Meet Our Experts at The Children's Hospital
The Children’s Hospital boasts a wide range of world-renowned experts and specialists that span the care continuum and are a great resource when developing news stories on children’s health, safety and policy. The following is a list of just a few of our experts. If you are interested in speaking to one of them or you would like to find an expert in another field, Media Relations can help.
James Todd, MD, Director of Epidemiology
Specialty: INFECTIOUS DISEASES/EPIDEMIOLOGY
Dr. Todd was awarded a special citation by the Infectious Diseases Society of America for the original description of Toxic Shock Syndrome. He is certified by the American Board of Pediatrics in pediatrics and infectious diseases, and has served on numerous committees of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society.
Lynne Hedrick, RN, