March 17, 2015

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Texas Children’s Child Life Department hosted its annual “Teddy Bear Clinic” March 3 on The Auxiliary Bridge. Patients and families received a free stuffed animal to use as their patient while visiting various stations for check-ups, X-rays and other exams, with the goal of learning more about hospital procedures.

Texas Children’s Child Life department provides developmental, educational and therapeutic interventions for children undergoing medical treatment. Child Life services help children effectively manage stress, which reduces the need for sedatives and pain medications and helps children heal faster with less long-term psychological effects.

With more than 40 child life professionals, Texas Children’s has one of the largest Child Life departments in the country. Child life specialists are professionals who have studied normal child development and the reactions of children to health care settings. The Child Life department has activity coordinators who maintain hospital playrooms, provide bedside play opportunities and facilitate special events to help normalize the environment and promote developmentally appropriate play in all areas of the hospital. In addition, the Child Life department has a very active library for children and families where there are many programs provided from the community. There also is a partnership with HISD to provide educational opportunities for those patients that have long hospitalizations.

Photo Gallery of Event

March 10, 2015

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Bench and Bedside is a digest of the previous month’s stories about the clinical and academic activities of our physicians and scientists. We welcome your submissions and feedback.

Top news story

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Hope, faith and expertise: Surgical team leads historical Mata conjoined twins surgery

Knatalye Hope and Adeline Faith Mata, conjoined twin girls born at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women in April 2014, underwent a successful separation surgery on February 17 at Texas Children’s Hospital. Led by surgeon Dr. Darrell Cass, a team of more than 26 clinicians worked together for more than a day to separate the girls who shared a chest wall, lungs, pericardial sac, diaphragm, liver, intestines, colon and pelvis. Watch the video or read the story for a behind-the-scenes look at this monumental undertaking.

February 25

Surgical Seed Grant Award recipients named

Six researchers representing congenital heart surgery, general surgery, ophthalmology and plastic surgery were recently named the recipients of the 2015 Surgical Seed Grant Awards given by the Department of Surgery. This grant program allows surgery researchers to generate the preliminary data necessary for National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant applications and other extramural funding. In total, more than $275,000 in grants will be awarded to the following recipients:

  • Ophthalmologist Dr. Lingun Kong Intravitreal Polymer Nanoparticle Drug Delivery System for Treatment of Retinopathy of Prematurity
  • Congenital Heart Surgeon Dr. Carlos Mery Development of a Novel Open Fetal Cardiac Surgical Intervention for Creation of an Atrial Septal Defect in Patients with Hypoplastic left Heart Syndrome & an Intact or Highly Restrictive Atrial Septum
  • Plastic Surgeon Dr. Edward Buchanan Psychometric Assessment of the Medical Interview in the Pediatric Population
  • Congenital Heart Surgeon Dr. Iki Adachi Pediatric Myocardial Alterations in Response to Ventricular Assist Devices
  • Ophthalmologist Dr. Mohamed Hussein Exploring the Role of the Choroid and the Autonomic Innervation in the Development of Retinopathy of Prematurity
  • Pediatric General Surgeon Dr. Sanjeev Vasudevan A “Pan-Omic” Analysis of Vascular Invasion in Pediatric Solid Tumors

Read more about the Surgical Seed Grant Awards.

February 24

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Luna co-leads GI study to offer hope for son, children with autism spectrum disorders

Have you ever wondered why life leads us down certain career paths? For Dr. Ruth Ann Luna, the answer is obvious – her immense curiosity and passion for research to improve the quality of life for sick children. As director of Medical Metagenomics at Texas Children’s Microbiome Center, Luna focuses much of her research on the link between disturbances in the gut microbiome – bacterial communities in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract – and GI symptoms in children. Read more

February 17

Texas Children’s expands its subspecialty, therapy services to Kingwood

Quality is key, but convenience also plays a big part in the decision-making process when parents are looking for subspecialty and therapy services. That’s why Texas Children’s works to make such services convenient to families throughout the Greater Houston area. The organization’s most recent efforts focus on Kingwood, where Texas Children’s Specialty Care at Kingwood Glen recently, and Texas Children’s Hospital Outpatient Therapy at Kingwood Glen and Texas Children’s Hospital Sports Medicine Therapy at Kingwood Glen opened in October. Read more

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Multidisciplinary care enhances outcomes for women with placenta accreta

