Our Faculty
Charles Mercier, MD – Division Chief, Professor of Pediatrics
Dr. Mercier is Chief of the Division of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine and Medical Director of the NICU, Quality Committee, Perinatal Outreach Committee, NICU Transport Team, and NICU Simulation Program. His work in quality includes the VON based initiative, “Choosing Wisely: Antibiotic Stewardship in the NICU”. His work in the region is supported by both the Vermont Regional Perinatal Outreach Project and his membership on the board of the Northern New England Perinatal Quality Improvement Network. A graduate of the IHI Breakthrough Series College, he previously served as the Faculty Chair in the planning and design phase of the CMS Neonatal Outcomes Project and led several Expert Planning Groups in developing project specific change package. A graduate of the Center for Medical Simulation, he leads a high fidelity neonatal resuscitation program for University of Vermont Pediatric Residents.
Roger Soll, MD – Director of Research, Professor of Pediatrics
Dr. Soll is the H. Wallace Professor of Neonatology at the Larner College of Medicine and is President of the Vermont Oxford Network and Director of Network Clinical Trials and Follow-up. Dr. Soll is an authority in evidence-based medicine and randomized clinical trials. He is the coordinating editor of Cochrane Neonatal, part of the Cochrane Collaboration, and author or co-author of the Cochrane Reviews of surfactant therapy. He is the author of numerous peer reviewed articles and book chapters on the subject of surfactant replacement therapy and evidence-based medicine. A native of New York City, Dr. Soll graduated from Cornell University with a degree in Genetics and History of Science in 1975. He received his M.D. degree from the University of Health Sciences/Chicago Medical School in 1978. He returned to New York City to complete his residency training in Pediatrics at Bellevue Hospital/New York University Medical Center in 1981. After 2 years with the Public Health Service, Dr. Soll returned to academic training. He completed the post graduate fellowship in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at the University of Vermont in 1983 and has remained in Vermont ever since.
Danielle Ehret, MD, MPH – Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Dr. Ehret completed pediatrics residency and the global health track at Yale New Haven Children's Hospital. During neonatology fellowship at Boston Children's Hospital, she also completed a Masters in Public Health at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Ehret joined the faculty at the UVMMC in 2015. Her academic interest is the implementation of quality improvement science in global newborn health, and she is the inaugural Director of Global Health for Vermont Oxford Network. Her research focus is bringing data-driven improvement to resource-limited neonatal settings globally, with the aim of reducing preventable newborn morbidities and mortality. She leads an annual international Helping Babies Survive master trainer course with Vermont Oxford Network, in which trainees may participate . Dr. Ehret also has a strong interest in evidence-based medicine. Along with mentoring fellows in critical appraisal of the literature, she arranged international fellows' journal club sessions in 2017.
Deirdre O'Reilly, MD, MPH - Program Director, Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Dr. O'Reilly, MD, MPH joined the division in 2016 from Boston Children's Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where she had been an attending neonatologist since 2007. She completed her fellowship in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at the Harvard Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Program, during which time she pursed an MPH in Maternal and Child Health from T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She worked on a team of clinicians that established the first hypothermia program for hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy in New England. Her research centers on clinical and translational studies to identify early markers of brain injury in both term and preterm infants. During her time in Boston, she worked as an attending in clinic for follow-up of high risk infants, combining interests in patient care, neurodevelopment and community/public health.
Leslie Young, MD - Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Dr. Young completed her pediatric residency at the University of Vermont Medical Center before joining the NPM Fellowship which she completed in 2014. Her academic interests are in transitional physiology, limiting iatrogenic contributors to morbidity and mortality, systematic reviews and quality improvement. She currently serves on the steering committee for the pre-, peri- and postnatal working group for the IDeA state research network. This network is funded through the NIH with the goal of improving the feasibility of translational research in underserved and rural areas. With her interest in quality improvement, Dr. Young has worked to operationalize blood sparing practices including delayed cord clamping, utilization of cord blood for admission labs and the increased use of point of care testing. She is currently working to incorporate the use of point of care ultrasound in the NICU. In addition to her clinical and research efforts Dr. Young also enjoys her work Co-Chairing the Neonatal Resuscitation Committee and mentoring the fellows in areas of research development, career building and work life balance.
