Dr. Lauren N. Powell is an
Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics within the Division of
Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the Medical University of South Carolina.
She serves as an inpatient and outpatient consultant to provide care for
children with infectious diseases. She completed her pediatric infectious
diseases fellowship at Children’s National Hospital in Washington D.C and is
currently completing her Master of Public Health in Global Health Epidemiology
and Disease Control at George Washington University.
Dr. Powell has extensive
experience performing medical mission work in low-resource settings. Her time
spent overseas on these missions is the reason she went into pediatrics and
subsequently, the infectious diseases field. Dr. Powell is passionate about
global health and focuses her research endeavors on the use of implementation science
to improve the management of pediatric tuberculosis. She received the MUSC
Center for Global Health faculty award for her study “RISE-Retrospective
study to inform implementation of a shortened TB treatment
regimen in Ethiopian children.”
Dr. Powell is also site-PI for the
VIPER trial, Multi-Center Molecular Diagnosis and Host Response of Respiratory Viral
Infections (RVI) in Pediatric Transplant Recipients. This is a multi-center trial across the US to establish for the 1st time a diagnostic and disease progression predictive model of risk of RVI in children undergoing transplant. It will define
host immune responses, guide clinical management, and lead to the first-ever evidence-based pediatric guidelines designed to
reduce RVI-related morbidity and mortality.
Dr. Powell is board-certified in
pediatrics and pediatric infectious diseases. She is a member of numerous
professional societies including: the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society,
the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Global Implementation Society. She
received her undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine
at the Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Parker,
Colorado. She completed her pediatric residency training at Louisiana State
University in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her special interests include tuberculosis, HIV, and tropical diseases.