Due to our success in treating the most severe cases of morbidly adherent placenta, Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women continues to attract numerous patients from across the country. With the rise of caesarean births in the U.S., this potentially life-threatening condition is becoming more common among pregnant women. Morbidly adherent placenta – known as placenta accreta, increta or percreta, depending on the depth of uterine invasion – occurs when the placenta and its blood vessels grow deeply into the wall of the uterus and is unable to detach after childbirth. “The number of women we care for with morbidly adherent placenta is rapidly escalating as our outcomes continue to attract a growing number of referrals,” said Texas Children’s OB/GYN-in-Chief Dr. Michael Belfort, a world-renowned placenta accreta expert and founder of the Morbidly Adherent Placenta Program at Baylor College of Medicine. Read more

Texas Children’s Pediatrics opens sixth Community Cares practice

In February, Texas Children’s Pediatrics announced Texas Children’s Pediatrics Kingsland as its newest practice. Located at 21715 Kingsland Blvd., Suite 103, in Katy, Texas Children’s Pediatrics Kingsland is among six practices in the Texas Children’s Pediatrics Community Cares Program. The Community Cares Program provides trusted, high-quality pediatric medical services for children who otherwise would seek care from emergency rooms or possibly go without care or treatment due to low family incomes and/or lack of health insurance. Dr. Punita Sunder serves as the primary physician at Texas Children’s Pediatrics Kingsland. Board certified by the American Board of Pediatrics, Sunder received her undergraduate degree from Rice University and earned her medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine. She earned her doctorate in philosophy from The University of Texas Medical Branch and completed her residency at Baylor. Read more

February 10

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3-D Model of Mata twins helps surgeons prepare for girls’ separation

In the months before the separation surgery of conjoined twin girls Knatalye Hope and Adeline Faith Mata, comprehensive, multidisciplinary planning was underway. With help from a Dallas printing company, Chief of Radiology Research and Cardiac Imaging Dr. Rajesh Krishnamurthy built a 3-D model of the twins’ anatomy to help surgeons plan for the girls’ separation. The model was built using a computerized image data set of the twins and a 3-D printer. The detailed model includes a detachable, transparent liver and was especially helpful in the planning of the pelvic portion of the surgery, which presented an interesting and challenging anatomical situation because each girl had her own pelvic organs but each of those organs received blood supply from the other girl. Watch the video or read the story about the 3-D model. Read more

Friends, colleagues attend Singleton tribute ceremony

Family, friends and former colleagues of the late Dr. Edward B. Singleton, Chief Emeritus of the Edward B. Singleton Department of Pediatric Radiology, gathered to celebrate the life of the late physician and relive their favorite memories of the jovial Singleton. Browse the photo gallery to see some of the moments from this tribute ceremony. View the photo gallery.

February 9

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Milewicz named chief surgical officer at Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus

In February, Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus announced Dr. Allen Milewicz as chief surgical officer. In his new role, Milewicz will be responsible for organizing Texas Children’s surgery within the community, focusing on Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus. Additionally, he will be working in conjunction with the entire Texas Children’s Department of Surgery to optimize surgical service for patients, families and referring physicians. “I look forward to expanding surgical services in the community while ensuring that each patient receives the experience, expertise and clinical outcomes for which Texas Children’s is known,” Milewicz said. Read more

February 6

Cutting Edge of Pediatrics conference draws more than 100 participants

The first “Cutting Edge of Pediatrics” conference sponsored by the Department of Surgery was held in January, providing 138 Houston-area pediatricians, family practice physicians and advanced practice providers an opportunity to learn about common pediatric surgical conditions from Texas Children’s surgeons. The surgeons and pediatric providers engaged in lively discussions of the topics, which included anesthesia, ethics, adolescent gynecology, ophthalmology, orthopedics, otolaryngology, pediatric general surgery, plastic surgery and urology. Following a welcome from Surgeon-in-Chief Dr. Charles D. Fraser, Jr., presenters included Dr. Dean Andropoulos, Dr. Jennifer Bercaw-Pratt, Dr. David Coats, Dr. Nicolette Janzen, Dr. Edward Lee, Dr. Mark Mazziotti, Dr. Julina Ongkasuwan, Dr. Scott Rosenfeld and Dr. Veeral Shah. Read more

February 3

Texas Children’s researchers push for universal newborn biliary atresia screening

