Member Spotlight: Monica Ardura

Monica I. Ardura, DO, MSCS, FPIDS, is Professor of Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Medical Director of the Host Defense Program and Section Chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases (ID) at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. She obtained her medical degree at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed her pediatrics residency at Penn State Geisinger Health System. Dr. Ardura served three years as a National Health Service pediatrician in underserved areas of South Texas before completing a pediatric ID fellowship and Master of Science in Clinical Sciences at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

Dr. Ardura is completing a term on the Board of Directors. She currently serves as Vice Chair of the Transplant Infectious Diseases Committee and served on the Clinical Affairs, Vaccine Advocacy, and Nominations & Awards committees. She is also an Associate Editor for the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society.

Why Pediatric ID? I always knew I wanted to be a pediatrician. It was during residency that I constantly found myself gravitating towards and reading about infectious diseases. My co-residents would tease me for having the latest copy of The Pediatrics Infectious Disease Journal and the AAP Red Book handy. I vividly remember my initial consult on day one of my first elective (ID … it was fate): an unvaccinated five-month-old with fever, fussiness, and a bulging fontanelle. Everything from performing the exam and LP, to the stat literature review to see what were the latest recommendations around giving dexamethasone for presumptive bacterial meningitis (yes, I’m old and yes, this happened pre-multiplex PCR CSF panels), reviewing plates in micro, to providing chemoprophylaxis to household contacts of this infant with Haemophilus influenzae type b meningitis made it exciting to go to work every day to learn ID.  I was hooked. So, when I had the opportunity to go ‘back’ and do a peds ID fellowship, I jumped at the chance and will forever be thankful and honored to have been trained, mentored, and worked alongside peds ID titans like Drs. George McCracken, John Nelson, Jane Siegel, Octavio Ramilo, and Pablo Sanchez.

Where have you taken your ID focus? I developed a keen interest in preventing, diagnosing, and managing infections in children with underlying immunocompromising conditions during my fellowship and had opportunities to gain more training in this area. Thanks to Drs. Jan Englund, Lara Danziger-Isakov, Michael Green, and Marian Michaels who encouraged my participation, welcomed me into the transplant ID community, and continue to mentor me from afar. Given the ever-evolving immunosuppressive therapies in this field, we’re perpetual learners. We can ask the questions that allow us to study and implement findings that result in the best ID-related outcomes for our immunocompromised patients thanks to the team science afforded by the PIDS TID committee chaired by Dr. Betsy Herold, and networks like PIDTRAN, led by Dr. Gaby Maron and IPFN studies led by Drs. Bill Steinbach and Brian Fisher. Just as importantly it has been wonderful to see this super subspecialty continue to grow and attract talented PIDS members who are dedicated to optimizing the care of this patient population – the Transplant/ Immunocompromised Host (T/ICH) ID future looks bright!

What is a recent development in pediatric ID that you are working on? As a clinician educator, I am committed to fellow education in peds ID and T/ICH ID. I am grateful to Nationwide Children’s leadership for recognizing the importance of education in this area and funding an ID Host Defense fellowship, one of the first programs in the US. I’m equally indebted to my ID Host Defense partners, Drs. Eunkyung Song, and Christopher Ouellette, Mrs. Copacia and Ms. Zakes, for their dedication. The students have indeed become the teachers. Thanks to the fellows for keeping me on my toes and setting the bar high.  Thanks to Drs. Bill Barson and Jason Newland for your votes of confidence and coaching me on appreciative leadership. And to the rest of my peds ID and transplant, oncology, rheumatology, immunology, and IBD colleagues – all of you still make it exciting to come to work every day. 

Extra gratitude to past PIDS president, Dr. Kris Bryant and PIDS Executive Director, Christy Phillips who generously supported and nimbly greenlighted the idea of taking PIDS T/ICH ID educational initiatives virtually to interested peds ID fellows and junior faculty nationally during the COVID-19 pandemic.  And extra thanks to the PIDS Transplant ID education subcommittee members led by Drs. Manjiree Karandikar and Victoria Statler, for all their hard work on improving the ongoing educational initiatives. My hope is that we can build future collaborations with our sister pediatric ID societies to share T/ICH ID educational resources and best practices. Working closely with Drs. Tanvi Sharma, Inci Yildirim, Hamid Basiri, and Gaby Maron, I am very excited to be part of the committee helping to create the Transplant ID sessions for the 25^th annual St Jude/PIDS Infectious Diseases Research Conference. This meeting is so important because it is one of the only meetings focused solely on pediatric T/ICH (and I encourage everyone to submit their research data for the 2026 meeting!).

I have been privileged to be offered distinct opportunities given my T/ICH ID interests. I am learning new skills as a Transplant ID Associate Editor for the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society alongside an amazing AE team and leadership from Drs. Ravi Jhaveri and Andi Shane. I was invited to become a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases (COID). Under the steadfast leadership of Drs. Bonnie Maldonado, Sean O’Leary, and Jim Campbell, COID has continued its commitment to support children, expertly navigating advocacy and vaccine policy during these challenging times. Contributing to the AAP Red Book has also been an invaluable and rewarding experience. Through these opportunities, this introvert who hates to network has selfishly gained more professionally and personally than I can ever dream to contribute. 

What do you enjoy most about being a PIDS member? What keeps you renewing your membership? The culture of PIDS (no pun intended!). It’s a privilege to be a part of this society. We are all passionately committed to doing the right thing for the children we serve, and we support our colleagues to do the same. There are many PIDS members that I have not ‘name dropped’ during PIDS Membership Appreciation week who have either counseled, sponsored, advocated, and provided letters of support, words of wisdom, or different opportunities for me on this career path – thank you, genuinely!   

I am truly grateful and fortunate to be part of a society with so many talented and thoughtful individuals. I hope to continue to serve, support my colleagues, and contribute to our shared PIDS mission.