Melanie A. Ruffner, MD, PhD

Locations: Buerger Center for Advanced Pediatric Care
MD - University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA
Pediatrics - Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
Pediatrics - Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
Allergy & Immunology - Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
Post-Doctoral Fellow - Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute, Philadelphia, PA
Allergy and Immunology – American Board of Allergy and ImmunologyPediatrics – American Board of Pediatrics
PhD in Bioengineering - University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
Attending Physician
Godwin B, Liacouras C, Mehta V, Eisenberg J, Agawu A, Brown-Whitehorn TF, Ruffner MA Verma R, Cianferoni A, Spergel JM, Muir AB: A Review of Tertiary Referrals for Management of Pediatric Esophageal Eosinophilia Frontiers Pediatrics June 2018 Notes: https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2018.00173.
Ruffner Melanie A, USIDNET Body Weight Group, Sullivan Kathleen E: Complications associated with underweight primary immunodeficiency patients: prevalence and associations within the USIDNET Registry Journal of Clinical Immunology 38(3): 283-293, April 2018.
Fahey Lisa, Guzek Ryan, Ruffner Melanie, Sullivan Kathleen, Spergel Jonathan, Cianferoni Antonella: EMSY is Increased and Activates TSLP & CCL5 Expression in Eosinophilic Esophagitis. Pediatric Allergy and Immunology April 2018.
Cianferoni Antonella, Ruffner Melanie A, Guzek Ryan, Guan Shabao, Brown-Whitehorn Terri, Spergel Jonathan M: Activated Th2 cells and milk-specific Th2 cells are increased in milk-induced eosinophilic esophagitis. Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology 120(2): 177-183.e2, February 2018. PMCID: PMC5875940
Crowley Terrence B, Ruffner Melanie A, McDonald-McGinn Donna M, Sullivan Kathleen E: Variable immune deficiency related to deletion size in chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. American Journal of Medical Genetics, Part A January 2018 Notes: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajmg.a.38597.
Ruffner MA, Aksamit TR, Thomashow B, Choate R, DiMango A, Turino GM, O'Donnell AE, Johnson MM, Olivier KN, Fennelly K, Daley CL, Winthrop KL, Metersky ML, Salathe MA, Knowles MR, Daniels MLA, Noone PG, Tino G, Griffith DE, Sullivan KE.: Frequency of untreated hypogammaglobulinemia in bronchiectasis. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol May 2017.
Ruffner Melanie A, Brown-Whitehorn Terri F, Verma Ritu, Cianferoni Antonella, Gober Laura, Shuker Michele, Muir Amanda B, Liacouras Chris A, Spergel Jonathan M: Clinical tolerance in eosinophilic esophagitis. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice 6(2): 661-3, March 2017.
Ruffner Melanie A, Ruymann Kathryn, Barni Simona, Cianferoni Antonella, Brown-Whitehorn Terri, Spergel Jonathan M: Food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome: insights from review of a large referral population. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. In practice 1(4): 343-9, Jul-Aug 2013.
Yang Chenjie, Ruffner Melanie A, Kim Seon-Hee, Robbins Paul D: Plasma-derived MHC class II+ exosomes from tumor-bearing mice suppress tumor antigen-specific immune responses. European journal of immunology 42(7): 1778-84, Jul 2012. PMCID: PMC3471134
Ruffner Melanie A, Finegold David N, MacGinnitie Andrew J: Infant with unusual food reactions. Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992) 100(10): 1289, 1394-5, Oct 2011.
Ruffner Melanie A, Robbins Paul D: Dendritic cells transduced to express interleukin 4 reduce diabetes onset in both normoglycemic and prediabetic nonobese diabetic mice. PloS one 5(7): e11848, Jul 2010. PMCID: PMC2912295
Ruffner Melanie A, Kim Seon Hee, Bianco Nicole R, Francisco Loise M, Sharpe Arlene H, Robbins Paul D: B7-1/2, but not PD-L1/2 molecules, are required on IL-10-treated tolerogenic DC and DC-derived exosomes for in vivo function. European journal of immunology 39(11): 3084-90, Nov 2009. PMCID: PMC3075967
Bianco Nicole R, Kim Seon Hee, Ruffner Melanie A, Robbins Paul D: Therapeutic effect of exosomes from indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase-positive dendritic cells in collagen-induced arthritis and delayed-type hypersensitivity disease models. Arthritis and rheumatism 60(2): 380-9, Feb 2009. PMCID: PMC3491653
Kim T-K, Sharma B, Williams C G, Ruffner M A, Malik A, McFarland E G, Elisseeff J H: Experimental model for cartilage tissue engineering to regenerate the zonal organization of articular cartilage. Osteoarthritis and cartilage 11(9): 653-64, Sep 2003.
Ruffner MA, Crowley TB, McDonald-McGinn DM, Sullivan KE: Chromosome 22q11.2 Deletion Size Affects Peripheral Lymphocyte Subset Counts. Clinical Immunology Society Annual Meeting April 2018.
Ruffner MA, Garabedian EK, Fuleihan RL, Sullivan KE, Spergel JM: Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disease in Patients with Primary Immunodeficiency American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunodeficiency Annual Meeting March 2018.
