In the Fall 2013 issue of Children’s Doctor, we announced the Buerger family had donated $50 million to the under-construction ambulatory care center, which will be named the Buerger Center for Advanced Pediatric Care. Here are some interesting facts about this unique and revolutionary building.

  • The structural portion has been completed and consists of 15,294 tons of steel.
  • There will be 700,000 square feet of space.
  • The center will have underground parking for 1,500 vehicles.
  • It will take 1.7 million man-hours to build the center.
  • It includes a 14,000-square-foot rooftop garden.
  • The center’s opening is planned for 2015.

The biennial Carousel Ball was held at the Please Touch Museum in Fairmont Park in October, and all proceeds were contributed to the Buerger Center. There are many opportunities to make donations to the center by sponsoring the roof garden or by supplying a brick inscribed with your name. Visit www. chopbuildinghope.org to see more and learn how to support the construction.

This new ambulatory center will complement the extensive CHOP Care Network. Here are some more interesting facts:

  • Outside of the Main Hospital, which has 527 licensed inpatient beds, there are 52 satellite sites. Included are specialty care centers in Atlantic County, Voorhees (2), and Princeton, New Jersey; and Abington, Bucks County, Chadds Ford, Exton, King of Prussia, and Springfield, Pennsylvania.
  • More than 1.19 million outpatient visits took place in the CHOP Care Network last year.

Congratulations to Alexander Fiks, assistant professor of Pediatrics and a primary care physician at CHOP, who was appointed associate director of the American Academy of Pediatrics Pediatric Research in Office Settings (PROS) Network. And best wishes to Mike Apkon, our chief medical officer, who has resigned his position at CHOP to become CEO of The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

If you have information about yourself or other CHOP alumni, contact Barrie Nussbaum at nussbaumb@email.chop.edu. You can find more information about fellow alumni on our alumni website at www.chopalumni.org.

Awards, Honors

  • Phyllis A. Dennery, MD, FAAP, chief of the Division of Neonatology, was elected to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in October, one of 70 new members recognized for their major contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences, healthcare and public health. Dennery holds the Werner and Gertrude Henle Endowed Chair in Pediatrics, and is a professor of Pediatrics in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also president of the International Pediatric Research Foundation.
  • Co-director of PolicyLab, David Rubin, MD, MSCE, has been appointed by President Obama to a government commission tasked with working to end child abuse and neglect-related deaths. Rubin is one of 12 experts and the only healthcare provider to be named to the Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities.
  • Jack Rychik, MD, FACC, director of CHOP’s Fetal Heart Program, was selected as the recipient of the 2013 Children’s Heart Foundation-Pennsylvania Chapter’s Smart Heart Award. The award honors someone with an innovative approach to helping children with cardiac issues. Rychik started the Fetal Heart Program more than 10 years ago and created the Single Ventricle Monitoring Clinic, part of the Fontan Rehabilitation, Wellness, Activity and Resilience Development (FORWARD) Program, the first of its kind in the world.
  • Susan Levy, MD, MPH, co-founder of CHOP’s Regional Autism Center and medical director of the Center for Autism Research at Children’s Hospital, was named one of Main Line Today’s “21 Power Women” in its September issue. To read the article and learn more about Levy’s contributions to the field of autism treatment, go to www.bit.ly/levyML2.

Contributed by: Patrick S. Pasquariello, MD