Anna Ermarth
What is your current profession and setting? Why did you choose this?
Pediatric Gastroenterologist, Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics
Medical Director, Feeding and Swallowing Center, Primary Children’s Hospital, Salt Lake City, Utah
My path to being a gastroenterologist was a gut intuition that I enjoyed the intricacies of digestion and nutrition and treating the most severe GI diseases. Plus, gastroenterologists make the funniest jokes in the hospital (never-ending repertoire of poop jokes)!
I found my way toward feeding disorders with the encouragement of my nutrition mentors, and to fill a gap in our regional pediatric care needs for these patients. We created an earlier discharge program from our regional NICU for babies who needed assistance with feeding, but could otherwise go home. As they say, “if you build it, they will come,” and this program grew from 1 NICU and ~80 patients/year to serving 3 NICUs and 300+ patients per year within 5 years. Holding cuddly babies during clinic visits is my favorite part of this job!
We are now working on building a more intensive outpatient feeding program for our older patients, in-tandem with our Behavioral Health team.
What is some advice you have for other professionals who aspire to work in the area of pediatric feeding disorders?
There is no feeding center without a village! To build these programs it takes lots of teamwork and collegial care to give patients and families all the tools they need to overcome PFD. As a practitioner, being a good teammate is more important to the care than “being right.”
And no matter how small an intervention, KEEP ALL THE DATA! Our patients deserve the best in evidence-based care, but data is the only way to get there.
Describe a memory in your career that inspired you.
Sometime in late 2020, I had a televisit with a patient with chronic medical needs and his parents. From my perspective, my interventions on his feeding and eating were somewhat small in contribution; yet, his mother said “Thank you for seeing my son for who he is, and helping to provide him with options we hadn’t thought of, before.” Perhaps the strain of COVID on us healthcare workers was still fresh and ongoing for me, but I burst into tears with this simple “thank you,” from his mother. It has stayed with me as inspiration to not pass off any detail as too small or trivial for a patient, and to stay in the game, even when conditions are tough. And it taught me to also verbally say “thank you” to our healthcare providers more, as I feel this is an underutilized sentiment in today’s world.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
Living in Utah, I do anything and everything outdoors! I am a trail runner (all year round), snow skier, mountain biker, and my pandemic impulsive buy was an Airstream trailer, so now we try and camp when the weather allows! And while I sound active, keep in mind, most of these activities now involve my 3 year old and 6 year old sons—I hit the bunny slopes more than the black diamonds these days. For now, I can outlast the boys, but I know my days are numbered!
What inspired you to join IAPFS and how do you stay connected?
The pediatric feeding community needs more professional and research connections, which IAPFS strives to provide. I love hearing about other programs’ evolution and offerings, which then encourage me make improvements on our feeding and swallowing center here in Utah.
What is one thing you wish IAPFS did/could offer?
More online teaching/learning webinars—similar in format to ECHO programs, with case studies and then quick learning modules on PFDs.