Welcome, Dr Prashant Mahajan

We are pleased to announce a new member of the editorial board of Consultant For Pediatricians, Prashant V. Mahajan, MD, MPH, MBA. We hope you will enjoy reading his articles and features in the coming issues as much as we enjoy working with him.

Dr Mahajan earned his medical degree in 1993 at Seth GS Medical College, University of Mumbai (formerly University of Bombay) in India, and completed his pediatric residency at King Edward Memorial Hospital in Mumbai. The following year, he came to the United States to advance his pediatric training and further specialize in pediatric emergency medicine. He completed the pediatric residency program at Wayne State University Children’s Hospital of Michigan. At the same institution, he was chief resident and subsequently completed a fellowship in pediatric emergency medicine. During this time, he also earned an MPH in health management and policy from the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan. In addition, he completed an MBA from the Isenberg School of Management of the University of Massachusetts. He currently is associate professor in the departments of pediatrics and emergency medicine at Wayne State University Children’s Hospital of Michigan, where he also serves as vice chief and research director in the department of pediatric emergency medicine.

Dr Mahajan has worked with Deepak Kamat, MD, PhD-long-time editorial board member of this journal- on several projects. Recently, they, along with their Wayne State University colleague Ambika Mathur, PhD, were awarded a grant from the NIH to fund a 2-year study that will explore complementary and alternative medicine therapies to reduce anxiety in children (aged 1 through 12 years) who are undergoing sedation for MRI studies. They will compare 3 methods: passive music therapy, active music therapy with a certified music therapist, and distraction procedures conducted by a child life specialist. Dr Kamat describes his colleague as a dedicated pediatrician who is passionate about taking care of sick children and conducting research to improve their lives. We thank Dr Kamat for recommending Dr Mahajan to us.

From his educational background alone, Dr Mahajan is well qualified to serve with the other distinguished physicians on our editorial board. Dr Mahajan’s experience in both pediatrics and emergency medicine allows us a unique opportunity to better connect with the growing number of pediatric professionals in this field. His article on status epilepticus (on page 421 of this issue) is a good example of how his expertise might help pediatric practitioners bridge the gap between in-office care and hospital care. We will rely on Dr Mahajan’s input to help us meet our goal of providing you with timely, concise, well-illustrated features whose teaching points you can apply in your daily practice.

In the past year, our efforts to bring you the best pediatric content have included the addition of 2 new features and the return of e-Photo Quiz (see the answer to last month’s quiz on page 444). To help pediatricians better communicate with their patients’ parents, series editor Linda Nield, MD, and her coauthors have been providing evidence-based responses to common questions parents ask in the new feature Parent Coach (page 428). To help you prepare for your Maintenance of Certification exam, series editor John Harrington, MD, and colleagues bring you clinical practice pearls in the new feature Morning Report.

We’ve also increased our presence on the Web. You can now access online all the content you enjoy in print. When you have a chance, check out our Pediatrics Center at www.ConsultantLive.com/pediatrics. Here you’ll find e-Photo Quiz, Morning Report, and other online-only content. After a quick, free, one-time registration, you’ll be able to view the entire Web site, including our featured H1N1 Resources and Pediatric Asthma Center.

Remember, you can help us help you-and the other 63,000 pediatric practitioners who read and enjoy this journal every month-by sending us your best teaching cases. We will gladly consider short case write-ups with images for publication in Consultant For Pediatricians. Submissions can be e-mailed to me at linda.geisler@cmpmedica.com or to my colleague, Susan Beck, at susan.beck@cmpmedica.com. And while you are sending us your interesting cases, let us know how we’re doing. Tell us what you think about our journal and our Web site. We’d love to hear from you. We want to thank you for your continued support of our journal and extend a warm welcome to our new editorial board member, Dr Mahajan.

-- Linda Geisler
Managing Editor