June 21, 2016

3416ChristianSchaaf175Dr. Christian Schaaf, an assistant professor of Human and Molecular Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine and investigator at the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s, recently received the Baylor College of Medicine Rising Star Clinician Award.

This annual award recognizes outstanding up and coming clinicians for their exemplary contributions to clinical excellence and expertise, consistent high level of patient care, commendable leadership skills and continuous exemplary service to the Baylor community.

Schaaf’s contributions have not gone unnoticed by his Texas Children’s and Baylor colleagues. “Besides Schaaf being an internationally recognized researcher and educator,” Dr. Robert Voigt says “his constant above and beyond dedication to his clinical work makes him a superstar.”

“In addition to expertise across all competencies of clinical care, Dr. Schaaf’s dedication to and advocacy for children with neurodevelopmental disabilities and their families, both within and outside the clinic, is unrivaled,” said Voigt, head of the Section of Developmental Pediatrics and director of the Autism Center and Meyer Center for Developmental Pediatrics at Texas Children’s.

As a Texas Children’s medical geneticist and NRI researcher, Schaaf devotes much of his time to solving complex genetic medical mysteries to help families obtain a diagnosis for their children’s previously unknown neurological conditions. Schaaf has made groundbreaking contributions in advancing the understanding of the genetic basis of autism spectrum disorder and the discovery of several genes for neurodevelopmental disorders and rare genetic syndromes. Two of these rare syndromes now bear his name: Bosch-Boonstra-Schaaf Optic Atrophy syndrome and Schaaf-Yang syndrome.

“It is impossible to fully convey how thankful we are for Dr. Schaaf,” said Amy Bell, whose child is a patient of Dr. Schaaf’s. “He is a true godsend to our family. His authentic, genuine care on such a human level is, without a doubt, the standard of excellence in medicine.”

In addition to receiving Baylor’s Rising Star Clinician Award, Schaaf has been the recipient of other prestigious awards including the Seldin-Smith Award for Pioneering Research and the Bowes Award in Medical Genetics for demonstrating a proven record of academic accomplishments, exemplary research and clinical excellence early in his career.

“I am humbled to receive the Rising Star Clinician Award,” Schaaf said. “Receiving this recognition is a tremendous honor, and I really owe it to the outstanding clinical and research environment and my instrumental mentors here at Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine.”

62216urgentcare640Texas Children’s Hospital is proud to announce the opening of its sixth Texas Children’s Urgent Care clinic. Located at 10420 Louetta Road, Suite 104, Texas Children’s Urgent Care The Vintage offers high-quality, efficient and affordable pediatric care at a convenient northwest Houston location.

“We are very excited to open our sixth location. This allows us to expand the care that has been provided after hours at the FM 1960 Cypresswood location to the entire northwest Houston community,” said Kay Tittle, president of Texas Children’s Pediatrics. “Our Urgent Care sites provide an immense resource for the communities we serve and I am looking forward to seeing the impact this location will have on the children and families of northwest Houston.”

Texas Children’s Urgent Care The Vintage is open Monday through Friday, 4:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday, noon to 8 p.m. The clinic is staffed by board certified pediatricians who have privileges at Texas Children’s Hospital. Pediatricians diagnose and treat a wide variety of ailments, illnesses and conditions, including: asthma, strep throat, fever, minor burns, influenza, ear infections, allergic reactions and more. Procedures provided include: antibiotic injections, breathing treatments, fracture care and splinting, IV (intravenous) fluids, lab services, laceration repair and X-rays onsite.

Oftentimes, families turn to an emergency center after hours, on weekends or perhaps even during the day, when a significant event occurs with their child. Though the emergency center is the right place for some incidents or ailments, the majority of the time minor illnesses can and should be treated at a pediatric urgent care facility.

Texas Children’s Urgent Care accepts major insurance plans and has self-pay rates, which are less than emergency center charges, and there are no hospital fees. A complete list of insurance plans is available on the website. Texas Children’s Urgent Care specializes in after-hours care, but does not replace the need for children to have a general pediatrician. Routine physical exams and vaccinations are services that should be obtained from a general pediatrician, and these services are not available at Texas Children’s Urgent Care.

