LEADERSHIP AT TEXAS CHILDREN'S
Dr. Richard Friedman,
Interim Co-Physician-in-Chief

Hospital highlights History of Texas Children's Hospital virtual tour Leadership Mark A. Wallace - President and CEO Dr. Richard Friedman - Interim Co-Physician-in-Chief Dr. Joan Shook - Interim Co-Physician-in-Chief Dr. Dale Brown - Obstetrician/ Gynecologist-in-Chief Dr. Edmond Gonzales - Surgeon-in-Chief Past Leadership Dr. Ralph D. Feigin Dr. Russell J. Blattner Related links Patient care centers Neighborhood services

Richard Friedman, M.D., M.B.A., was appointed interim Co-Physician-in-Chief of Texas Children's Hospital in 2008.
In 2009, Dr. Friedman was appointed interim Chief of Cardiology of Texas Children’s Heart Center. He also serves as Professor and Vice Chairman of Pediatrics (Finance) and Medical Director of the Arrhythmia and Pacing Services at Baylor College of Medicine. He was sub-boarded in Pediatric Cardiology by the American Board of pediatrics, and is a Fellow at both the American College of Cardiology and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

He received his M.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 1980 and then proceeded to do his post-graduate training in Pediatrics and then Pediatric Cardiology and Pediatric Electrophysiology at Baylor and Texas Children's Hospital. He received an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago in 2002. His clinical interests lie in the field of implantable devices, such as pacemakers and defibrillators, as well as management of patients with arrhythmias and syncope. He currently serves on many committees and the Board of the Heart Rhythm Society, which represents the majority of adult and pediatric electrophysiologists in the United States.

Dr. Joan E. Shook,
Interim Co-Physician-in-Chief

Joan Shook, M.D., M.B.A., was appointed interim Co-Physician-in-Chief of Texas Children's Hospital in 2008. She has been Medical Director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Emergency Department since 1986 and was named the Chief Safety Officer at Texas Children's Hospital in 2002. Dr. Shook was appointed as Professor of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine in 2003 and Chief of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, in 1993. She was also appointed as an Adjunct Professor of Administrative Science at Rice University in 1998. She is a Fellow in the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Emergency Physicians. She was sub-boarded in Pediatric Emergency Medicine by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 1992.

A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Dr. Shook earned her medical degree from the University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine in Cincinnati, Ohio, and completed her internship and residency training in pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine Affiliated Hospitals in Houston, Texas. She completed a postgraduate fellowship in Ambulatory Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine in 1986. She holds a B.A. degree from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and an M.B.A. from the University of Houston in Houston, Texas.

Dr. Dale Brown,
Obstetrician/Gynecologist-in-Chief

Dale Brown, M.D., was appointed as the first Obstetrician/Gynecologist-in-Chief of Texas Children’s Hospital in 2008. Dr. Brown became interim Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Baylor College of Medicine in 2006, and continues in that position. He serves as Principle Investigator of the Women’s Reproductive Health Research (WRHR) in the Department of OB-GYN for Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Brown also serves as the Chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital. He has been recognized in “Best Doctors of America,” “Texas Monthly Super Doctors,” “Houston’s Top Docs” and “Outstanding Doctors in Houston” repeatedly for the past fifteen years.

Dr. Brown obtained his B.S. from the University of New Mexico and his medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. He subsequently completed a residency at Tulane University’s Charity Hospital in New Orleans. After serving two years in the Air Force, he went into private practice from 1970 until 2000, at which time he joined Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Brown became Associate Chief of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at St. Luke’s in the early 1980s and subsequently held multiple positions in leadership culminating in becoming Chief of Staff at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital during 1996 and 1997.

Dr. Edmond T. Gonzales,
Surgeon-in-Chief

Edmond T. Gonzales, Jr., M.D., was appointed as the first Surgeon-In-Chief of Texas Children's Hospital in 2008. He joined the Department of Urology at Baylor College of Medicine in 1974 and was appointed Chief of the Urology Service at Texas Children's Hospital that year. In 1988 he was appointed as Head of the Department of Surgery at Texas Children's Hospital. He is currently Professor of Urology, Scott Department of Urology, Baylor College of Medicine and holds the Edmond T. Gonzales Chair in Pediatric Urology. He is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Society for Pediatric Urology, and the American Urological Association. Dr. Gonzales is boarded in Urology and was awarded a sub-board in pediatric urology in 2008.

Dr. Gonzales is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana and completed medical school at Tulane School of Medicine. He completed residency in Urology at Duke University Medical Center. In 1973, he joined an active practice in pediatric urology at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit and joined the Texas Children's Hospital and Baylor staff in 1974.