Speakers

Dr. von Allmen is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Pediatric Otolaryngology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and the University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center. He joined the faculty in 2021 after completing residency and fellowship in Cincinnati. Dr. von Allmen participates in the aerodigestive multidisciplinary center as well as the complex obstructive sleep apnea center. His interests include airway and esophageal reconstruction, tracheomalacia, and tracheoesophageal fistula.

Vrinda Bhardwaj, MD, FAAP, is a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and a pediatric gastroenterologist at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. She serves as Director of GI Endoscopy Services and the Transnasal Endoscopy Program and Co-Director of the Aerodigestive Program. Her areas of expertise include eosinophilic esophagitis and other eosinophilic gastrointestinal diseases, complex aerodigestive disorders, and innovative endoscopic approaches, including transnasal endoscopy. She is actively involved in clinical care, medical education, and advancing innovative approaches to pediatric gastrointestinal care.

Jasper is a Registered Dietitian in the Aerodigestive Center at Boston Children’s Hospital. She received her master’s degree in nutrition from Bastyr University and completed her dietetic internship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She works closely with the multidisciplinary team to care for patients with complex feeding difficulties, specializing in enteral nutrition and blenderized formulas. 

MyMy Buu, MD is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pulmonary Medicine at Stanford School of Medicine. Dr. Buu is a pediatric pulmonologist who specializes in the treatment of pediatric lung diseases including: aerodigestive and airway disorders, chronic respiratory failure, chronic respiratory insufficiency from neuromuscular conditions. Dr. Buu is the pulmonary lead for the Pediatric Aerodigestive Center and Neuromuscular Disorders Center at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health. She is also the Program Director for Pediatric Pulmonary Fellowship at Stanford University.

Dr. Busing is pediatric gastroenterologist at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. He completed his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering at the University of Alabama, his medical degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He then completed his pediatrics residency and pediatric gastroenterology training at Vanderbilt before joining faculty. His clinical and research interests include aerodigestive medicine, endoscopy, complex stricture management, gastroesophageal reflux, eosinophilic esophagitis. In his free time he enjoys spending time with wife (also Jordan and also in pediatric GI!) and 2 kids and all things Alabama athletics.

Siva Chinnadurai, MD, MPH, MBA, is a pediatric otolaryngologist and Professor of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Minnesota. He serves as Medical Director of Otolaryngology and Associate Chief of Surgery at Children’s Minnesota, where he founded the Aerodigestive Clinic. His work spans complex pediatric airway and swallowing disorders, quality improvement, and global surgery, with a focus on building sustainable specialty-care capacity through long-term partnerships, surgical education, workforce development, and locally led systems of care.

Miranda is a pediatric speech-language pathologist and has been a part of the aerodigestive team at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford since 2019. Her primary area of focus is pediatric dysphagia for patients with complex medical needs and aerodigestive disorders. Miranda treats infants and children with feeding and swallowing disorders within the critical and acute care units (CVICU, NICU, PICU), as well as in the outpatient setting in collaborative multidisciplinary clinics. She regularly performs FEES and VFSS for pediatric patients.

Dr. Coyan is a congenital heart surgeon and Assistant Professor in the Division of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Vanderbilt University. He specializes in the surgical treatment of the entire spectrum of congenital heart diseases across the lifespan including neonates, children, and adults. Dr. Coyan has particular interests in vascular ring and vascular compression surgery, heart failure and mechanical circulatory support, heart valve repair, tracheal reconstruction, and neonatal heart surgery. He believes in fostering a comprehensive positive care experience for both the patients he treats and their families.

Kim Demarre, MS, CCC-SLP, is the Supervisor of Ambulatory Speech and Swallow Team in Rehabilitation Medicine at Seattle Children’s Hospital, bringing 27 years of pediatric rehabilitation and dysphagia expertise. She serves on key clinical leadership teams, including the Aerodigestive Operations, Childhood Communication Center Executive, and Nutrition Committees, and co-led the hospital’s successful IDDSI implementation in 2021. Her clinical focus covers VFSS, FEES, dysphagia management, and collaborative aerodigestive research. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her family and staying active through running, hiking, biking, and skiing.