Texas Children’s Urgent Care has five additional convenient locations:

  • Cinco Ranch located at 9727 Spring Green Blvd., Suite 900 Katy, TX 77494
  • Memorial located at 12850 Memorial Drive, Suite 210 Houston, TX 77024
  • The Woodlands located at 4775 W. Panther Creek Drive, Suite C300 The Woodlands, TX 77381
  • Main Campus located at 6621 Fannin, Suite 2240 Houston, TX 77030
  • Pearland located at 2701 Pearland Parkway, Suite 190, Pearland, TX 77581

62116USNEWS640The 2016-17 edition of Best Children’s Hospitals by U.S. News & World Report ranked Texas Children’s Hospital fourth in the country out of nearly 200 pediatric institutions. For the eighth straight year, Texas Children’s Hospital was placed on the Best Children’s Hospital Honor Roll, and for the first time Texas Children’s has a no. 1 ranked service – Pulmonology.

Texas Children’s national rankings for each subspecialty area are:

#1     Pulmonology
​#2     Cancer
#2     Cardiology and Heart Surgery
#2     Neurology and Neurosurgery
#3     Nephrology (kidney disorders)
​#5     Urology
#6     Gastroenterology & GI Surgery
#11   Diabetes and Endocrinology
#14   Neonatology
#21   Orthopedics

Five services are ranked in the top 5 percent, and two services are in the top 10 percent. Also, based on last year’s rankings, eight services made gains or maintained their current top rankings.

“These rankings continue to reflect the steadfast commitment Texas Children’s has to providing the highest-quality patient care and outcomes possible for the families we serve,” said President and CEO Mark A. Wallace. “The diligent efforts and enthusiasm our staff and employees display every day for Texas Children’s mission, along with our outstanding results in this survey, proves we are unquestionably the best in Texas.”

To be considered for the honor roll distinction, a hospital must have high rankings in at least three specialties. Texas Children’s Hospital is 1 of only 11 hospitals on the Honor Roll this year. We are also the only pediatric hospital in Texas – and the Southwest region – to make the Honor Roll all eight times since the specialty-specific rankings began in the 2009 – 2010 survey year.

In addition to ranking children’s hospitals overall, U.S. News & World Report also ranks the top 50 pediatric hospitals in 10 major subspecialty areas.

“From a measurement perspective, our survey results demonstrate how hard we’re working as an organization to deliver high quality care to our patients,” Wallace said. “The more consistently we deliver high quality care and the safer we deliver that care to our patients, the better their outcomes are, and the better our overall numbers are.”

The results also reflect the diligent efforts of a solid structure focused on the U.S. News survey. The process of compiling and refining our data is an ongoing challenge, which will continue to improve under the leadership of Texas Children’s USNWR Operations team, including Dr. Angelo Giardino, Trudy Leidich, Paola Alvarez-Malo, Elizabeth Pham, Roula Smith.

“These rankings continue to reflect what we all already know, that the trajectory of Texas Children’s is absolutely incredible,” Wallace said.

For more information about the U.S. News rankings, visit:

U.S. News & World Report Best Children’s Hospitals Honor Roll 2016-2017
Rank Hospital
1 Boston Children’s Hospital
2 Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
3 Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
4 Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston
5 Seattle Children’s Hospital
6 Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
7** Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
7** Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC
9 Children’s Hospital Colorado, Aurora
10** Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford, Palo Alto, Calif.
10** Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, Ohio

*2 points per specialty for ranking in highest 5 percent of hospitals; 1 point if in next 5 percent.

**Tie.

June 14, 2016

61516RadioLollipop640Radio Lollipop is searching for volunteers who can bring energizing music to patient rooms through the volunteer-run radio station at Texas Children’s Hospital Main Campus.

Radio Lollipop broadcasts to all patient rooms from the Kids’ Own Studio located on the 16th floor of West Tower. Children can phone in song requests, sing along to the songs on the radio, tell jokes and serve as a guest DJ every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

For children who are not able to make it to the studio, volunteers visit them in their rooms where they do crafts, play games and participate in call-in contests to win prizes. Volunteers deliver prizes to the winning patients on their floors as well as patients who need an extra pick me up to brighten their evening.

