Topics in Pediatrics and Pediatric Gastroenterology

Vera Hupertz, MD

Dr. Hupertz was a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY (1974-1978) and received her BS in Biology. She attended the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY and graduated in 1982 with MD. Internship and residency was completed at Rainbow Babies & Children's (RB&C) Hospital, Cleveland, OH by 1985 and Pediatric Gi and Hepatology fellowship by 1988. She maintains 3 board certifications which include: Pediatrics, Pediatric Gastroenterology, and Pediatric Transplant Hepatology.

Vera stayed on as Staff Physician at Rainbow Babies and Hospital and achieved the level of Associate Professor of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University. She was made Medical Director of the Pediatric Liver Transplant Team, and was co-director of the Residency Training Program at RB&C. In addition to the above, I developed a residency curriculum for Chronic Care to be used at Health Hill Hospital (now Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital for Rehabilitation).

She became a staff physician at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in July of 2000 and currently has a joint appointment with the Department of Transplant Surgery. She is Medical Director of Pediatric Liver Transplantation. She is Vice Chair of Quality Improvement for the Children's Hospital and Pediatric Institute at Cleveland Clinic. Current interests are liver disease (especially neonatal disease) and liver transplantation, as well as inflammatory bowel diseases.

Michelle P. Medina, MD, FAAP
Chair, Department of Primary Care Pediatrics, Cleveland Clinic Community Health
Regional Medical Director, Cleveland Clinic Quality Alliance
Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine/CWRU

Dr. Michelle Medina is the Chair of the Department of General Pediatrics within Cleveland Clinic Community Health. She graduated Cum Laude from the University of the Philippines College of Medicine in 1994, and completed her pediatric residency at Cleveland Clinic Childrens, serving as chief resident for an additional year. She then served as medical director of a safety-net rural clinic in Alabama for 7 years.

In this position, she was an advocate for children and adolescents in the county foster care system, served as medical consultant for the county Headstart board, developed an AAP CATCH(American Academy of Pediatrics Community Access to Child Health) grant around childhood obesity in the middle school, and was the primary pediatric medical home for most of this underserved county.

Coming back to Cleveland in 2007, she has served the southeastern communities of Northeast Ohio from her practice in Independence and Broadview Heights. She has been in various leadership positions within the organization, as a clinical leader within the Quality Alliance (Cleveland Clinic's clinically integrated network) and as the pediatric champion of population health. In 2017, she was appointed department Chair, overseeing the general pediatricians and nurse practitioners within main campus and regional practices.

Dr. Medina actively speaks on various pediatric topics, including the importance of Childhood Immunizations, Pediatric Asthma and Quality Measurement in Pediatrics. In 2014, she was a featured speaker at the inaugural TEDx event at Cleveland State University, speaking on vaccines and society. She participates in medical student, residency and allied health teaching. She has been recognized as one of Cleveland's Best Docs for several years.

Dr. Medina lives in North Royalton with her husband and daughter. She volunteers and is a Board member in several community organizations.

*Tentative course schedule, actual class times may differ.