New pediatrics hires swell faculty ranks

The Medical Center is proud to announce the following additions to its faculty and leadership staff:

Viswanath Gajula, M.D.

Dr. Viswanath Gajula, a recent pediatric critical care fellow at Children's Hospital of Michigan, Wayne State University School of Medicine, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of pediatrics.

After receiving his bachelor's of biology and physics from Sri Chaitanya University, Vijayawada, India, in 2000, Gajula earned his bachelor's of medicine and bachelor's of surgery at Gandhi Medical College and Hospital, NTR University of Health Sciences, Hyderabad, India, in 2005. He had an internship at Gandhi Hospital in 2006 and received his master's of science in environmental health management from the University of Findlay, Ohio, in 2008. He then had a pediatric residency at the Michigan State University-Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies from 2009-12 and the pediatric critical care fellowship from 2012-15.

An active member of several professional associations, including the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the American Academy of Pediatrics, Gajula is the author or coauthor of three articles in peer-reviewed professional publications, three abstracts and presentations and one book chapter. His research interests include bronchiolitis in infants, pediatric cardiac surgery and post-operative bleeding complications. 

Michael G. Holder Jr., M.D.

M. Holder

Dr. Michael G. Holder, a former clinical academic dean and assistant professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at Northeast Ohio Medical University, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an associate professor of pediatrics and executive director of simulation and interprofessional education.

After receiving his B.S. summa cum laude from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, in 1991, Holder earned his M.D. at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Camden, in 1996. He completed both his general pediatrics residency training and his pediatric emergency medicine fellowship training at Children's National Medical Center, Washington, D.C. In addition to his clinical training, Holder has completed an academic medicine fellowship at the Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy, Rootstown, and is seeking a Master's Degree in health professional education from the University of Illinois-Chicago.

In addition to serving as attending physician in the Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at Akron Children's Hospital since 2005, Holder was the director of medical education for Akron Children's and oversaw undergraduate, graduate and continuing medical education services. He started the simulation program at Akron Children's in 2007. In 2010, he was asked to join the leadership team of the Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron's Center for Simulation and Integrated Healthcare Education as vice president, and designed and oversaw the construction of its flagship 35,000 simulation center.

An active member of several professional organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Society of Simulation in Healthcare and the National Medical Association, Holder also belongs to numerous academic honor societies, including Alpha Kappa Mu, Phi Kappa Phi and Alpha Phi Omega. He is the author or coauthor of several abstracts and articles in peer-reviewed professional publications and is coeditor of the Handbook of Pediatric Drug Therapy. He has given numerous invited lectures and workshops nationally and has mentored undergraduate medical students, residents and pediatric fellows.

Holder is married to Dr. Nneka Azikiwe Holder, an associate professor of pediatrics at UMMC.

Nneka Azikiwe Holder, M.D.

N. Holder

Dr. Nneka Azikiwe Holder, an attending physician at Akron Children's Hospital, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an associate professor of pediatrics.

After receiving her B.A. from Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, in 1993, Holder earned her M.D. at Harvard Medical School in 1997. She completed pediatric residency training in 2000 and an adolescent medicine fellowship in 2003 at Children's National Medical Center. She also received her M.P.H. in 2003 from the George Washington University School of Public Health.

A part-time associate in the CNMC Emergency Department from 2000-03, she has served as an attending physician at Akron Children's Hospital since 2003.

An active member of several professional organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Society of Adolescent Health and Medicine and the North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology, Holder is the author or coauthor of six articles in peer-reviewed professional publications and three presentations at scientific meetings.

Holder is married to Dr. Michael G. Holder Jr., an associate professor of pediatrics at UMMC.