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Kicking off season 3 of Endocrine Feedback Loop, host Dr. Chase Hendrickson from Vanderbuilt University Medical Center discusses a recent article with two pediatric endocrinologists. Join Dr. Marcela Vargas, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego and Rady Children’s hospital, and Dr. Selma Witchel, tenured Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, as they discuss a recent article from JCEM, “Optimizing the Timing of Highest Hydrocortisone Dose in Children and Adolescents with 21-Hydroxylase Deficiency.”
Meet the Speakers
Selma Feldman Witchel, MD, is a tenured Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Witchel is the Program Director for the pediatric endocrinology fellowship training program at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. She chairs the Differences in Sex Development Committee at the UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. She received her medical degree at the University of Pittsburgh, graduating as a member of AOA. She completed her pediatric residency at the Children’s Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati and her pediatric endocrinology fellowship at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Witchel is primarily interested in the physiology and genetics of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Her interests extend to the care of patients with differences in sex development and transgender youth. She is actively involved in studies regarding fertility preservation in these patient groups. Her research elucidated the concept of the “manifesting heterozygote” in patients with disorders of steroidogenesis. She was an active participant in the global enterprise that culminated in the 2018 publication of the “Evidence Based Guideline for the Assessment and Management of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.” She is a past chair of the Pediatric Endocrine Society Education sub-committee, is currently the co-chair of the 50th year anniversary annual meeting of the Pediatric Endocrine Society in 2022, and has recently been elected to serve on the Board of Directors of the Pediatric Endocrine Society. Dr. Witchel is an active member of the Endocrine Society Annual Meeting Steering Committee. She is an Associate Editor for two journals: The Journal of the Endocrine Society and Steroids. She is a past president of the Androgen Excess Society. She has published over 200 articles, reviews, and chapters.
Marcela Vargas Trujillo, MD, is a Pediatric Endocrinologist and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego and Rady Children’s Hospital. She did her Pediatric Residency at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and her Pediatric Endocrinology Fellowship at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. Some of her research has been in the field of neuroendocrinology, specifically, in the area of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis. She has done basic research on kisspeptin signaling, anatomic distribution, and its control of the menstrual cycle in primates, and is currently involved in clinical research in the area of central precocious puberty. Dr. Vargas treats a variety of endocrine conditions but she has a particular interest in managing patients with disorders of puberty and Differences in Sex Development (DSD). She is the co-director of a multidisciplinary clinic for children with DSD at Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego. She has an active role in educating medical students, residents, and fellows at the University of California in San Diego.
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