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Gastroenterology at UCSD and Rady Children’s.

Speech Language Pathologist at Seattle Children’s Hospital (SCH) for over 40 years with clinical expertise in pediatric dysphagia. Member of the SCH Airway & Esophageal Center serving on the Aerodigestive Team & the TEF/EA team for clinical diagnostics & interpretation of instrumental VFSS & FEES examinations. Also working as SLP II at UWMC NICU for last 14 years providing clinical SLP services, including FEES & VFSS on level IV NICU.

Tina Friesen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery at University of California San Diego and Rady Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Gold received his medical degree from The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC. He completed an internship and a residency in Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine, followed by a fellowship in Pediatric Gastroenterology at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada, where he also completed his research fellowship at the Research Institute as a Medical Research Council of Canada Research Fellow. Benjamin D. Gold, MD, joined Children’s Center for Digestive Healthcare, LLC. GI Care for Kids, LLC. in 2009. Prior to joining CCDHC, Dr. Gold had an outstanding traditional academic career at Emory University where he had been a Marcus Chair of Pediatric Gastroenterology, a tenured Professor of Pediatrics and of Microbiology and the Director of the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition. Dr. Gold is a national leader in the pursuit of critical questions regarding the epidemiology and pathobiology of acid-related diseases in children (H. pylori infection, in particular), including, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and other esophageal disease (i.e., Eosinophilic Esophagitis, EoE). He was a member of the FDA panel establishing GRAS status for Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium probiotics, and he has been actively involved in characterizing the gut microflora and its relationship to diet, as well as gut-microbial interactions leading to intestinal inflammation, allergy and immune-mediated disease. Further, he has been NIH funded and led multi-center studies on the microbiome, diet, and the development and management of IBD, as well as GI allergy and EoE. He has been a key organizer and participant in all of the national and trans-Atlantic, clinical practice guidelines for treatment of pediatric H. pylori infection. In addition, 2005, he established the Aerodigestive Center of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and has been the Director of Quality for this multidisciplinary center that now follows almost 300 fragile, medically-complex children with Aerodigestive disease. He is the co-Director of GI Care for Kids site for the Improve Care Now Quality Improvement Collaborative which follows almost 1,100 children with IBD, and, is co-investigator on multiple national pediatric inflammatory bowel disease consortia as well as the evaluation of dietary approaches (i.e., specific carbohydrate diet; SCD) in the management of pediatric IBD. Dr. Gold has published over 185 peer-reviewed manuscripts, over 43 book chapters, and over 70 manuals, videos, webinars, teaching aids and other CME, CEU related enduring materials. Finally, Dr. Gold has diligently served the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology Hepatology and Nutrition (NASPGHAN) in numerous capacities throughout his career, including being past-President of NASPGHAN (2019-2024) and now serves on the NASPGHAN Foundation.

Ali Henry is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker working with the Aerodigestive Center at Boston Children’s Hospital for the past ten years. Ali completed her MSW at Simmons College and her BA in Psychology at Syracuse University. Ali is has been an active member of the Boston Children’s Hospital Academy for Teaching and Educational Innovation and Scholarship for the last five years.

Sarah Hofman DeYoung, MD, is an attending physician at Seattle Children’s Hospital in the Division of Pulmonary & Sleep Medicine, and an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Her clinical interests center on complex congenital conditions including airway anomalies, advanced and interventional bronchoscopy, congenital diaphragm hernia, pulmonary hypoplasia, and tracheostomy/ventilator dependence. Her research interests focus on medical management and safety related to tracheostomy-dependent children, tracheostomy-related infections, and bronchoscopy-guided management of chronic respiratory diseases.

Dr. Kimberley Kaspy is a Pediatric Respirologist in the Division of Pediatric Respiratory Medicine at The Montreal Children’s Hospital. She is an assistant professor with dual appointments in the department of pediatrics and pediatric surgery, division of otolaryngology, and is head of the flexible bronchoscopy program. She completed her pediatric residency and respiratory medicine fellowship in Montreal at McGill University, following which she completed her post-fellowship training at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in Pediatric Bronchology and Aerodigestive Disorders.