Ruffner Melanie A, Raman Swathi, Mauer Kelly, Muir Amanda, Spergel Jonathan M, Sullivan Kathleen E: Role of Toll-like receptor signaling in epithelial barrier dysfunction in eosinophilic esophagitis. American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Annual Meeting, Boston, MA October 2017.
Ruffner Melanie A, Brown-Whitehorn Terri F, Verma Ritu, Cianferoni Antonella, Gober Laura, Shuker Michelle, Muir Amanda B, Liacouras Chris A, Spergel Jonathan M: Investigation of complete clinical tolerance in a pediatric eosinophilic esophagitis population. 4th CURED Research Conference, Cincinnati OH October 2017.
Wang, K, Ruffner, M, Brown-Whitehorn, T, Spergel, J: Anaphylaxis to intralipid after bone marrow transplant. Annals of Allergy Asthma & Immunology 117(5 S): S33, Nov 2016.
Ruffner MA and Brown-Whitehorn TF: "A 5-month old with vomiting, lethargy, and pallor" Pediatric Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Nima Rezaei (eds.). Springer, 2018.
Ruffner MA, Plevy SE, Cheung AT: "Applications of Nucleotide-based Therapy in the Treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease." Gene Therapy for Autoimmune and Inflammatory Diseases Y. Chernajovsky and P. Robbins (eds.). Basel, Switzerland: Birkhäuser Verlag AG, Page: 19-34, 2010.
Gaddy DF, Ruffner MA, and Robbins PD: "Autoimmune disorders" A Guide to Human Gene Therapy. R. Herzog and S. Zolotukhin (eds.). New Jersey, USA: World Scientific, Page: 295-308, 2010.
Elisseeff J, Ruffner MA, Kim TK, Williams CG. : "Cellular Photoencapsulation in Hydrogels" Culture of Cells for Tissue Engineering I. Freshney and G. Vunjak-Novakovic (eds.). New Jersey, USA: John Wiley & Sons, Page: 214-236, 2006.
Lisa Fahey, Ryan Guzek, Melanie A Ruffner, Kathleen Sullivan Jonathan Spergel, Antonella Cianferoni: EMSY Gene Silencing in the Esophageal Epithelium Gastroenterology 152(5): S855, May 2017 Notes: Presented at Digestive Diseases Week Annual Meeting 2017.
Ruffner M A. "Eosinophilic Esophagitis 101: The Allergy Perspective," EoE Patient Education Day, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Ruffner M A. "Chromosome 22q11.2 Deletion Size Affects Peripheral Lymphocyte Subset Counts" Clinical Immunology Society 2018 Annual Meeting
Ruffner M A. "Newborn Screening for Severe Combined Immunodeficiency," St. Christopher's Hospital, Immunology Department Teaching Rounds
Ruffner M A. "Pediatric Eosinophilic Esophagitis," Crozer Pediatric Residency Teaching Conference
Ruffner M A. "Outgrowing eosinophilic esophagitis: it is possible," American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Annual Meeting
Ruffner M A. "The Eosinophilic Esophagitis Transcriptome is Altered with Therapy," Children's Hospital of Philadelphia "Postdoc Seminar Series - A Focus on Trainee Researchers"
Ruffner M A. "Factors regulating inflammation in eosinophilic esophagitis," Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh Allergy Department Research Seminar
Ruffner M A. "Worsening lung findings in a SCID patient," Clinical Immunology Summer School in Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases
Ruffner M A. "Body weight and infectious outcomes in patients with primary immunodeficiency," American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Annual Meeting
2018, US Immunodeficiency Network Travel Grant
2017, Pennsylvania Allergy Educational Research Fund Travel Scholarship
2017, 4th CURED Research and Patient Education Conference Travel Award
2016-2017, American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Young Faculty Award
2016, Clinical Immunology Society's (CIS) School in Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases Attendee
2015-2018, American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology FIT Travel Scholarship
2015-2017, NIH Institutional T32 "Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Institutional Training in Pediatrics" Fellowship
2015, Pennsylvania Allergy Educational Research Fund Award
2014, CHOP CARES Community Action Grant Awardee for "Modeling Reading Behavior Through Video"
2014-2015, American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology FIT Travel Scholarship
2011, American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology Chrysalis Project Award
2009, Graduate Class Marshall, Swanson School of Engineering
2008-2011, NIH Individual NRSA F30, "IL-4 Overexpressing Dendritic Cells and Exosomes for Treatment of Type I Diabetes"
2006, George M. Bevier Fellowship, University of Pittsburgh School of Engineering
2006-2008, NIH Institutional T32 Fellowship "University of Pittsburgh/Carnegie Mellon Biotechnology Training Program"
2003, Johns Hopkins University School of Engineering general and departmental graduation honors
2003, Merit Award Undergraduate Division IV, Program for the Advancement of Arc Welded Design, Engineering and Fabrication. Entry: "Device to measure bioimpedance in tissue: Towards early detection of preterm labor."
2001-2003, Johns Hopkins University Dean's List
2018-present, Basic and Clinical Immunology, reviewer
2018-present, Annals of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, ad hoc reviewer
2017-present, Clinical & Experimental Allergy, ad hoc reviewer
2017-present, Non-Admission Committee Interviewer, Pediatric Residency Program
2014-present, Clinical Immunology Society
2014-present, American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology
2011-present, American Academy of Pediatrics
2011-present, American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology
2009-present, Biomedical Engineering Society