Texas Children’s pediatric gastroenterologist Dr. Sanjiv Harpavat is working to ensure every newborn is screened for biliary atresia, a rare but deadly liver disease affecting 1 in 10,000 births in the U.S. It’s the number one reason for liver transplants in infants. Biliary atresia occurs when the bile duct connecting the liver to the small intestine is blocked. The buildup of bile in the liver scars the tissue so rapidly that most infants need a liver transplant to survive. “Infants with biliary atresia have more scarring after the first few months of life than a chronic alcoholic’s liver,” said Harpavat. “An important way to improve their outcomes is by detecting and treating the disease early before symptoms appear.” Read more

February 2

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CRC presents research award to Dr. Carla Davis

The Clinical Research Center presented the Clinical Research Award for Fourth Quarter 2014 to Dr. Carla Davis, Pediatrics-Allergy & Immunology, Baylor College of Medicine. The award was established by the Clinical Research Center in collaboration with the Research Resources Office to recognize and honor individual contributions to protecting the best interest of the research subjects and compliance with applicable rules and regulations.

Submissions for Bench and Bedside

Bench and Bedside is produced monthly by Texas Children’s Corporate Communications team to spotlight recent news about Texas Children’s physicians and scientists. The team welcomes submissions related to speaking engagements, staff awards/recognition, research, clinical work and academic activities. Send your questions or submissions to connectnews@texaschildrens.org.

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Ten dedicated physicians recently joined Texas Children’s neurology team, which means more patients will receive enhanced access to care for neurological disorders with significantly reduced wait times.

As one of the largest pediatric neurology services in the nation, more than 30,000 patient visits occur each year in the 13 specialty clinics at Texas Children’s Neuroscience Center. Patients are treated for a number of conditions including epilepsy, cerebral palsy, Rett syndrome and movement disorders.

To ensure the full continuum of neurological care for these patients, Texas Children’s Chief of Neurology Dr. Gary Clark has always made it a priority to encourage and recruit more physicians into the field of neurology.

“As the medical community approaches retirement, we’re facing a local and national shortage of pediatric neurologists to fill this critical gap in patient care,” Clark said. “The average age of a child neurologist is 58.”

Using a portion of the $3.1 million received through a Medicaid waiver program from the state of Texas, Clark recruited 10 new neurologists, bringing the total of pediatric neurologists to 56. While many of the new recruits see patients at the Clinical Care Center on the Main Campus, Dr. Shannon DiCarlo is assigned to the Sugar Land location and Dr. Edward Espinelli sees patients in The Woodlands.

Besides expanding Texas Children’s neurology residency program, the additional state funding will be used to develop new programs for the hospital, including the nerve critical care service and a neonatal neurology service to diagnose and treat neonates with neurologic disease early to improve their long term developmental outcomes. Other priorities include expanding the neonatal follow-up program and developing the neurologic follow-up program.

“We are pleased to have these neurologists join our team so we can continue to better serve our patients and their families across the Greater Houston area,” Clark said.

New Neurologists

31115RohiniCoorg175Dr. Rohini Coorg:
Dr. Rohini Coorg is a neurologist within Texas Children’s Comprehensive Epilepsy Program and specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of children with seizures and epilepsy.
Coorg is board-certified in child neurology, clinical neurophysiology and epilepsy. She has a special clinical interest in genetic epilepsies, including Tuberous Sclerosis Complex, a rare genetic disease that causes children to develop benign tumors in their brain and other vital organs, increasing the risk of developing epilepsy and autism spectrum disorders.
Coorg obtained her undergraduate degree at Washington University in St. Louis and medical degree at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. She completed a child neurology residency at University of California-Irvine and completed two fellowships in clinical neurophysiology and pediatric epilepsy at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
Coorg is an assistant professor of pediatrics and neurology at Baylor College of Medicine. She also is a member of the Child Neurology Society and American Epilepsy Society.

Dr. Gloria Diaz-Medina:
Dr. Gloria Diaz-Medina received her medical degree from the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine and completed her pediatric residency at the University of Puerto Rico Pediatric Hospital. She completed a fellowship in pediatric neurology at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota and a clinical neurophysiology fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine.
Diaz-Medina’s clinical and research interests include epilepsy and general pediatric neurology disorders.
Diaz-Medina is an assistant professor of pediatric neurology at Baylor. She is a member of the American Academy of Neurology, Child Neurology Society, Mayo Clinic Alumni Association and the American Epilepsy Society.