Whittney Barkhuff, MD, PhD - Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Dr. Barkhuff completed her pediatric residency at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and the Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine fellowship at the University of New Mexico in 2017. She then returned to UVMMC, where she had previously completed her MD/PhD, to join the division of neonatology. During fellowship, she was involved in a quality improvement project to reduce false positive blood cultures, as well as in evaluating the impact of the “baby-friendly” health initiative on NICU admissions for hypoglycemia. At UVMMC, she currently co-chairs the neonatal resuscitation committee and is the NICU resident rotation director, in addition to being involved in medical student and neonatal-perinatal medicine education.
Aaron Wallman-Stokes, MD - Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Dr. Wallman-Stokes completed his pediatric residency at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, after which he returned to his childhood home of New York City for fellowship training in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Following fellowship he remained at Columbia as a member of the faculty until joining the UVM Medical Center in 2020. His research has primarily focused on characterizing premature infants’ oxygen exposure and investigating how poor growth and hypoxemia are associated with the risk of developing retinal disease. He has also worked as part of multicenter research groups exploring the relationship between particular vital sign patterns early in life and the development of infection as well as diseases of the lungs, eyes and brain. He is passionate about teaching and working with trainees, dating to his time as an elementary school teacher prior to attending medical school.
Delia Horn, MD - Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Dr. Horn received her undergraduate degree in English from Vassar College, then went on to receive her medical degree from the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont. She completed both her pediatrics residency and her neonatal-perinatal medicine fellowship at the University of Vermont Children's Hospital and joined the faculty at UVMMC in 2020. Her academic interests lie in quality improvement and implementation science to improve global neonatal health. She also has an interest in global health education, and is active in the design and implementation of the Global Health Track in the UVM neonatal-perinatal medicine fellowship program. Her research is focused on combining quality improvement, education, and advances in implementation to reduce neonatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. She enjoys mentoring neonatology fellows and modeling evidence-based practice. Additionally, Dr. Horn is interested in point of care ultrasound, and is active in bringing these services to the neonatology department at UVM.
Adrienne Pahl, MD - Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Dr. Pahl completed both her medical degree and Pediatrics Residency at the University of Vermont Children's Hospital (UVMCH). She worked as a primary care pediatrician in rural Vermont before returning to training to pursue a fellowship in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at the UVMCH. She has an academic interest in improving systems of care with a particular focus on work involving care of opioid exposed newborns and follow up of high risk infants. During fellowship she planned, implemented, and now continues a quality improvement initiative to improve care of opioid exposed newborns. As an element of this project, she helped to introduce the Eat, Sleep, Console Care Tool at UVMCH. She continues to use quality improvement methodology with a goal to improve care and long term outcomes both in the NICU and in the neonatal follow up clinic.
Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants
Brittney Accavallo, NNP
Lisa Atwood, NNP
Merja Cahoon, NNP
Nicole Cloutier, NNP
Kaitlin Johnson, NNP
Kimberly Kaufhold, PA
Kaitey Lightbody, NNP
Shane Molinari, NNP
Morgan Nealy, NNP
Meagan Oakes, PA
Deborah Saltus, NNP
Alexa Visco, NNP
Susan White, FNP
Current Fellows
Amara Heard, MD — Dr. Heard received her undergraduate and medical degree in a combined six-year program from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. For residency, Dr. Heard was fortunate to match at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital in her hometown of Saint Louis, Missouri. Following her three years of residency, she stayed on to complete another year as a Chief Resident before entering fellowship. Her clinical interests include Global Health, which experiences in both medical school and residency have helped mold this interest. Personal hobbies include, spending time with her husband and trying new restaurants, going on walks with her dog, singing, playing volleyball, and traveling and exploring new places.
Esther King, MD — Dr. King completed her undergraduate degree at University of Illinois in Chicago. She received her medical degree from Ross University School of Medicine in Dominica. She completed her pediatrics residency at Kansas University at Wichita, Kansas, where she received the “Excellence in Ambulatory Pediatrics Award” given to the resident who has shown dedicated service to pediatric patients and their families in the ambulatory clinic setting. She has a passion for working in developing areas and recently served as a pediatrician providing medical care in Ghana. Her current interests are improving medical care in resource-limited countries.
William Chotas, MD — After Dr Chotas studied botany at the University of Florida and traveled through the Amazon, he then completed his medical training at Ross University School of Medicine on the wonderful island of Dominica. He then went on to do his pediatric residency in his home state at the University of Florida-Jacksonville. After residency, he spent one year working as a locums pediatrician in South Carolina prior to going to the beautiful island of Saipan. The time he spent working in the NICU on Saipan helped finalize his plans for completing a fellowship in Neonatology. He and his family are thrilled to be here in Vermont for his fellowship.