Pediatrician-in-Chief Edits Two Preeminent Textbooks on Pediatric Health
Golisano Children’s Hospital’s pediatrician-in-chief helped two influential pediatric health textbooks move farther into the digital age as an editor of the latest editions. Swaiman’s Pediatric Neurology: Principles and Practice, published this month by Elsevier, added online components for the first time this edition, and the Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics, published by Elsevier earlier this year, added new searchable features to its online components.
Nina F. Schor, M.D., Ph.D., William H. Eilinger Chair of Pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) and pediatrician-in-chief of Golisano Children’s Hospital, is the first child neurologist to edit the Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. She said it was an honor to edit the 19th edition, along with Robert M. Kliegman, M.D., chair of Pediatrics at the Medical College of Wisconsin; Bonita D. Stanton, M.D., chair of Pediatrics at the Wayne State University School of Medicine; and Joseph W. St. Geme III, M.D., chair of Pediatrics at Duke University School of Medicine.
“The origins of this textbook trace back to 1919, and it has become an invaluable resource for trainees and for practicing pediatricians,” Schor said. “In fact, some of the sections are so detailed that subspecialists use it routinely.”
The print edition of the textbook is 500 pages shorter than the last edition because some content has been moved online, accessible through a password given to every owner of the textbook. Schor said the online tools are extensive and invaluable, especially for quick reference.
“Being able to quickly show a family a picture of a heart with a congenital defect or to look up a medication dosage without having to leave and come back is really useful,” Schor said. “But so is being able to sit down with a cup of coffee while reading a couple of chapters of the print edition to fully understand something really complicated, like genetic metabolic diseases.”
Schor said the same philosophy goes for Swaiman’s Pediatric Neurology, which went online for the first time with its latest edition. Swaiman’s Pediatric Neurology is widely considered the gold standard in pediatric neurology. Schor edited the fifth edition, along with Kenneth Swaiman, M.D., professor emeritus of Pediatrics and Neurology at the University of Minnesota Medical School; Stephen Ashwal, M.D., chief of Child Neurology at Loma Linda University Medical Center; and Donna Ferriero, M.D., chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and physician-in-chief of UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital.
In addition to providing the fully searchable text in an online version, the latest edition of Swaiman’s Pediatric Neurology covers new technologies in imaging and treatments and management of epilepsy.