Meet Our Staff
Meet our staff that supports the Cystic Fibrosis Program.
Susan Gemma, MS, RD, LD
Susan is a clinical dietitian in the Cystic Fibrosis Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Her education includes an undergraduate degree from the University of New Hampshire, a master’s degree in Human Nutrition and Food Management from The Ohio State University and a Pediatric Nutrition Fellowship from the University of Washington in Seattle. Susan has worked at Nationwide Children’s Hospital with the Cystic Fibrosis Center since 1988 and her areas of specialty include nutrition for the newly diagnosed infant, Cystic Fibrosis-related diabetes, Cystic Fibrosis and bone health and Cystic Fibrosis and pregnancy. She has also been involved in the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation “apprentice program," mentoring dietitians new to the field of Cystic Fibrosis.
Anne Rice, RD, LD
Anne is a dietitian for the Cystic Fibrosis Center. She graduated from The Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science degree from the School of Allied Medicine (Medical Dietetics division). She has been at Nationwide Children’s Hospital since 1997 and specifically with the Cystic Fibrosis Center since 2003. She participates on the Learning and Leadership (Quality Improvement) team and is currently collaborating with her fellow Cystic Fibrosis Center dietitians on a Cystic Fibrosis and Pregnancy research study. Her special Cystic Fibrosis interests include Meconium Ileus and nutritional care status-post intestinal resection, as well as nutrition for infants, toddlers and school-age children.
Marisa Streb
Kelly Tzemos MS, RD, LD
Kelly is a clinical dietitian in the Cystic Fibrosis Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. She graduated with her Bachelor’s degree from The Ohio State University, from the School of Allied Medicine (Medical Dietetics division) in 2009. She completed her Master’s degree while working part-time in the cystic fibrosis clinic, and graduated in 2011 with a degree in Allied Medicine (Clinical Nutrition track). She completed her Master’s thesis on the topic of Cystic Fibrosis and Pregnancy. Kelly has been working in the Cystic Fibrosis Center for 2 years and is now in a full-time position. Her specific interests are working with adults with cystic fibrosis and lung transplant. She is also a member of the transition team. Kelly is currently the research coordinator at our center for a national research study which looks at the nutritional status during the first year of life of newborn babies with cystic fibrosis.
Matt Pastore, MS, CGC
Matt is a Certified Genetic Counselor and completed his undergraduate degree in Molecular Genetics and Psychology at The Ohio State University. He received his Master’s Degree in Medical Genetics from Indiana University. He began working at Nationwide Children's Hospital in January 2004 as a pediatric genetic counselor and sees patients in whom there is a suspected or known genetic condition and provides coordination of testing as well as education to families and patients. Matt is also involved with the Cystic Fibrosis Newborn Screening Program, where children with an abnormal newborn screen for cystic fibrosis are evaluated to see if the child has the condition. As a part of the newborn clinic visit, we discuss the results, what it means for the baby, and what it means for other family members.
Theresa L. Mihalic Mosher, MS, CGC
Theresa is a Certified Genetic Counselor and completed her undergraduate degree in Biotechnology at Niagara University in Niagara Falls, NY. She received a Masters in Genetic Counseling from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She began working at Nationwide Children's Hospital in July 2010 as a pediatric genetic counselor and sees patients in whom there is a suspected or known genetic condition and provides coordination of testing as well as education to families and patients.
Steve Kirkby, MD
Dr. Kirkby is currently in his fifth and final year of fellowship training. He is board certified in adult pulmonary medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics and is finishing his pediatric pulmonary medicine fellowship. He is an active member of the Section of Pulmonary Medicine at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the Pulmonary Division at The Ohio State University Medical Center. He completed undergraduate training at Ohio Wesleyan University, medical school at Penn State and finished his combined internal medicine and pediatrics residency training in 2005. Dr. Kirkby was awarded the Outstanding Fellow Award at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in 2007 and served as the Chief Pulmonary Fellow at Ohio State in 2008. He has been awarded fellowship research grants from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation for 2008-2009 and 2009-2010. His current area of research focuses on the role exercise-induced asthma plays in Cystic Fibrosis. He has also been actively involved in studies centered on Mycobacterium abscessus infections in Cystic Fibrosis and presented this information at the 2008 North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference and the 2009 American Thoracic Society Conference. He has authored an article “Update on Antibiotics for Anti-Infective Therapy in Cystic Fibrosis," which will be published in 2011. Dr. Kirkby’s main clinical interests include care of adults and adolescents with Cystic Fibrosis, treatment of unusual pulmonary infections, lung transplantation, asthma and critical care medicine.
Ashley Nance, RN, CPNP, Transplant Program Coordinator
Kelli White, MS, MSW, LISW-S – Lung and Heart/Lung Transplant
Kelli is a Clinical Social Worker with both the Cardiology and Lung Transplant programs. She received her undergraduate degree in Psychology from Miami University and has a Masters in Social Work from Loyola University and a Masters in Child Development from Erikson Institute. She has worked both as a family therapist and as a hospital social worker since 2004. Kelli’s expertise is in working with post-transplant patients and families to address resource needs, facilitate coping with life after transplant and addressing barriers to compliance.
Donna O’Connor, Administrative Coordinator
Barbara Butera, RN, MS, CNS
Barbara is a Clinical Nurse Specialist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital's Cystic Fibrosis Center. She has been with the Section of Pulmonary Medicine for 13 years and has been a RN for 33 years. She has a Bachelor of Science in nursing from Kent State University and a Master of Science from The Ohio State University. She has had the opportunity to work in nursing administration and education and has current responsibilities in the clinical and research areas of Pulmonary.