Amornluck Krasaelap, MD is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Washington and Medical Director of the GI Aerodigestive and Esophageal Program at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Her work focuses on esophageal disease and endoscopic interventions, esophageal motility, and aerodigestive medicine.

Kara Larson serves as the Co-Director of the Center for Communication Enhancement and the Director of the Feeding & Swallowing Program in the Division of Otolaryngology & Center for Communication Enhancement at Boston Children’s Hospital. She has over 28 years of clinical experience in pediatric dysphagia. Kara focuses her clinical work and research in Pediatric Aerodigestive Disorders. She is parttime faculty at Boston University. Kara is President Elect of the Aerodigestive Society. Kara serves as Topic Co-Chair for Pediatric Feeding and Swallowing for the 2026 ASHA Convention.

Jennifer Maybee, PhD, CCC-SLP, BCS-S is a Speech-Language Pathologist III at Children’s Hospital Colorado and Instructor at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. A board-certified swallowing specialist, she has more than 25 years of experience in pediatric feeding and swallowing disorders and serves on multidisciplinary aerodigestive, swallowing, cleft, and craniofacial teams. Dr. Maybee’s research focuses on pediatric dysphagia, implementation science, and evidence-based clinical decision-making. She is co-developer of the Childhood Dysphagia Management Scale (CDMS) and has published and presented extensively on pediatric dysphagia and aerodigestive care. She currently serves on the Aerodigestive Society Board of Directors.

My clinical specialty is general pediatric gastroenterology, with a special interest in aerodigestive disorders as well as allergic/eosinophilic disorders of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. As a collaborative member of a patient-centered medical home, I hope to build longstanding connections by getting to know patients/families beyond their medical concerns. I hope to have the answers to their questions and work tirelessly to find answers if I don’t. I’d envisioned myself going into a career in medicine based on how captivated I was with my high school hands-on anatomy class. I found it fascinating to explore how different parts of the human body work together in everyday life. After coaching middle school cross country and track, I was inspired to pursue a career in pediatrics. Coaching helped me see the impact nutrition has on our daily lives and the importance of building good habits early in life. I am proud to have won the Outstanding Community Engagement Award and the Kentucky Chapter of the American Association of Pediatrics (AAP) Award during my residency (2019). I was president of a child advocacy group called Pediatricians Urging Safety and Health (PUSH). This resident-run advocacy group organized community events/volunteer opportunities, including car seat safety education, nutrition education, safe sex education, community garden, book drive, clothes drive and canned food drive. I also organized and ran monthly educational meetings for residents and community pediatricians about advocacy, wellness and topical social issues. My research focuses on allergic and eosinophilic GI disorders. These disorders are incredibly burdensome, with prominent symptoms seeping into all areas of a patient’s life (physical, mental, emotional, social, developmental and economic). The goal of my research is to define these disorders better so we can facilitate earlier detection and identify treatment options. We also hope to identify less invasive methods of disease detection and monitoring to minimize patients’ need for endoscopy. When I’m not working, I love to run. I have completed one 39.3-mile race, five full-marathons and 20+ halfmarathons. I also play recreational league kickball and sand volleyball with friends. I enjoy traveling and have been through parts of Europe, Africa, Central America, and South America. I like to hike, and some of my favorite places include Crater Lake National Park, Zion National Park and Rocky Mountain National 1Park.

Charles M. Myer IV, MD is a member of the Aerodigestive and Esophageal Center and Center for Pediatric Voice Disorders at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. He specializes in pediatric head and neck surgery, with an emphasis in pediatric voice, airway and swallowing disorders. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.

