Photo courtesy of Jennifer Franklin
I’ve worked at Texas Children’s Cancer Center for 22 years. My current role is an ambulatory services representative. Whether it’s greeting our patient families when they first come in or helping them schedule their next appointment, I enjoy seeing our patients’ smiling faces and the resilience and positive spirit that accompanies them.
Many of our patients are immunocompromised, making it difficult for their weakened immune systems to fight off infections and viruses. As we continue to face the COVID-19 global pandemic, I recently took a proactive step to protect myself, my family...
Photo of Levi courtesy of Gregg and Isabel Schreier
As part of the pediatric critical care medicine team at Texas Children’s, I understand how stressful and difficult it can be for parents to see their critically ill child in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Every day, we treat many patients who have life-threatening conditions, either due to medical illness or injury.
As one of the largest, busiest and highest acuity critical care services in the country, more than 6,000 children are admitted to Texas Children’s Intensive Care Units (ICUs) each year. When treating these critically ill patients, it’s my...
Photo courtesy of Kaitlyn Weightman
For 17-year-old Kaitlyn Weightman, after-school sports have always been a huge part of her life since she was a young child. But no sport – not even softball – compares to her love for swimming.
“When I was 5, I was a softball player,” Kaitlyn said. “I did that for a few years, and then one summer, I got really bored with softball. My mom was like, “Let’s try swimming.” At first, I wasn’t sure about it, and then I realized how much I enjoyed the sport. From ages 6 to 13, I participated in a summer league swim team. When I turned 12, I joined a year-round aquatic club where I continue...
Photo courtesy of Getty Images
As part of the diabetes team at Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus, we guide patients and families through their diabetes journey from the time of diagnosis to their transition to adulthood, helping them lead full, healthy lives. However, while it is easy to say “I’m going to teach you how to be a pancreas,” the actual task is much more complex. Few other conditions require the diligence that diabetes demands. Diabetes can consume a patient’s life, requiring attention multiple times a day, whether it is to check a blood glucose, analyze a meal or deliver insulin.
Since the discovery of...
Photo courtesy of Allen Kramer (Texas Children's Hospital)
As a board-certified pediatric plastic surgeon at Texas Children’s, it is a privilege to serve my patients and their families in the same hospital where I received my fellowship training in pediatric craniofacial surgery. While there are many subspecialties in plastic surgery, my focus is the treatment and surgical correction of cleft lip and palate anomalies, and craniofacial abnormalities in children and adolescents.
At a very young age, I always knew I wanted to become a surgeon, but it wasn’t until my undergraduate years as a biomedical engineering college...