Dr Camilla Salvestrini

MD FRCPCH

Current appointment

Consultant Paediatric Gastroenterologist
Department of Paediatric Gastroenterology,
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust,
Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge

Profile

I trained as a Paediatrician in Florence, Italy and in London, UK and obtained GMC entry on the specialist register in 2004. After 3 years working as a Clinical Lecturer at UCL (Royal Free Hospital), I was appointed Consultant in Paediatric Gastroenterology in 2007. Since then I have been Consultant at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, Royal Free Hospital and Sheffield Children’s Hospital. In 2010 I joined the Team at Addenbrooke’s Hospital to take up the role of Nutrition Team Lead. Over the last 7 years I have been lucky enough to work with extraordinary team members and we have expanded the service to become the regional centre for artificial nutrition. As Lead for the Paediatric Feeding Team I have been able to set up a multi-disciplinary clinic that is now receiving over 100 new referrals a year for children with complex feeding difficulties. Trying to promote tube-feeding weaning I obtained almost £30K as a grant from Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust (ACT). The grant has allowed me to develop TASTE (Treatment And Support for Tricky Eaters) a programme to wean children off long-term tube feeding and/or nutritional supplement dependancy, while helping families normalise their child’s eating behaviour, particularly in children with limited or very restricted diets.

Over the years I have carried on seeing children for a all variety of problems both in the NHS and privately:

  • Abdominal pain
  • Constipation
  • Gastro-oesophageal reflux
  • Diarrhoea
  • Sleeping difficulties
  • Feeding difficulties
  • Crying baby
  • Poor growth
  • Food intolerances and allergies

I hope to be of help to children and their families by offering a sensible, evidence-based approach to medical care.

I believe in a holistic approach to children with health issues and I am very much focused on their emotional wellbeing on top of her physical health.

I am also involved in training health professionals at all levels.

My areas of expertise are: nutrition, paediatrics, gastroenterology, endoscopy.

Memberships

Member of the British Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (BAPEN)

Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, FRCPCH

Member of the British Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (BSPGHAN)

Member of the European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN)

Specialist Registration in Paediatrics with the General Medical Council, UK. Registration number 6070357.

Publications

1. Salvestrini C, Lucas M, Lionetti P, Torrente F, James S, Phillips AD, Murch SH Matrix expansion and syncytial aggregation of syndecan-1+ cells underpin villous atrophy in coeliac disease. PLoS One. 2014 Sep 8;9(9)

2. Callan J, Salvestrini C. Parenteral Nutrition in paediatrics. Paediatrics and Child Health, 2013 Aug; 23(8):356-361

3. Zilbauer M, Jenke A, Wenzel G, Goedde D, Postberg J, Phillips AD, Lucas M, Noble-Jamieson G, Torrente F, Salvestrini C, Heuschkel R, Wirth S. Intestinal alpha-defensin expression in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease. Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2011 Oct;17(10):2076-86

4. Pichler J, Zilbauer M, Torrente F, Heuschkel R, Phillips A, Salvestrini C. Feasibility of a finger prick-based self-testing kit in first- and second-degree relatives of children with coeliac disease. World J Gastroenterol. 2011 Apr 14;17(14):1840-3.

5. Zilbauer M, Jenke A, Wenzel G, Postberg J, Heusch A, Phillips AD, Noble-Jamieson G, Torrente F, Salvestrini C, Heuschkel R, Wirth S. Expression of human beta-defensins in children with chronic inflammatory bowel disease. PLoS One. 2010 Oct 22;5(10):e15389.

6. Behjati S, Zilbauer M, Heuschkel R, Phillips A, Salvestrini C, Torrente F, Bates AW. Defining eosinophilic colitis in children: insights from a retrospective case series. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2009 Aug;49(2):208-15.

7. Mangiantini F, Lorusso M, Pozzi E, Bronzini F, Brondello C, Salvestrini C, Lionetti P. Efficacy of meloxicam in a patient with juvenile polyposis syndrome. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2009 May;48(5):636-8.

8. Amadi B, Fagbemi AO, Kelly P, Mwiya M, torrente F, Salvestrini C, Day R, Golden MH, Eklund EA, Freeze HH, Murch SH. Reduced production of sulphated glycosaminoglycans occurs in Zambian children with kwashiorkor but not marasmus. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 Feb;89(2):592-600.

9. Salvestrini C, McGrath JA, Ozoemena L, Husain K, Buhamrah E, Sabery N, Leichtner A, Rufo PA, Perez-Atayde A, Orteu CH, Torrente F, Heuschkel RB, Thomson MA, Murch SH. Desquamative enteropathy and pyloric atresia without skin disease caused by a novel intracellular beta4 integrin mutation. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2008 Nov;47(5):585-91.

10. Heuschkel R, Salvestrini C, Beattie M, Hildebrand H, Walters T, Griffiths A Guidelines for the management of growth failure in childhood Inflammatory Bowel Disease. 17. Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2008, Feb 11.

11. Bode L, Salvestrini C, Park PW, Li JP, Murch S, Freeze H Syndecan-1 and heparan sulphate are essential in maintaining murine and human intestinal epithelial barrier function. J Clin Invest. 2008 Jan 2;118(1):229-238

12. Cook L, Al H, Bates AW, Brennan M, Salvestrini C, Malik M, Torrente F, Ogunbiyi O, Lewis A, & Heuschkel RB Limited ileo-caecal resection for localised Crohn’s disease in childhood: Clinical outcome and predictors of further surgery Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis. 2007 vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 82-86.