Andrea Pearson, MD

MD, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine
BS, Calvin College

Dr. Pearson graduated from Michigan State College of Human Medicine and completed her Residency in Pediatrics at Georgetown University Hospital.

Dr. Pearson started working at the NIH in 2020 as a Pediatric Hospitalist. She assists the primary research teams by overseeing the care and medical management of their pediatric patients who are admitted to the pediatric inpatient unit at the Clinical Center.

Prior to her work at the NIH, Dr. Pearson worked as an attending physician in combined Emergency and Inpatient Hospital Units. She was the driving force in founding a successful Nitrous Oxide Sedation program within a Pediatric Emergency Department, one of the first of its kind in the nation. She also has led numerous quality improvement initiatives throughout her career. These have included the Developing a Policy for the use of High Flow Nasal Cannula within a community hospital setting, as well as initiatives relating to improving management of hypertension, reducing pain in infants during painful procedures and improving management of patients presenting to the ED or hospitalized with acute asthma exacerbation. She has also developed protocols for implementing mindfulness and cognitive behavior therapy interventions within the primary care and hospital settings.

She also has experience in clinical research. She was selected as a CRTA 2 Research Fellow at the NIH and spent over two years studying the influence of genes involved in pathways related to inflammation and tumor promotion. As a resident, she was a co-lead Investigator on a project to develop a clinical trial to determine if contrast enhanced ultrasound allows improved visualization of post-transplant vascular anastomoses over conventional ultrasound. She has also been integral in projects analyzing the immunization status of pediatric pre-liver and small bowel transplant patients, a case study to assess chemotherapeutic treatments for disfiguring, functionally impairing or life-threatening vascular tumors and a project studying the accuracy of pumps used to deliver sedation fluids in pediatric MRI.

In addition to her clinical and research work, Dr. Pearson has a robust history of volunteer service. She was a Patient Care Volunteer with Hospice providing support for both patients and their families, a Volunteer HIV Tester and Counselor providing free HIV testing and counseling regarding test results as well as volunteering in a Maternal and Child Health Clinic in rural Tanzania.

• NIH Clinical CEO Award as part of the Pediatric Hospital Medicine Section. Award in the Patient Care Category in recognition of the creation of a new Model of Care providing compassionate age-appropriate 24/7 care to our pediatric patients enrolled in clinical research at the NIH Clinical Center, 2023
• NIH Clinical CEO Award as part of the Pediatric Hospital Medicine Section. Award in the Patient Care Category in recognition of exceptional teamwork to ensure 24/7 care for pediatric patients during a time of staff shortage, 2022
• NIH Director’s Award for outstanding achievement as a member of Fishers Lane COVID Testing Site Operations Team for critical efforts to create, implement and maintain a COVID testing site at 5601 Fishers Lane for the benefit of NIAID and NIH colleagues, 2022
• Selected as a physician expert on the ED Transitions of Care Expert Panel with the National Quality Forum, Washington, DC. Dec 2016-July 2017

Blankespoor RL, Hogendoorn S, Pearson A. Competitive Nitration of Benzene–Fluorobenzene and Benzene–Toluene Mixtures: Orientation and Reactivity Studies Using HPLC. Journal of Chemical Education. 2007 April; 84(4): 697.

Davidson PJ, Li SY, Lohse AG, Vandergaast R, Verde E, Pearson A, Patterson RJ, Wang JL, Arnoys EJ. Transport of Galectin-3 between the Nucleus and Cytoplasm. I. Conditions and Signals for Nuclear Import. Glycobiology. 2006 Jul; 16(7):602-11.

Cataisson C, Pearson AJ, Tsien MZ, Mascia F, Gao, JL, Pastore S, Yuspa SH. CXCR2 ligands and G-CSF mediate PKC alpha-induced intraepidermal inflammation. Journal of Clinical Investigation. 2006 Oct; 116(10):2757-66.

Cataisson C, Pearson AJ, Torgerson S, Nedospasov SA, Yuspa SH. Protein kinase C alpha-mediated chemotaxis of neutrophils requires NF-kappa B activity but is independent of TNF alpha signaling in mouse skin in vivo. Journal of Immunology. 2005 Feb 1;174(3):1686-92.

Acknowledgement in: Cataisson C, Joseloff E, Murillas R, Wang A, Atwell C, Torgerson S, Gerdes M, Subleski J, Gao JL, Murphy PM, Wiltrout RH, Vinson C, Yuspa SH. Activation of cutaneous protein kinase C alpha induces keratinocyte apoptosis and intraepidermal inflammation by independent signaling pathways. Journal of Immunology. 2003 Sep 1; 171(5):2703-13.