Grant C. Paulsen, MD

I am a pediatric infectious disease doctor at Cincinnati Children’s. I specialize in the diagnosis and management of infections in immunocompromised children.

For children who receive an organ transplant, bone marrow transplant or chemotherapy, living with compromised immune systems is a challenge every day.

I knew from early on that the field of infectious diseases had captured my interest. The discovery aspect of hunting down the specific infection and then figuring out the best way to treat it drew me in. That wide variety inspired me to pursue dual training and board certification in adult and pediatric infections.

One day during training, my wife noted that I was easier to be around when I spent time taking care of children rather than adults. I took that as a sign and never looked back.

The most prominent way I approach patient care is to treat every patient how I would treat a member of my own family.

I believe communication is another important factor in achieving this goal. Taking care of immunocompromised children means managing many different and complex factors for each patient. I emphasis open and frequent conversations with the patient and any other medical providers on the patient’s care team.

Medicine continues to become more complex and nuanced. I continuously work to learn more each day to provide the best care for my patients.

My research focuses on two areas: preventing infections in immunocompromised children and developing new vaccines to prevent infections in general.

I am most proud of being part of the team selected by Cincinnati Children’s in 2018 for the Research Team Award. This award recognizes the team of researchers and staff involved in our Vaccine Therapeutics & Evaluation Unit. Our team is an amazing group of people working hard to move new vaccines forward for everyone.

When I’m not at work, I enjoy spending as much time as I can with my wife, two children and a troublemaking dog. I love exploring the different parks, biking and hiking trails around Cincinnati whenever we can. At home, I’ve made it a mission to teach my kids how to play the old-school board games I grew up playing. They protest and tell me all of those games can now be found online and that I am torturing them for no reason.