Dr. Shannon DiCarlo:
Dr. Shannon DiCarlo is a neurologist at Texas Children’s Combined Spasticity Management Clinic where she treats children with spasticity (muscle stiffness) associated with central nervous system disorders including cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury and stroke. She also sees patients at Texas Children’s Sugar Land location.
DiCarlo obtained her undergraduate degree in psychology at the University of Texas in Austin and earned her medical degree from the University of Texas Houston Medical School. She completed residency training in pediatrics and child neurology at Baylor College of Medicine.
DiCarlo, an assistant professor of Pediatrics-Neurology at Baylor College of Medicine, is a member of the American Academy of Neurology and Child Neurology Society.

31115Emrick175Dr. Lisa Emrick:
Dr. Lisa Emrick received her medical degree from the University of Vermont College of Medicine. She completed her pediatric residency at Johns Hopkins Children’s Hospital in Baltimore and completed four years of training in neurodevelopmental disabilities (NDD) at Johns Hopkins and Kennedy Krieger Institute. Emrick moved to Houston to complete a two year genetics residency and a one year fellowship awarded by the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation to focus on patients with mitochondrial disorders.
Emrick’s clinic and research interests include optimizing the care of children with neurogenetic disorders with an emphasis on mitochondrial disorders. Emrick collaborates with experts at Texas Children’s Fetal Center providing consults on fetuses with possible central nervous system malformations.
Emrick is a co-investigator on multiple clinical trials involving the management of children with neurogenetic disorders including Angelman syndrome and mitochondrial disorders. She also is a co-investigator for the National Institutes of Health’s Undiagnosed Diseases Network and has published research in multiple peer-reviewed journals.
Emrick is an assistant professor of child neurology at Baylor. She is a member of the American Academy of Neurology, Child Neurology Society, Kennedy Krieger Fellows Association, American Medical College of Genetics and Genomics, American Academy of Pediatrics and the Mitochondrial and Medicine Society.

31115EdwardEspinelli175Dr. Edward Espinelli:
Born and raised in North Houston, Dr. Edward Espinelli provides neurological care to patients at Texas Children’s The Woodlands Campus where he treats a broad range of neurological conditions including headaches, seizures, autism, developmental delay, cerebral palsy, dysautonomia and concussion.
Espinelli obtained his medical degree at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, and while he was there, he completed his residency in pediatrics and a fellowship in pediatric neurology.
Espineli is board certified in Neurology with special qualifications in child neurology. His philosophy of care centers on caring for his patients as if they were his own family.
Espinelli is an assistant professor in the department of Neurology and Developmental Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine. He is a member of the Child Neurology Society, American Academy of Neurology, Texas Neurological Society, Texas Medical Association and the Harris County Medical Society.

Dr. Simon Kayyal:
Dr. Simon Kayyal, an assistant professor of pediatrics and neurology at Baylor College of Medicine, recently joined Texas Children’s neurology team where he will co-lead the development of a neonatal neurology service.
Kayyal received his medical degree from the University of Texas Medical School at Houston before completing his residency in pediatrics and child neurology at UT Southwestern Children’s Hospital of Dallas.
During his postdoctoral training, Kayyal observed many children and adolescent patients with irreversible brain injuries, which immediately sparked his interest in neonatal neurology. His philosophy of care centers on diagnosing neurologic conditions as early as possible when the brain is still developing to improve long-term outcomes. Kayyal is collaborating with neonatologists to develop Texas Children’s Neuro-NICU program and establish a protocol to determine where newborns will follow-up once they have been discharged from the Neuro-NICU.
In addition to this new role, Kayyal lectures medical students rotating through the neurology clerkship to help them prepare for the neurology shelf exams. He also provides specialized lectures to residents and fellows to prep them for the board exams and get better acquainted with the hospital and outpatient settings.

Dr. Meena Murti:
Dr. Meena Murti is a neurologist at Texas Children’s Sleep Center and Laboratory where she treats children with sleep disorders including hypersomnia, sleep apnea, insomnia, circadian rhythm disorders and restless leg syndrome.
Murti obtained her undergraduate degree in biochemistry and policy studies from Rice University and her medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine. She completed her pediatrics residency at Baylor and completed a fellowship in sleep medicine at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Murti is board certified in pediatrics and sleep medicine, and is a clinical assistant professor of sleep medicine at Baylor. She is also a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Dr. Anuranjita Nayak:
Dr. Anuranjita Nayak received her medical degree from V.S.S. Medical College in Odisha, India. She completed her pediatric residency in Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, New Jersey and completed her child neurology residency at Saint Louis University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO. She also obtained a fellowship in clinical neurophysiology from the University of Florida in Gainesville.
Nayak’s clinical and research interests include epilepsy, epilepsy surgery, neurocutaneous syndromes and pediatric strokes.
Nayak is an assistant professor of neurology and neurodevelopmental disabilities at Baylor College of Medicine. She is a member of the American Academy of Neurology, American Academy of Pediatrics and American Epilepsy Society.

