The CHOP Care Network is the largest of its kind in the nation. Its staff provides top-notch pediatric care in the tri-state area. From an infant’s first well checkup through young adulthood, these patients receive the latest, most up-to-date and comprehensive care. Our network includes more than 50 locations, from the Richard D. Wood Pediatric Care Center on Main Campus to 27 primary care practices, from Specialty, Urgent Care, and Ambulatory Surgery Care Centers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to partnerships with community hospitals. The latest addition, the Buerger Center for Advanced Pediatric Care, will open in 2015. The network experienced 1.2 million patient visits in fiscal year 2014.

Besides the services provided to families in the Greater Philadelphia region, we have established a large cadre of international clients. In FY14, we cared for 538 international patients. In addition, we hosted 135 international physicians, collaborated with 10 international organizations and cared for more than 500 children in developing countries. A total of 150 CHOP physicians led educational sessions in foreign countries.

Fifty years ago, CHOP launched its Spina Bifida Program, the first in the world. Founder Dr Mary Ames was a pioneer in understanding that a complex condition like spina bifida, with complex medical issues involving multiple body systems, required a multidisciplinary clinic. Other hospitals followed her model. I’m proud of all the program has accomplished in the last half-century and feel lucky to have helped patients with spina bifida over the last 15 years as director. Today, the program sees more than 500 patients and provides coordinated care for the full range of conditions associated with spina bifida.

In September, as part of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, the Today television show featured a short CHOP-produced video featuring several Cancer Center patients. You can see this heartwarming video at: http://tinyurl.com/2014oncvideo.

We are proud to announce that Donald Schwarz, former chief of the Craig-Dalsimer Division of Adolescent Medicine, and more recently, Philadelphia’s Deputy Mayor for Health and Opportunity and Health Commissioner, is now at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, serving as director of its portfolio dedicated to Catalyzing Demand for Healthy Places and Practices.

Congratulations to alumni Danielle Laraque, chief of the Division of General Pediatrics at Mount Sinai Hospital, and Dan Levy, assistant professor of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland, who were elected chairperson of their respective district chapters of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

We mourn the passing of Jack Lamar, a practicing pediatrician in New Jersey, Rowena Spencer, a pioneering pediatric surgeon who trained under C. Everett Koop, and Cam Witzleben, former pathologist-in-chief at CHOP.

We are very interested in any news that you have about yourself and/or fellow alumni. Please contact Molly Force at forcem@email.chop.edu. Find more information about fellow alumni on our alumni website at www.chopalumni.org.

Honors, Awards

Attending surgeon Holly L. Hedrick, MD, well-known for her work within CHOP’s Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment, was named as the inaugural holder of the Louise Schnaufer Endowed Chair in Pediatric Surgery. Schnaufer, MD, who died in 2011, was a pioneering pediatric surgeon internationally known for her contributions to pediatric surgery, specifically for her work separating conjoined twins, expertise in surgically treating biliary atresia, and dedication to surgical education. As a fellow, Hedrick was trained by Schnaufer. Hedrick is the surgical director of the Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Program, co-director of the Neonatal Surgical Team, and director of the Pulmonary Hypoplasia Program.

Katherine High, MD, Division of Hematology, received the 2013 E. Donnall Thomas Lecture and Prize from the American Society of Hematology in recognition of her pioneering research achievements in hematology that represent a paradigm shift in the field.

Lucy B. Rorke-Adams, MD, Clinical Neuropathology, received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Denver meeting of the National Center for Shaken Baby Syndrome in September.

Contributed by: Patrick S. Pasquariello, MD