Advancing Pediatric Care, Research and Training

or the past 14 years, the Foundation has raised funds to ensure that Lucile Packard Children's Hospital and the child health programs at Stanford University School of Medicine are able to provide the finest, family-centered care to children and expectant mothers; train the next generation of pediatric and obstetric medical leaders; and conduct research into treatments and cures for diseases of childhood and pregnancy.

Continued growth in community support has helped transform Packard Children's into one of the nation's top children's hospitals, and has sustained its commitment to care for any child in the community, regardless of their financial means. Due to that success, the Hospital now is operating well beyond its intended capacity, and has planned a major expansion. The Foundation launched its Breaking New Ground Campaign to help fund this expansion, and to support education, training, and research at the School of Medicine. In 2010, the Foundation reached $400 million toward its campaign goal of $500 million.

Also in 2010, the Development staff placed new emphasis on corporate partnerships, community events, and online fundraising—successfully engaging new donors in wider geographic regions, including the South Bay and northern Peninsula.

Overall in 2010, donations for the Hospital and School totaled $48 million, thanks to the generosity of 8,804 individuals, foundations, and corporations.

Among the Packard Hospital and School of Medicine highlights for the year:

• U.S. News & World Report has once again ranked Packard Children's among the nation's best pediatric medical centers. The 2010 "America's Best Children’s Hospitals" issue placed three of the Hospital's specialties in the nation's Top Ten, including heart and heart surgery (#5), kidney disorders (#5), and neonatology (#6). These honors made Packard Children's the only Bay Area children's hospital with programs in the Top Ten.

• In April, Packard opened the new Center for Comprehensive Fetal Health & Maternal and Family Care, designed to provide coordinated treatment for mothers and infants with challenging diagnoses. Families expecting a child with complicated medical issues benefit enormously from the Center's collaborative subspecialty care and pioneering research.
• In an extraordinary event, the lives of three young Packard patients were saved by a single organ donor. Highly coordinated teamwork involving dozens of physicians, nurses, and Hospital staff resulted in separate pediatric kidney, heart, and liver transplants—carried out all on the same day. The three organ recipients are now thriving, thanks to Packard's nationally recognized leadership in transplant surgery and care, and of course, to the donor who made it possible.

• Nurses from the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, arrived at Packard Children's last summer to kick off a joint quality improvement project. The ongoing alliance fosters the professional development of critical care nurses at both hospitals, and develops strategies to improve clinical practices and patient care.

• In a case believed to be a U.S. first, Packard's imaging team, led by Radiologist-in-Chief Richard Barth, MD, used prenatal MRI to detect a case of congenital chloride diarrhea (CCD). This frequently misdiagnosed genetic disease is extremely rare, with fewer than 250 total cases reported worldwide, but it can cause serious metabolic problems and severe dehydration in newborns. Thanks to a course of treatment that began at birth, the young patient with CCD is now thriving. Her case is one of only four known instances of CCD diagnosis ever made via prenatal MRI.

• Researchers at Packard Children's were awarded a $12.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to design a pediatric weight-control program that could be used across the country. Under the direction of Thomas Robinson, MD, MPH, the Irving Schulman, MD, Professor in Child Health, Packard's Center for Healthy Weight boasts an impressive track record: more than 80 percent of participants succeed in reducing their weight during an intensive, six-month program. The NIH grant will enable Packard's model to benefit more overweight children nationwide.
• Members of the Stanford Autism Center at Packard Children's Hospital, participating in an international consortium of researchers, announced the discovery of specific genes that give rise to autism. They believe this new information about the biological underpinnings of the complex disorder may lead to novel treatments and therapies.

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