Alejandro Hoberman, MD
Chief, General Academic Pediatrics

Alejandro Hoberman, MD, chief of General Academic Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, 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. After fellowship he joined the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, where he currently leads the Division of General Academic Pediatrics. Dr. Hoberman’s research interests have included the diagnosis and management of common pediatric conditions. His research contributions include numerous large randomized clinical trials evaluating the diagnosis, management, follow-up and prevention of urinary tract infections and otitis media in children. He has developed various multimedia educational programs aimed at improving diagnostic accuracy in children with acute otitis media, which have been used in instructing large number of trainees worldwide. He also is the principal investigator of a collaborative — General Pediatrics and General Internal Medicine — Faculty Development in Primary Care Training Program, funded by the Health Resources Services Administration.

Dr. Hoberman has been supported by the NIDDK (National Institutes of Diabetes Digestive and Kidney Diseases) as the principal investigator of a Pediatric Nephrology/Urology Clinical Treatment Center that will conduct at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC — in collaboration with five additional sites in the United States — a large randomized, placebo-controlled study evaluating the efficacy of antimicrobial prophylaxis in young children with vesicoureteral reflux diagnosed following a first UTI. He also has recently received funding from the NIAID/NICHD (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.

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.

View a more detailed profile of Dr. Hoberman: www.chp.edu/bio2/hoberman_a.php

Steven G. Docimo, MD
Vice President of Medical Affairs
Chief of the Division of Pediatric Urology
Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh

Steven G. Docimo, MD, Vice President of Medical Affairs of the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and chief of Children's Division of Pediatric Urology, is an internationally recognized leader in minimally invasive surgery, management of the undescended testis, surgery for urinary reflux and complex urinary tract reconstruction for bladder exstrophy and spina bifida.

An experienced educator, Dr. Docimo contributes to the training of future physicians at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine as the director of an ACGME-approved fellowship program in pediatric urology. He is professor of urology and the vice chair of the Department of Urology at the medical school. Dr. Docimo joined Children's Hospital in 2000 after spending seven years at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he was professor of urology and director of pediatric endourology. He earlier had served in the U.S. Navy as lieutenant commander and had worked for three years as an attending urologist at the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, Va.

Dr. Docimo received his medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1984 and completed his residency in urology with the Harvard Program, Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. His education also included a fellowship in pediatric urology at Johns Hopkins and a research fellowship at Children's Hospital Boston sponsored by the National Kidney Foundation and the American Foundation for Urologic Diseases.

Throughout his career, Dr. Docimo has been an active member of the leading professional and scientific societies in his field and has held leadership positions in several, including the Executive Committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Urology. His clinical and research interests include minimally invasive surgery in children, vesicoureteral reflux, dysfunctional voiding and techniques of continent urinary tract reconstruction, especially in children with neurogenic bladder and bladder exstrophy. He is also involved in engineering research to improve modern endoscopes. Dr. Docimo's work has been widely published in leading journals. He has written more than 100 articles and book chapters and is an editor of four textbooks, including the fifth edition of the standard text in the field, Clinical Pediatric Urology.

View a more detailed profile of Dr. Docimo: www.chp.edu/clinical/03_urosurg_docresume.php