Inside Pediatrics Winter 2021

W elcome back to Inside delivered a copy to your mailbox. And what a year it’s been. The COVID-19 pandemic challenged healthcare workers across the world, but the mission at Children’s of Alabama never wavered — to provide the finest pediatric health services to all children in an environment that fosters excellence in research and medical education. After 13 years of service, Mike Warren retired as our CEO and president in June 2021. His leadership positioned Children’s as a comprehensive pediatric medical facility, making tremendous progress in fulfilling our mission to the children and families of Alabama. I am honored to continue that work now. In this issue of Inside Pediatrics, we explore some of the programs that bring our hospital’s mission to life: providing one class of excellent patient care through innovative and proven clinical care, education and research. Pediatrics magazine. It’s been more than a year since we last

Earlier this year, our Pediatric and Infant Center for Acute Nephrology became one of the first pediatric hospitals in the country to begin using the newest generation of the PRISMAX dialysis system. Our Cleft and Craniofacial Center continues to be one of the busiest in the country and just one of a few that offers a new type of endoscopic surgery for craniosynostosis in infants that eliminates the need for post-operative helmet therapy. In July 2021, physicians in our Division of Pediatric Cardiology were the first in the Southeast to use a new transcatheter valve device to repair the heart of a 16-year-old girl. With this new device, the surgery was much less invasive than open heart surgery, and she was back home the following day. Researchers from our Institute for Cancer Outcomes and Survivorship have developed the COG KidsCare app for patient families, putting information about their child’s cancer journey right at their fingertips. And as adolescents

with chronic health conditions prepare to transition from pediatrics to adult health care, a team from the Staging

Transition for Every Patient (STEP) Program can help them do just that. Our work of caring for ill and injured children continues here at Children’s. Time-tested techniques combined with state-of-the-art technology means delivering the best possible treatment options for our patients, getting them back to their important work of being children.

On the Cover: In July 2021, a patient at Children’s of Alabama became the first pediatric patient in the Southeast to receive the Harmony Transcatheter Pulmonary Valve. The procedure was much less invasive

than open-heart surgery, and the patient returned home the following day. “This valve has the potential to be a groundbreaking change in the care of children and young adults who need pulmonary valve replacement after tetralogy operation,” said interventional cardiologist William McMahon, M.D. Read more beginning on page 10.

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