Dr. Mered Parnes:
Dr. Mered Parnes is an attending neurologist at Texas Children’s Pediatric Movement Disorders Clinic where he treats patients with impairments of body movement and control.
Parnes earned his medical degree at Drexel University College of Medicine (formerly Medical College of Pennsylvania-Hahnemann School of Medicine) in Philadelphia. He completed his general pediatric residency at SUNY Downstate Hospital in Brooklyn before moving to Houston where he entered the Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Residency Program. Parnes became drawn to the field of movement disorders, and was invited to enter the Baylor Movement Disroders Fellowship Training Program. He is currently completing his fellowship while seeing patients in the Pediatric Movement Disorders Clinic.
Parnes is board certified in neurology with a special qualification in child neurology. His clinical and research interests include pediatric movement disorders such as Tourette syndrome and neurodevelopmental disabilities.
Parnes sits on the Tourette Syndrome Association of Texas Medical Advisory Board, and is a member of the American Academy of Neurology, the Child Neurology Society and the Movement Disorder Society.

Dr. Monika Ummat:
Dr. Monika Ummat is assistant professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and serves as faculty in the Neurophysiology Department and Epilepsy Monitoring Unit at Texas Children’s.
She specializes in treating children with seizures, epilepsy and other neurological disorders.
Ummat obtained her medical degree from Bharati Vidyapeeth Medical College in Pune, India. She completed residencies in pediatrics and child neurology at Baylor before completing a child neurophysiology fellowship at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina.
Ummat is a member of American Academy of Neurology, Child Neurology Society, American Epilepsy Society and Clinical Neurophysiology Society.

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The Department of Surgery’s Physician Assistant Fellowship Program recently graduated its inaugural class of four fellows and welcomed its second class of six fellows in what the Association of Postgraduate Physician Assistant Programs has called an “innovative fellowship program.”

The only program of its kind in the United States for pediatric surgical services, the fellowship is a 12-month didactic and clinical program designed to extensively train physician assistants in all areas of pediatric surgery. After completing nine rotations in various surgical areas and one month in research, the fellows select two electives for which they want to receive additional training.

The inaugural class of four physician assistants – Lesley Davies, Jackie Guarino, Caitlin Justus, and Cassie Mueller – accepted positions at Texas Children’s Hospital. Davies is with Plastic Surgery and Guarino is with Urology. Mueller works in Trauma and Justus works with the surgical hospitalists at West Campus.

The Department of Surgery received 55 applications for the 2015 term, with 27 of those from outside Texas. Six fellows were chosen. They and their home states are: Chelsea Hartwig (Illinois), Brittney Knudson (Montana), Sara Mullinax (Georgia), Thian Nguyen (Texas), Abby Young (South Carolina) and Kelly Wiseman (Ohio).

“The Department of Surgery at Texas Children’s Hospital has taken a leadership role nationally in physician assistant fellowships, and we have received inquiries from other hospitals that want to establish programs and model their programs after ours,” said Dr. Larry Hollier, chief of Plastic Surgery and medical director of the Physician Assistant Fellowship Program.

Additional leaders of the fellowship program are: Ryan Krasnosky, director of the program; Kristen Daniels, academic director; and Jordan McAndrews, fellowship coordinator.

Applications for the 2016 fellowship program are now open. Candidates can apply online at Texas Children’s Hospital’s employment page.

To hear from members of the first Physician Assistant Fellowship Program class, read the following Texas Children’s blog posts:

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By Dr. Steven Abrams

I arrived at Texas Children’s Hospital from Ohio as a newly minted fellow in neonatology in the summer of 1985. At the time, Texas Children’s was one building, now called “Abercrombie,” and was a seven story hospital with a 24-bed Level 3 neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and another 50 or so Level 2 NICU beds in three separate nurseries. I began research on bone health in infants at the Children’s Nutrition Research Center (CNRC), then housed on a few floors of what is called the Medical Towers building on Fannin Street.

