Cincinnati Center for Eosinophilic Disorders Research

Meet the Team

The Cincinnati Center for Eosinophilic Disorders (CCED) is home to specialists with a wide variety of backgrounds and areas of focus. As a team, this diversity makes us better prepared to care for the unique needs of each patient and to conduct leading research. Learn more about our clinical research team below and our clinical care team.

DirectorHide

Marc E. Rothenberg, MD, PhD Director, Division of Allergy and Immunology

Marc E. Rothenberg, MD, PhD, is focused on elucidating mechanisms of allergic responses, especially in mucosal tissues such as the lung and the gastrointestinal tract, in order to identify novel pharmaceutical targets for treatment of patients with eosinophilic diseases including eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders, hypereosinophilic syndromes and asthma and food allergies. His lab has identified and characterized several critical pathways that regulate allergic responses.

Visit the Rothenberg Research Lab website.

513-803-0257 marc.rothenberg@cchmc.org

FacultyShow

J. Pablo Abonia, MD

J. Pablo Abonia, MD, assesses the biology and regulation of mast cells and their role in disease such as eosinophilic esophagitis and primary mast cell disease. Conducting translational research and clinical trials and developing patient databanks and bioinformatic approaches to understanding allergic disease. Sees patients at the Cincinnati Center for Eosinophilic Disorders. Involved in the Consortium of Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disease Researchers (CEGIR).

513-636-9728 pablo.abonia@cchmc.org

Margaret H. Collins, MD Staff Pathologist, Division of Pathology

Margaret H. Collins, MD, is a pediatric pathologist specializing in pediatric gastrointestinal pathology, especially eosinophilic gastrointestinal diseases. She has provided biopsy analyses, including primary study endpoints, for several clinical trials testing novel therapies to treat eosinophilic esophagitis in children. She also performs clinical research in other disorders of bowel immunity, and bowel motility disorders.

513-636-4261 margaret.collins@cchmc.org

Erinn S. Kellner, MD

Erinn Kellner, MD, is creating a transitional and adult clinic for primary immune deficiencies and sees patients with the rare conditions of eosinophilic disorders at the University of Cincinnati to further expand on the excellent centers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. The new clinic will fill a lack of clinical care for adult patients who need further care for a possible immune deficiency or dysregulatory condition. In addition to fulfilling unmet patient needs, these clinics will provide the basis for developing related research programs. The ability to expand the immune deficiency cohort of patients from pediatric through adulthood will support more studies in the future, including natural history studies. Dr. Kellner works closely with other adult subspecialists, such as pulmonary at the University of Cincinnati, which houses one of the few rare lung disease centers in the country. These larger cohorts provide the opportunity to investigate common variable immunodeficiency and granulomatous lymphocytic interstitial lung disease in the context of treatment, monitoring, and understanding the pathophysiology.

513-636-6771 erinn.kellner@cchmc.org

Leah C. Kottyan, PhD

Leah C. Kottyan, PhD, studies the molecular and immunological mechanisms driving the statistical association of genetic variants with systemic lupus erythematosus and eosinophilic esophagitis. The goal of her research is to refine the statistical analysis of genetic data while using analytical and biological tools to predict and confirm genetic variant-dependent differences that affect gene expression, cell function, and disease risk.

513-636-1316 leah.kottyan@cchmc.org

Vincent A. Mukkada, MD Medical Director, Lumen Inpatient Unit

513-636-4415 vincent.mukkada@cchmc.org

Philip E. Putnam, MD Director, Endoscopy Services

Philip E. Putnam, MD, is interested in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders. He is the medical director of the Cincinnati Center for Eosinophilic Disorders. He is also taking part in the Aerodigestive and Sleep Center, a multidisciplinary group including ENT, pulmonary medicine, and pediatric surgery, which evaluates and treats children who have complex disorders involving the airway and gastrointestinal tracts.

513-636-4415 philip.putnam@cchmc.org

Kimberly A. Risma, MD, PhD Director, Allergy and Immunology Fellowship Program

Kimberly A. Risma, MD, PhD, is focused on the molecular and cellular bases of primary disorders of immune deficiency and dysregulation, especially as it relates to lymphocyte cytotoxicity. She studies the pathologic consequences of missense mutations in perforin identified in patients with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) and strives to develop novel therapies through gene therapy or small molecule chaperones.

513-636-6771 kimberly.risma@cchmc.org

Justin T. Schwartz, MD, PhD

Justin Schwartz, MD, PhD has a translational research program focused on developing clinical and research tools to improve the ability of clinicians and researchers to phenotype pediatric patients with eosinophilic disorders and food allergy and follow their response to medical intervention. Dr. Schwartz has further research focused on delineating the potential effector role of eosinophil progenitors (EoPs) in eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) and other atopic diseases. Additionally, he has developed clinical expertise in food allergy and oral immunotherapy (OIT). He has participated in the development and standardization of a peanut OIT program at Cincinnati Children’s. He is working with other faculty to develop a clinical pipeline for research sample collection and coordinate a team of clinical, translational, and basic science researchers to address fundamental clinical and biological questions that continue to limit the use of OIT in the general food allergic population. The research projects led by Dr. Schwartz are expected to directly advance the ability of clinicians to evaluate, manage, and optimize care for pediatric patients with EoE and food allergy and to generate research tools that can be utilized to improve our understanding of the underlying pathophysiology of the atopic diseases.

513-517-1095 justin.schwartz@cchmc.org

Ting Wen, MD, PhD Researcher, Cincinnati Center for Eosinophilic Disorders

Ting Wen, MD, PhD, investigates the molecular mechanisms of eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE). His lab's studies focus on identifying novel disease-causing genes and related pathogenic pathways. His research utilizes genome-wide analysis and cutting-edge techniques to provide molecular insight into the pathogenesis of EoE and allergy. Investigating basic eosinophil biology with human samples and mouse models is also an ongoing research interest. He is a co-inventor of the EoE molecular diagnostic test EoGenius™.
Visit the Wen Lab.

513-636-9462 ting.wen@cchmc.org