her Critical Care fellowship at Iowa from 2008-2011. Dr. Haskell became Assistant Professor here at Iowa in 2011. In 2015, she became Associate Program Director of the Pediatric Critical Care Fellowship, quickly becoming Director of the Critical Care fellowship thereafter. Also in 2015, she received the James Sutherland Award from the Midwest Society for Pediatric Research (SPR) for her platform presentation titled “Maternal SSRI exposure decreases cardiac 5-HT2B receptor expression and Akt phosphorylation in neonatal mice”. She was named President-elect of the Midwest SPR in 2018 and has been President since 2019. Also In 2019, she was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure. She is board certified in Pediatrics and Pediatric Critical Care Medicine.

Since her appointment as faculty in 2011, Dr. Haskell has maintained an active teaching schedule – teaching med students, research students, residents, fellows, and nurses. She has presented numerous lectures for classrooms and lecture series ranging from PICU core topics such as respiratory failure, airway emergencies, traumatic brain injury, asthma, and including specific teaching on the management of shock, post-operative management of congenital heart disease, sepsis, ECMO, burnout, and the recognition and stabilization of pediatric patients. She is the co-author on numerous publications, book chapters, abstracts, and invited presentations. Her research interest is in determining how inhibition of the serotonin system impacts cardiac development and disease, and assessing the role of key serotonin genes and their importance to cardiomyocyte development, heart defects, and signaling pathways. Her clinical research interest is in optimizing pediatric cardiopulmonary arrest care in both in-patient and out-patient settings. She is currently part of a multi-center study assessing the compliance with AHA CPR guidelines by using a resuscitation bundle. She is currently principal investigator on an R01 grant from the NIH titled “SSRI Exposure and Ventricular Development from Bench to Bedside: A Prospective Study to Determine if Maternal Depression Treatment Impacts Offspring Cardiac Development.”

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Haskell to her new role!

Thank you,
 
Alexander G. Bassuk, MD, PhD (he/him/they)
Professor and Chair | University of Iowa Stead Family Department of Pediatrics
Joel and Jay Stead Chair for Leadership in Children's Medicine | University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine
Physician-in-Chief | University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital