Pediatric Medicine at UPMC in Central Pa.

UPMC in Central Pa. includes many outstanding pediatric practices that provide comprehensive pediatric care for children from birth through 18 years old.

Our family-centered practices provide a full continuum of services including newborn visits, childhood illnesses, immunizations and other childhood-related concerns.

About Our Pediatric Care Team

You want your child to get the best possible care from a pediatrician that knows and understands your child and respects your values and priorities as a parent. At the pediatric practices of UPMC, we provide comprehensive health care to children from birth to 18 years of age. Families choose our practices for our compassion, experience and commitment to excellence.

Many of our providers offer video visits. Call the office or schedule via your patient portal.

Patient-Centered Medical Home Model

We want to give the best possible care to every life we touch. That is why our pediatric practices use a patient-centered medical home model. This means your child’s pediatrician works with you and others to help keep your child safe and healthy. This team is called a health care team. Your team wants your child to have the best possible care when you need it. Everyone in the pediatric practice is part of the team, too.

They include:

• Pediatricians (doctors)
• Physician assistants
• Nurse practitioners
• Nurses and medical assistants
• Patient service representatives
• Office managers

We provide a full range of pediatric care services for children from routine well child visits to treating childhood illness to managing referrals and care from specialists as needed.

Our Children's Health Services

• Well visits
• Preventative care
• Diet, sleep habits, toilet training
• Emergency care
• Annual checkup
• Immunizations
• Sick visits/walk-in hours
• Consults
• Phone calls
• Test results
• Prescriptions & refills
• Camp and school forms
• Specialist referrals
• Hospital care
• Breastfeeding support
• Support for new parents
• Guidance through puberty
• Sports physicals
• Back-to-school physicals

Personalized Care

Our goal is to partner with parents by respecting their values, listening to their concerns, and providing them with the pediatric care, services, and support they need to meet the challenges of raising happy and healthy children.

• Consults. Whether you are a new parent learning about pediatric care, or the parent of a teenager concerned about school performance, our pediatricians are available to help by answering questions, providing support, and if necessary, referring you to the appropriate resources for additional help.
• Emergency care. Our physicians are available for emergencies 24/7. If your child is sick and you need to speak to one of our staff after hours you may call the office and speak to the physician on call. We can advise you of where and when to seek care.
  If your child is having a true medical emergency, such as difficulty breathing, trauma, or prolonged seizure call 911. The emergency staff will contact your pediatrician.
• Immunizations. Immunizations are the most important way parents and doctors can protect children against serious infectious diseases. Our practices follow the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control guidelines for childhood immunizations.
• Hospital care. Our pediatric care practices have access to advanced pediatric hospital care and specialists through their partnership with UPMC Pinnacle. If your physician has admitted your child to the hospital, they will personally coordinate their care with the UPMC Pinnacle staff.
• Nurse triage. During regular hours, our nurses are well-trained to answer your questions about routine baby and child care, common symptoms, over-the-counter medications, and vaccine reactions. If you believe your child has a serious complaint that requires a same-day visit, request an appointment directly with the receptionist.
  If you have an important health need, please call your pediatric office first, even if it’s is closed. We have a Nurse Advice Line you can call 24/7 to help you decide what is best for your child’s health. If you have an emergency, please go to the nearest hospital emergency room or call 911.
• Provider call backs. Our providers are eager to answer your questions and concerns and most often will return calls late in the day. For non-urgent matters, return calls may take 24 hours. If you have not heard back from the provider, speak with the triage nurse who can often expedite a response to your questions.
• Resources and information. We believe that informed parents make good decisions about their child's health care . That is why we provide information and resources to help answer questions on a variety of topics related to childhood health including pediatric care, nutrition, physical activity, school readiness, toilet training, sleep habits and more.

Find A Pediatrician

For more information about our pediatric practices or to schedule an appointment, please call the UPMC Pinnacle Phone Line at 717-231-8900.

Walk-in and Urgent Care

When you feel sick and cannot see your PCP, our Express, Express Care, and FastCare® clinics and our Concentra and UPMC Urgent Care centers can help you feel better fast. No appointments are needed — just walk in!

See our walk-in and urgent care locations and hours, or call 717-231-8900.

Learn more about how to choose a pediatrician.

Our Providers

• Ravi Agarwal, MD
• Deborah Mei-Yun Julius, MD
• Randal H. Medzoyan, MD
• Olivia Owusu-Boahen, MD
• Maria S. Angelova, MD
• Steven A. Black, MD
• Andrea L. Burks, DO
• Amy L. DeLuca, DO
• Cynthia T. DeMuth, MD
• Cynthia A. Elsner, MD
• Naazneen Iqbal, MD
• Sreenath Raghunath Joshi, MD
• Ameet Kumar, MD
• Kelly R. Leite, DO
• Chiamaka Onyewuchi, MD
• Tarun Saha, MD
• Craig A. Shrift, MD
• Judith M. Stranko, DO
• Natalie Swartzentruber, MD
• Scott Michael Vascik, MD
• Melencio Chan Ventura, MD
• Kathleen M. Zimmerman, MD
• Kayla L. Beard, CRNP
• Brittany A. Karchner, CRNP
• Julie A. Lundblad, CRNP
• Michelle N. Melville, CRNP
• Kristy Joy Shellenberger, PA-C
• Ann Summers, CRNP
• Carmela R. Coppola, MD

Locations