Collette M. Davis, CPNP, MS
Collette is a member of the Section of Pulmonary Medicine and is a certified pediatric nurse practitioner. She received a Bachelor of Nursing from Capital University and a Master of Science from The Ohio State University. Collette worked as a patient care assistant and then as a registered nurse in Pulmonary at Nationwide Children’s Hospital while attending undergraduate and graduate school. She then worked as a nurse practitioner in primary care for six years before returning to Pulmonary in 2006. Her clinical interests focus on cystic fibrosis newborn screening, asthma, and all cystic fibrosis patients. Her research interests lie in cystic fibrosis patients diagnosed by newborn screening, and she is a member of The National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners.
Terri Johnson, RN, BSN
Linda Lawson, RN
Angela Norris, CPNP
Patti Olson, RN
Patti graduated from Mount Carmel School of Nursing and began working in the Pulmonary Unit. She was a staff nurse for 7 years before transferring to the Section of Pulmonary Medicine at Nationwide Children's Hospital as a Nurse Clinician 17 years ago. She is currently active in both clinical and research studies involving Cystic Fibrosis and asthma patients.
Judy Pitts, MS, RN, CPNP
Judy is a certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. She received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Otterbein College, a Master of Science from Wright State University, and a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Certificate from Cleveland Metropolitan Hospital. She has been a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner for 31 years, a Graduate Program Clinical Instructor at The Ohio State University College of Nursing for 15 years, and a pulmonary nurse practitioner for the past 5 years. Her interests include participation in the Learning and Leadership Collaborative VI-(LLCVI), Quality improvement training sponsored by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation 2008.
Laura Raterman, RN
Kimberly J. Novak, PharmD, BCPS
Kimberly has been with the Cystic Fibrosis Center and the Section of Pulmonary Medicine at Nationwide Children’s Hospital since 2004. She is a graduate of the West Virginia University School of Pharmacy and completed her pharmacy residency at the University of Kentucky Medical Center. Kimberly is board certified in Pharmacotherapy and is a member of the Pediatric Pharmacy Advocacy Group (PPAG), American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP), American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), and the Ohio Society of Health-System Pharmacists (OSHP). She is also a speaker for the annual Cystic Fibrosis Bootcamp for Pharmacists, which is co-sponsored by the Pediatric Pharmacy Advocacy Group (PPAG) and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF). Her research interests include antibiotic resistance, novel antibiotic dosing, pharmacokinetics and therapeutic drug monitoring, vitamin and nutritional supplement therapy.
Theresa Miller, RRT (Co-Coordinator)
Theresa has been a Registered Respiratory Therapist for over ten years and has been at Nationwide Children’s Hospital for over four years. Prior to Nationwide Children's Hospital, she worked at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation and Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital. She is currently participating in research studies within the Cystic Fibrosis population.
Maggie Sullivan, MS, RRT (Co-Coordinator)
Maggie has been a Registered Respiratory Therapist for four years and has been at Nationwide Children's Hospital for one year. Prior to Nationwide Children’s Hospital, she worked at The Ohio State University Medical Center in the neonatal and adult intensive care units. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Respiratory Therapy and Master’s Degree in Allied Health Education from The Ohio State University. In her role as Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation Coordinator, she works with patients and their families to establish individually tailored exercise and education programs to help patients feel better, increase strength and endurance, and improve their overall quality of life. She is also currently participating in research studies within the Cystic Fibrosis population.
Kathleen L. Lemanek, PhD
Kathleen is an investigator in the Center for Biobehavioral Health at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital and is Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. She received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Louisiana State University and completed a predoctoral clinical internship at The Kennedy Institute for Handicapped Children and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Through behavioral research on children with a chronic illness, Dr. Lemanek seeks to improve the physical and psychological functioning of children, adolescents, and their families. Her research interests include assessment and treatment of pediatric pain, adherence to medical regimens, and psychosocial adjustment to a chronic illness.
Marita Eichensehr, RRT
Marita has been a Respiratory Therapist at Nationwide Children's Hospital for 35 years with the last 25 years primarily in the Pulmonary Lab. She is a Registered Respiratory Therapist and Certified Asthma Educator and has an Associate Degree in Respiratory Therapy from Columbus State Community College. Her role includes Pulmonary Function testing, aerosol therapy, airway clearance assessments and patient and family education. She is involved in numerous TDN and asthma studies and has been an active member of the LLC committee.
Laura Evans, RRT, Director, Respiratory Therapy
Rob Flucke, RRT
Joe Good, RRT
Amy Henderson
Kathy Jacoby, RRT
Kathy has been a Respiratory Therapist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital for 32 years and for 20 years has worked primarily in the Cystic Fibrosis Center. She has an Associate Degree in Respiratory Therapy from Columbus State Community College. Her role includes pulmonary function testing, aerosol therapy, airway clearance assessments and patient and family education. She works on numerous TDN studies, is a member of the LLC committee and is currently involved in a respiratory therapy mentoring program.
Leeanna Shepherd
Charlene Garcia, Sleep Medicine Secretary
Maninder S. Kalra, MD, Director
Deanne Seymour, MSW, LISW-S - Adult Program
Deanne is a Clinical Social Worker for the Section of Pulmonary Medicine. She received her undergraduate degree in Communications from Ohio University and a Masters in Social Work from The Ohio State University. She has worked at Nationwide Children's Hospital and the Cystic Fibrosis Center since 2007. She recently helped to start a Patient Family Advisory Board associated with our Cystic Fibrosis Center. She is currently working with other team members to coordinate the development of the Adult Cystic Fibrosis Program at Nationwide Children's Hospital.