“We depend entirely on our volunteers to keep our radio station up and running,” said Texas Children’s Child Life Activity Coordinator Leslie White. “In the past month, we had to cancel our Radio Lollipop services three times due to not having enough volunteers which means we missed out on visiting more than 500 patients. We hope to get an adequate amount of volunteers this year so we can continue providing this amazing program to our patients and families.”

As a completely volunteer-run program, Radio Lollipop is always looking for energetic, committed and dedicated volunteers who want to add fun to the lives of our patients while making their hospital stay more enjoyable and less frightening.

Radio Lollipop volunteers must be 18 years or older (no high school students) and commit to Radio Lollipop for at least six months. Orientation is offered to new volunteers and individuals are welcome to shadow Radio Lollipop volunteers to watch the radio program in action before making a commitment to volunteer.

No radio experience is necessary. If you have what it takes to be one of the few, the proud, the silly, click here to access the online application form. Be sure to indicate that you want to volunteer for Radio Lollipop under the “Please provide any additional information about yourself,” portion of the application form.

For more information about Radio Lollipop including a virtual tour of the studio, click here.

61516Butterflyroom640On May 25, Texas Children’s Newborn Center welcomed more than 120 guests to celebrate and bless its newest room – The Butterfly Room – where neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) families can privately say goodbye to their loved ones.

The Butterfly Room is aptly named to represent the patients’ transition from life to death. The conception of this room began 15 months prior to opening and was spearheaded by  a special NICU nurse, Aimee Renaudin, who wanted peace and private care for the grieving parents of her patients.

“This room was inspired by the families I met in the NICU at Texas Children’s who had lost their babies,” Renaudin said. “Their stories, courage and strength were the motivating factor in creating The Butterfly Room. I am honored to know each one of them and consider it the biggest privilege to have taken care of their precious babies. My prayer is that this room will provide a tranquil home-like atmosphere, away from the busyness of the NICU,  a place of comfort and peace for families to say goodbye.”

The celebration, held at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women, was filled with Renaudin’s friends and family, including her partners in the project, Genie Renaudin (her mother) and Kristen and Adam Wheeless, as well as families who had lost a child at the Newborn Center and saw a need for this type of room.

Thanks to the generous donations from 249 donors, more than $60,000 was raised to support this project and provide comfort for grieving NICU families.

Speakers at the dedication ceremony included Renaudin, Chief of Neonatology Dr. Gotham Suresh, NICU Nursing Director Heather Cherry, NICU Vice President Judy Swanson and Texas Children’s chaplain Kirstin Springmeyer who presided over the blessing of The Butterfly Room.

102317Zoghbi175On May 31, The Shaw Prize Foundation in Hong Kong awarded the 2016 Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine to pioneering neuroscientist Dr. Huda Y. Zoghbi, director of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital, Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, and Ralph D. Feigin Professor at Baylor College of Medicine.

The award was presented jointly to Zoghbi and Dr. Adrian P. Bird, Buchanan professor of Genetics at the University of Edinburgh, for their groundbreaking discovery of the genes and the encoded proteins associated with Rett syndrome.

“I am humbled to be honored by the esteemed Shaw Prize Foundation,” Zoghbi said. “We will use this support to continue the research into how Rett syndrome affects the brain with the hope that our research will impact future treatment options.”

Rett syndrome is the leading cause of intellectual disabilities in girls, affecting one in 10,000, and is particularly devastating as girls affected by the syndrome develop normally for the first few months of life before a catastrophic decline in neurological capabilities.

The Shaw Prize is an international award established in 2002 designed to foster scientific research. Awarded annually, the Prize honors individuals who have achieved significant breakthroughs in academic and scientific research or applications, and whose work has resulted in a positive and profound impact on mankind.

Zoghbi will receive the award, along with Bird, at a ceremony later this year in Hong Kong. The $1.2 million prize will be shared by Bird and Zoghbi.

Zoghbi’s discovery that mutations in the MEPC2 gene cause this devastating neurological disorder paved the way for the development of a diagnostic genetic test for Rett syndrome.

June 7, 2016

6816Catalyst640Every year, this program honors outstanding individuals whose personal leadership and contributions have positively impacted a team, a patient, a family, a process, an outcome or any element of our Texas Children’s mission. Nominations for the 2017 award are being accepted until Thursday, June 30.

Visit the Mark A. Wallace Catalyst Leadership Award website for complete details about the nomination process and this exciting recognition.