October 2008

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Connections - our monthly newsletter for community physicians and their practices, provides online tools and news for our partners who provide pediatric care.

We will be sending you information about Children’s Memorial Hospital’s pediatric specialist recruitment, revised outpatient center schedules and more.

For questions or more information, contact Physician Services.  You may also unsubscribe at any time.

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Look who’s new on staff

Rebecca L. Carl, MD, joined the Division of Orthopaedics in September. Dr. Carl is board certified in Sports Medicine. She is the first physician in the nation to complete fellowships in both primary care sports medicine and non-operative pediatric orthopaedics. Dr. Carl will see patients in Lincoln Park, Westchester and Winfield. Dr. Carl has taken care of athletes at the professional, college, high school and grade school levels. She will see sport medicine patients as well children with various musculoskeletal conditions, from adolescents with scoliosis to infants with hip dysplasia. Her special interests include sports injury prevention, knee and shoulder injuries, and congenital clubfoot treatment using the Ponseti method.

Seth J. Corey, MD, joined the Division of Hematology, Oncology and Transplantation in June. Dr. Corey is the Director of Oncology Research and also the co-Director of the Hematology/Oncology fellowship program. He will see patients at Children’s Memorial Hospital. Dr. Corey was most recently Section Chief of Pediatric Leukemia and Lymphoma at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. His special interests include neutropenia, inherited bone marrow failure syndromes, acute myeloid leukemia, juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia, myelodysplastic syndromes, chronic myeloid leukemia, ataxia telangiectasia and related DNA breakage syndromes.

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Look what’s new at Children’s Memorial

New Interim Surgeon-in-Chief Appointed
Effective September 1, 2008, Marleta Reynolds, MD is the interim surgeon-in chief. A Children’s Memorial specialist since 1985, Dr. Reynolds is the division head of Pediatric Surgery, director of the ECMO Program (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation or heart/lung bypass support), and a co-director of the Institute for Fetal Health. She holds the Lydia J. Frederickson Professorship in Pediatric Surgery and is a professor of surgery at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Reynolds is board certified in four specialties, including general surgery, pediatric surgery, cardiothoracic surgery and surgical critical care.

New Division Head of Cardiovascular-Thoracic Surgery
Carl L. Backer, MD, was recently appointed the division head of Cardiovascular-Thoracic Surgery. Dr. Backer received his medical degree from the Mayo Medical School in 1980 and finished residency programs in general surgery and cardiothoracic surgery at Northwestern University Medical School. He completed his fellowship in pediatric cardiovascular-thoracic surgery at Children’s Memorial under the supervision of the late Farouk Idriss, MD. Drs. Backer and Idriss performed the first heart transplant at Children’s Memorial on May 13, 1988. For the past five years, Dr. Backer has served as the hospital’s surgical director of the Heart Transplant Program.

In addition to heart transplantation, his expertise includes neonatal heart surgery, arrhythmia surgery and tracheal surgery. Since 2001, he has been professor of surgery at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and the A.C. Buehler Professor of Surgery.

Child Life Specialists
Child life specialists and creative arts therapists at Children’s Memorial help patients cope with pain and uncomfortable procedures. These trained professionals are available in a variety of departments at the Westchester outpatient center, the Lincoln Park outpatient center, and the main hospital. Child life specialists work collaboratively with the medical care team to help prepare and educate patients and families. They use picture books, medical play and developmentally appropriate language to explain procedures and treatments. With the help of child life specialists, some kids are able to complete MRIs and CTs without sedation! To learn more about how working with a child life specialist can benefit your patients, please visit childrensmemorial.org/parents/childlife.aspx

Ronald McDonald House Moving to Streeterville
A new Ronald McDonald House – the largest in the world – will be built at 211 E. Grand, more than quadrupling the size of its existing facility in Lincoln Park. It will open in 2012 in conjunction with the opening of the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, the state-of-the-art children’s hospital we are building near Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. We also will be working with the Ronald McDonald House to manage nine bedrooms at our new facility for families with the most medically fragile children. Visit our Web site for more information »