Michele Mietus-Snyder, M.D., is a preventive cardiologist, clinical research scientist and director of the Children’s National Hospital Bioenergetics Significant Interest Group. A trans-disciplinary appointment at Children’s National in 2010 across cardiology, surgery and clinical research centers has positioned Dr. Mietus-Snyder to embrace a multi-pronged approach to cardiovascular health promotion.
Clinically, Dr. Mietus-Snyder staffs the preventive cardiology clinic and provides cardiology consultation to her medical colleagues in the IDEAL weight management clinic. She also works closely with surgical colleagues, offering medical support to the Bariatric Surgical Program. She is also developing adjunct mobile-health tools to reinforce clinical behavioral counseling.
In community advocacy, she initiated a novel academic-community collaboration with D.C. Public Schools and George Washington University medical students in 2012, to bring a mentored-behavioral change model into district elementary and middle schools to strengthen local school wellness policy. This program is called Team Kid Power or KiPOW™. The potential to expand this program to inner-city school districts anywhere with access to health professional students has been proven with successful implementation in Orange County, CA. Team KiPOW is also emerging in Dallas, New York City and the Bay Area, carried by graduates of D.C. KiPOW to the urban centers where they go on to pursue pediatric residency and fellowship training.
In research, Dr. Mietus-Snyder has long fostered multi-site collaboration, advocating for child health promotion through the National Association of Children’s Hospitals’ Focus on a Fitter Future consortium. She took the lead in the analysis of lipoprotein phenotyping in the NIDDK-funded HEALTHY multisite school study, identifying the constellation of cardiometabolic risk factors that contribute to a highly atherogenic dyslipidemia characterized by small LDL particles. A current collaboration with colleagues in Sweden links the same dyslipidemia to vascular stiffening and cardiac events in adults. These insights contributed to her leadership role within a consortium of preventive cardiologists on a multi-site trial funded by the NIH Pediatric Heart Network on treatment of the Dyslipidemia of Obesity in Teens (DO IT). Finally, she is co-investigator on long-standing bicoastal research with colleagues at the UC Benioff Children’s Hospitals and the USDA Nutritional Research Laboratory in Albany, CA, exploring the nutritional underpinnings of energy, metabolism and cardiovascular health – strengthening her resolve to promote a healthy lifestyle as the cornerstone of pediatric wellness.