Kaitlin July, MD is from Kansas City, MO and received her medical degree from the University of Missouri School of Medicine, where she was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha honor society and Gold Humanism Honor Society. She completed her Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery residency at the University of Kentucky and her Pediatric Otolaryngology fellowship at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, where she now works as faculty as an Assistant Professor in Pediatric Otolaryngology. Dr. July helped develop and is the Director of the Multidisciplinary Complex Dysphagia Clinic at MCC. Her clinical interests are in dysphagia or swallowing disorders, endoscopic airway and breathing disorders, sleep surgery, and sialandoscopy/salivary gland disease. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her husband, Michael, daughter, Penelope, and dogs Theo and Riley.

I am a Pediatric Intensivist and Pulmonologist deeply engaged in the multidisciplinary care of children with complex airway and aerodigestive disorders. My work centers on advancing coordinated, high‑acuity management for patients with difficult airways and other airway‑related challenges across our institution. As the Interventional Pulmonology Lead, I am driving the evolution of our procedural capabilities— expanding training pathways, integrating emerging technologies, and strengthening institutional expertise in advanced airway interventions. My ongoing efforts focus on elevating the precision, safety, and innovation of pediatric airway care while fostering collaborative practice across critical care, pulmonology, ENT, GI, and surgical teams.

I am a pediatric pulmonologist and medical director of the center for Pediatric Aerodigestive Disorders and Airway surgery at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego and UC San Diego. My clinical expertise and interest focus on complex pediatric airway and aerodigestive disorders, with a particular interest in how multi system interactions, including GI and CVS shape lung health and clinical outcomes

Director EAT program

Robin H. Steinhorn, MD currently serves as Professor and Vice Dean for Children’s Services at UC San Diego School of Medicine as well as the President of Children’s Specialists of San Diego and Senior Vice President at Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego. Dr. Steinhorn received her medical degree from Washington University St. Louis and completed pediatric and neonatal perinatal medicine training at the University of Minnesota. Over the arc of her career, she has served in numerous leadership roles, including Chief of the Division of Neonatology and Vice Chair of Pediatrics at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Chair of Pediatrics and Pediatrician in Chief at the University of California Davis, and as a Senior Vice President at Children’s National Hospital. Dr. Steinhorn’s clinical and academic interests have focused primarily on the pulmonary vascular development of the fetus and newborn and disruptions that result in acute or chronic pulmonary hypertension. Shortly after the discovery of nitric oxide, Drs. Steinhorn led NIH-funded projects that explored its mechanisms of action in the fetal and neonatal lung. Her work on cGMP regulation and redox signaling in the developing pulmonary vasculature improved the understanding of vascular signaling and shaped therapeutic strategies for neonatal pulmonary hypertension. She has also led major clinical trials of intravenous sildenafil, endothelin receptor blockers, and prostacyclin analogues that defined contemporary clinical treatment of neonatal PH. She has contributed to major classification systems for pediatric pulmonary hypertension and neonatal chronic lung disease. She has mentored numerous clinician scientists over the last 30 years, many of which have developed their own funded laboratories and become division heads or program leaders. She has published on optimizing development and retention of physician-scientists in academic pediatrics, addressed the need for staffing equity in neonatal critical care, and proposed novel changes in training to sustain the pipeline of neonatal intensivists essential for the specialty’s future. Dr. Steinhorn is an advocate for children and the highest quality of neonatal and pediatric care on a national and global level. She served as President of the American Pediatric Society (2019-2020) and as a member of the Board of Directors for the American Board of Pediatrics (2017-2022). She is currently Chair of the Data Safety Monitoring Board for the Neonatal Research Network funded by NICHD. Dr. Steinhorn is an elected Fellow of the American Heart Association and the American Thoracic Society and has served 1on the Council of Scientific Advisors for the Parker B. Francis Fellowship Program. She has received multiple additional honors, including an Established Investigator Award from the American Heart Association, and the Jonas Salk Health Leadership Award for Research by the March of Dimes Illinois Chapter.

Ashley Walther, MD, FACS, is a dedicated pediatric surgeon at Cincinnati Children’s, specializing in esophageal disorders and bariatric surgery. She is committed to providing the highest level of care to her patients and their families, from initial consultation through recovery, ensuring the best possible outcomes.