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Releases Packard
Children's News
Children's Fund
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Packard Welcomes New
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In January, Hugh O’Brodovich, MD, came on board as the new Adalyn Jay Physician-in-Chief of Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and the Arline and Pete Harman Professor and Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine.
O’Brodovich served most recently as chair of pediatrics at the University of Toronto and pediatrician-in-chief at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children.
''Dr. O’Brodovich is a world leader in pediatrics,'' says Philip Pizzo, MD, dean of Stanford medical school. ''An accomplished investigator, educator, clinician, and scholar, he has all the requisite skills to help move Stanford and Packard to the next level of excellence and beyond.''
Chris Dawes, president and CEO of the Hospital, calls O’Brodovich’s appointment ''an exciting milestone in the history of Packard Children’s.'' Adds Dawes, ''His leadership will ensure that we continue to become an internationally preeminent children’s hospital marked by excellence in clinical care and academics.''
O’Brodovich fills the vacancy left by Cohen, who held the posts from 1993 to 2006. Until January, the roles were capably filled by Kenneth Cox, MD, and Christy Sandborg, MD, who served as interim chair of pediatrics and interim chief of staff, respectively. Both Cox and Sandborg will continue to work with O’Brodovich in leadership capacities at the Hospital and in the Department of Pediatrics.
O’Brodovich, a pediatric pulmonologist, received his training at the University of Manitoba and completed a research fellowship at Columbia University in New York. He began his faculty career at McMaster University in Ontario before moving in 1986 to the University of Toronto. He has served on numerous national and international boards and committees. In addition, he has been elected as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (Canada).
During his tenure in Toronto, O’Brodovich became well known for increasing the number of full-time pediatric faculty members, overseeing a significant expansion in the fellowship and postdoctoral training programs, and establishing a new division of developmental pediatrics. He also established a novel, performance-based career development and compensation program, some of which has been adopted across Canada.
''We are extremely fortunate to have Dr. O’Brodovich as the new chair of pediatrics,'' says Cohen, who has now returned to research, teaching, and caring for children. ''I have known, worked with, and admired him for a long time. He has the scientific, clinical, and personal leadership skills that will help transform the department and Packard Children’s into the best anywhere. I am both personally and professionally delighted, and looking forward to the future development of programs under his vision.''
''I’ve always said that it would be tough to get me to leave Canada,'' says O’Brodovich. ''The Hospital for Sick Children is one of the best children’s hospitals in the world. But Packard Children’s has done a fantastic job of recruiting leading physicians and surgeons and building top-notch clinical programs during the past decade. Combined with Stanford’s phenomenal research strength, the offer was irresistible. I’m really looking forward to this next phase of my career.''
A respiratory specialist, O’Brodovich has focused his research on the relationship between ion transport in the lung epithelium and pulmonary edema and respiratory distress syndrome in newborns. He has spent his career linking fundamental scientific research with clinical care, an effort he intends to continue at Stanford and Packard.
''The top four or five pediatric centers in the world each have at least three components--an extremely strong research base, outstanding specialty care, and a commitment to training future pediatric leaders,'' he says. ''This describes Packard Children’s perfectly.''
O’Brodovich calls it a tremendous privilege to join a hospital that is already widely recognized for its success in patient care, safety, and quality. ''To ask where we will go next,'' he says, ''is exciting, challenging, and promising.'' His intention is to steer the Department of Pediatrics and the medical staff of Packard Children’s toward ''uncompromising excellence for our research and for our patients.''
O’Brodovich believes Packard can be one of the top five children’s hospitals in the world within the next decade. ''I look forward to the bright future that we will build together at Packard Children’s.''
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