I stayed at Texas Children’s and Baylor College of Medicine for nearly 30 years, except for a brief sojourn in the Washington, D.C. area in the late 1980s for research training at the National Institutes of Health. I returned to Texas Children’s and Baylor as a faculty member in 1991.

Now, it is time to embark on a new and exciting opportunity. Next month, I will be the Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin. This is a new medical school and a new Department of Pediatrics with its primary pediatric teaching hospital being Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas. Both challenges and opportunities abound, and I am grateful for them and for the opportunity to continue to serve the children of Texas in this unique way.

Leaving after three decades is not easy and I wanted to say goodbye with this blog post. I leave Houston with many fond memories of my experiences at Texas Children’s and the incredible importance of Texas Children’s to the city of Houston.

I met my late wife Judy in Houston at Congregation Emanu El where she served as a junior assistant Rabbi. We shared more than two-and-a-half decades together being part of the Houston community, and ultimately I said goodbye to her here. She always told me and our three children to do what we are supposed to do with our lives, and that the pathway would be clear forward. She and I were very proud of being part of Texas Children’s and having our children expertly cared for here.

The most remarkable part of being a faculty member at Texas Children’s is seeing what we can do for children by relying upon the strengths of the people who work here. I was recruited to Texas Children’s by the incredible Dr. Arnold J. Rudolph. Dr. Rudolph was a legendary leader of our field for many years. He taught us to always focus on doing what we knew was the right thing, which was not necessarily the easiest thing, for our young patients, every time, every day. He focused on families and the dynamics of an infant within a family. He never stopped teaching even into his last years of life. His teaching showed us what pediatrics education was about and he made it clear that education should go along with patient care and research as our passions as pediatricians.

Through most of my time here, our department chair was Dr. Ralph Feigin. We all have Dr. Feigin stories, but here is my personal favorite. After the tsunami hit Sri Lanka in late 2004, I wanted to lead a team of neonatologists and staff members (nurses, respiratory therapists and others) to go there and help them rebuild their NICUs. I had identified medical and research connections in Sri Lanka who were anxious for us to make such a trip. I emailed Dr. Feigin with my plan to lead a 10 person team from Texas Children’s to Sri Lanka. I emailed him at 6:30 a.m. At 6:45 in the morning, he called me at home to tell me it was a great idea and by 11 a.m., he met with the Texas Children’s Hospital Board of Directors and the money was approved. So much for months of haggling! We went to Sri Lanka and hopefully accomplished something in that difficult setting. Dr. Feigin’s approach was to quickly and decisively take action on behalf of children everyone and he taught by example every day.

Other memorable moments include waking up one Sunday in 1998 to be told to head in on-call to Texas Children’s for the delivery of octuplets. That was quite a delivery and experience taking care of them! Also, I am proud to watch the incredible work Texas Children’s has done internationally in many settings and the Texas Children’s unending support for the rights of children throughout the world, especially those in Africa and Latin America. I hope that my advocacy for new forms of therapy for children with liver disease, for good nutrition for children, and for health care for newborns throughout the world can be a legacy I’ve provided to the Texas Children’s community that will continue forward.

I want to express my tremendous appreciation to our department chair, Dr. Mark W. Kline, and many others at Texas Children’s and Baylor including Dr. Dennis Bier and Dr. Steven Welty, my section heads at the CNRC and Neonatology, respectively, for their support over the years and their assistance in helping me make a smooth transition to Dell Medical School.

I also want to express my appreciation to the Baylor and Texas Children’s public relations departments for their assistance in teaching me how to do a better job of advocating for children in the media and with the public. These are skills I will need in my new position.

In the end, I am saddened to leave the friend I call Texas Children’s behind, but happy to be able to transmit the skills and values I have learned here over the last 30 years to help develop an outstanding new Department of Pediatrics.

Don’t be strangers if you come to Austin! I hear they have decent barbecue there.

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Texas Children’s Hospital is proud to announce Fundacíon Carlos Slim of Mexico as the recipient of the 2015 International Recognition Award at the 25th Texas Children’s Hospital International Colloquium. The Latin American foundation is being recognized for work in global health.

The Texas Children’s Hospital International Colloquium, now in its 25th year, is a convening body for stakeholders in global health and believed to be the longest-standing international educational forum of any freestanding pediatric hospital in the United States.

