Meet Our Intestinal Rehabilitation Therapy Team

Dr. Drew Rideout is surgical director of the intestinal rehabilitation program in the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Maternal, Fetal & Neonatal Institute. He specializes in minimally invasive surgery in newborns, children and adolescents. He joined the pediatric surgery program at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in 2013. Dr. Rideout also travels to Latin America and Africa to support surgical programs. He leads the pediatric surgery service at Tampa General Hospital.

Dr. Shakeel specializes in neonatology with the Johns Hopkins All Children's Maternal, Fetal & Neonatal Institute. She joined the medical staff in 1999. She has a clinical focus on nutritional care for neonates to improve clinical outcomes in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and improving clinical outcomes in infants with short bowel syndrome at risk of intestinal failure. She is chair of the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Care Under Intestinal Rehabilitation Excellence (CUIRE) intestinal rehabilitation program. She also has a clinical focus on Patient Safety & Quality and is a quality lead for the hospital’s Maternal Fetal & Neonatal Institute.

Dr. Rivera-Nieves specializes in pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition in the Department of Medicine. She sees patients on our main campus in St. Petersburg and at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Outpatient Care, Sarasota. She joined the medical staff in 2020. Dr. Rivera-Nieves earned her medical degree from the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara in Jalisco, Mexico. She completed a pre-internship medical program at New York Medical College in Valhalla, New York.

Dr. Brittany Casey completed her fellowship training in 2021 and now practices pediatric hospital medicine at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital. She is a member of the pediatric intestinal rehabilitation team as an inpatient and outpatient pediatrician. Her academic interests during fellowship focused on quality improvement, specifically in hospital readmissions and the care of the medically complex child.

Carolyn Kelly, M.S., A.P.R.N., is a neonatal nurse practitioner and clinical leader with the Maternal, Fetal & Neonatal Institute. She joined the hospital in 1996. She is the Intestinal Rehabilitation program coordinator and a member of the hospital’s Neonatal Nutrition Committee. She is also an active member of the Florida Association of Neonatal Nurse Practitioners and, at the national level, is a member of the Academy of Neonatal Nurses. She earned a bachelor of nursing degree at Memorial University of Newfoundland and a master of science in the neonatal nurse practitioner program at Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York.

Melanie Newkirk is a registered dietitian nutritionist specializing in pediatric nutrition at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital. She is manager of Clinical Nutrition, Lactation and the Milk Depot. Melanie received a Bachelor of Health Science in Clinical and Community Dietetics from the University of Florida and a master's in Dietetics from Kansas State University. She is pursuing a Doctorate of Clinical Nutrition from Rutgers School of Health Related Professions. Her clinical interests include nutrition of very low birth weight infants and childhood obesity.

Jennifer Blair, MA, RDN, CSP, LDN, is a dietitian on the Intestinal Rehabilitation team at Johns Hopkins All Children’s. She joined the hospital in 2016 as a senior dietitian , providing outpatient medical nutrition therapy and counseling for infants, children, and caregivers. She was then a dietitian with the Cystic Fibrosis program. Prior to joining Johns Hopkins All Children’s, she was a dietitian at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. There she worked as a neonatal dietitian for infants in the neonatal intensive care unit, and as a metabolic dietitian. She earned her bachelor’s degree in clinical dietetics and nutrition from the University of Pittsburgh, and her master’s degree in nutrition education from Immaculata University.

Jennifer Johnson is a speech-language pathologist in the Intestinal Rehabilitation Therapy program at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital. She joined the hospital staff in 1999. Johnson earned her Bachelor of Arts and her Master of Science from the University of South Florida.