She considered specializing in cardiology (which she calls “my first love”), then neonatology and hematology oncology. Eventually, though, she experienced the allure of rheumatology, drawn toward the complicated cases and the isolation that families experienced due to the rarity of their children’s diseases.
That uncertainty, Dr. Ogbu saw, could provide an opening for research to better understand the disease process. She completed a fellowship in pediatric rheumatology and an MS in clinical research at Emory University, Atlanta. After her fellowship, she joined Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md., where she led the pediatric rheumatology clinics and service.
Pandemic Possibilities
In 2021, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Ogbu accepted a faculty appointment at Cincinnati Children’s. The pandemic “opened our eyes to the greater potential of telemedicine and to ways of communicating that we wouldn’t have ordinarily thought to do to deliver care,” she says.
The pandemic also clearly revealed the dearth of pediatric rheumatologists. At the same time, with the complication of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children associated with SARS-CoV2 (MIS-C), awareness of pediatric rheumatologists increased. “This helped people realize that pediatric rheumatology is a very interesting field,” she says. In 2022, the ACR published clinical guidance on MIS-C and hyperinflammation in pediatric COVID-19.
All in all, the opportunity to help children get better and support families provides a sense of fulfillment, purpose and “just joy,” Dr. Ogbu says. Her work with the Pediatric Rheumatology Committee, she believes, will bolster those rewards.
Gretchen Henkel is a health and medical journalist based in California.