“Since 1990, Texas Children’s has honored the highest echelon of leaders in pediatrics, maternal and community health,” said Michael T. Walsh, Jr., Director of Texas Children’s Global Health Initiative. “The award recognizes transformational contributions to patient care, education, research and outreach with a notable focus on addressing the needs of underserved populations. This year, the International Colloquium Curriculum Committee proudly selected Fundacíon Carlos Slim, the first institution to receive this honor.”

The close alignment of the Fundación Carlos Slim mission to that of Texas Children’s establishes an ideal platform for the sharing of new ideas, expertise, and solutions targeting transformational improvements in maternal and child health in the Americas and beyond.

“Fundación Carlos Slim is honored to receive this recognition from Texas Children’s Hospital,” said Dr. Roberto Tapia-Conyer, Chief Executive Officer of Fundacíon Carlos Slim. “Our foundation shares a common vision with Texas Children’s for alleviation of poverty and health disparity through a sound focus on the right solutions.”

With an extensive philanthropic profile, Fundación Carlos Slim is considered to be the most significant philanthropic entity in Latin America and among the top five globally. The Fundación Carlos Slim and its high impact, social programs, focused on the most vulnerable populations, has directly benefited more than 29.7 million persons and provided access to high quality medical care, equipment and technology, fostering preventative health care, promoting professional development and training and encouraging research and solutions addressing the most significant health problems facing underserved populations in Mexico and Central America.

The 2015 Texas Children’s Hospital’s International Colloquium is taking place March 9-11, 2015 at the BioScience Research Collaborative.

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Texas Children’s Hospital announced on February 26 a recognition of Chevron Corporation’s long-term support of the hospital’s global health programs with the dedication of “The Chevron Bridge,” the walkway linking the Abercrombie Building and the Feigin Center.

Since 2011, Chevron has invested more than $16 million in Texas Children’s Hospital programs in Africa and Latin America. That funding includes the corporation’s most recent announcement of $5 million to support the Angola Sickle Cell Initiative over the next five years.

“We value the opportunity to support remarkable doctors who provide critical day- to-day pediatric and maternal health care while training in-country care givers to help build a legacy of greater health expertise,” said Ali Moshiri, president of Chevron Africa and Latin America Exploration and Production Company.

Chevron, Texas Children’s Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine and the Angolan Ministry of Health partnered four years ago to establish the Angola Sickle Cell Initiative, the first program of its kind in the country. Angola has one of the world’s highest rates of the genetic blood disease. More than 10,000 babies are born with sickle cell each year.

To watch a video about the Angola Sickle Cell Initiative click here.

“For these babies, Chevron’s support is the difference between life and death,” said Dr. Mark W. Kline, physician-in-chief at Texas Children’s Hospital and founder of the Baylor College of Medicine International Pediatric AIDS Initiative at Texas Children’s Hospital. “Without the sickle cell program, they would have been sick at an early age and very likely would have died before reaching age of five.”

The program, led by Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Centers, tests newborn babies, provides treatment, patient and family consultation, and helps train Angolan health care professionals. Through the program more than 96,000 babies have been tested for sickle cell, and the program has trained more than 500 Angolan nurses, lab technicians and social workers.

The company’s funding also has helped expand Texas Children’s Global Health Corps, which recruits and trains American-trained pediatricians and family doctors for long-term assignments in Africa in pursuit of a two-part mission: 1. expanding access to lifesaving care and treatment for some of the world’s poorest and least fortunate children, and 2. training local health professionals to build capacity for pediatric health care that currently does not exist.

Chevron’s contributions helped support the Global Health Corps assignments in Liberia and new programs are being evaluated for Morocco and Argentina.

In 2014, Chevron, Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine also partnered to create a health program in a remote region of Colombia. The program called SAIL focuses on caring for children under age five and expectant mothers with the goal of reversing the high child and maternal morbidity and mortality rate. Chevron’s funding supports doctors who treat families in the Wayúu indigenous community of the Riohacha and Manaure Municipality in La Guajira state where hospitals and clinics are difficult to reach and food security is an issue.

“We are grateful for Chevron’s continued support, which has helped enormously in our programs to fight devastating diseases and improve child and maternal health care,” said Kline. “The relationship has evolved and I imagine it will evolve further. What is exciting to me is that our partnership represents several different projects on two continents serving thousands of children and families in need. I look forward to where we will be working together next.”