Pediatric Specialty Updates for the General Practitioner

December 6 & 7, 2025 — A Virtual Event

Program Description and Objectives

This program will be of interest to general pediatric providers who are interested in expanding their knowledge in a variety of subspecialty areas with new or updated guidelines or practice parameters that impact primary pediatric care. In particular, healthcare providers who do not feel comfortable in recognizing or managing patients with the above conditions will benefit from this conference.

The subspecialty topics covered in the conference deal with conditions that generally involve a team approach for patient care, including the primary care provider and the subspecialist. The conference will provide the primary care provider with practical information that will help them to become more knowledgeable in identifying, understanding, and co-managing a variety of complex conditions in collaboration with the subspecialists. The conference will also provide an opportunity for the primary care providers to ask questions directly to the participating subspecialists to further enhance their understanding of the conditions discussed. The combination of didactic and interactive elements will promote a more effective learning experience..

At the conclusion of this activity, participants will be better able to:

  • Recognize the importance of providing PrEP to adolescents and young adults
  • Review the pre-travel assessment for children preparing for international travel
  • Explain that appendicitis without a fecalith can be treated with antibiotics but comes with a high recurrence rate
  • Explain the updates in staging, screening and preventing type 1 diabetes
  • Discuss the evaluation and diagnosis of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis
  • Describe the improvement in long-term outcomes for a child with Crohn’s disease who receives early definitive medical treatment with anti-TNF medication
  • Discuss the physiology, triggers and types of Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS)
  • Distinguish between primary and secondary headaches
  • Recognize clinical features of pediatric knee and ankle injuries that require emergent evaluation and imaging in the emergency department versus those appropriate for outpatient management
  • Practice utilizing principles of motivational interviewing when addressing vaccine hesitancy and misinformation
  • Recognize strabismus, how to see it and to screen for it, and how it is treated.
  • Define hypertension in children and adolescents
  • Identify the different DSM-5 eating disorder diagnoses as they may present in the primary care office and learn the importance of your role as the PCP
  • Apply a function-based framework to evaluate adolescent social media use, enabling them to identify individualized risk and resilience factors during routine clinical interviews
  • Implement two strategies in partnership with schools for patients with ADHD

Accreditation Statement

The Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

AMA Credit Designation Statement

The Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons designates this live activity for a maximum of 11.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the learner to earn up to 11.25 MOC points in the American Board of Pediatrics’ (ABP) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. It is the CME activity provider’s responsibility to submit learner completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABP MOC credit.

Course Director

Mariellen M. Lane, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Child and Adolescent Health; Associate Program Director, Pediatric Residency Program

Moderators

Connie Kostacos, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Child and Adolescent Health

Steve I. Caddle, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Child and Adolescent Health

CME Planning Committee

Edith R. Bracho-Sanchez, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Child and Adolescent Health

Samuel O. Master, DO, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Child and Adolescent Health

Jacqueline Baker, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Child and Adolescent Health

Lauren Levine, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Child and Adolescent Health

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER FACULTY & NEWYORK-PRESBYTERIAN/MORGAN STANLEY CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL STAFF

Rushelle Byfield, MD, MSCE, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Nephrology

Jae Cha, PsyD, Assistant Clinical Professor of Medical Psychology; Psychology Programs Manager - The Uptown Hub, NYP

Jennifer DeFazio, MD, Assistant Professor of Surgery; Director, Bowel Management Program

Irene Frantzis, MBBS, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases; Hospital Epidemiologist, Lead for Antimicrobial Stewardship MSCH/NYP

Gail Gutman, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Child and Adolescent Health

Natasha Leibel, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Endocrinology; Director, Pediatric Diabetes Program, Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center

Allison Levey, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Cardiology

Arthur Mandel, MD, Associate Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics; Clinical Director, Division of Pediatric Neurology

Nora Oberfield, MD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry; Medical Director - The Uptown Hub NYP

Joseph A. Picoraro, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology; Medical Director, Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center

Aiyana Rivera-Rodriguez, MD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Medical Director, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Outpatient Program/CHONY - 6

Steven E. Rosenberg, MD, Anne S. Cohen Professor of Pediatric Ophthalmology; Chief, Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus

Ashley Stephens, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Child and Adolescent Health

Rebecca Trachtman, MD, MS, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology

Anju Wagh, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (in Emergency Medicine)

Jason Zucker, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases; Assistant Medical Director, NYC STD Prevention Training Center

Disclosure

All those involved with the planning and delivery of this education will disclose all financial relationships in the past 24 months with ineligible companies. An ineligible company is any entity whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients. For each financial relationship, disclosure will include the name of the ineligible company and the nature of the financial relationship(s).

None of the planners/faculty for this educational activity have relevant financial relationships to disclose.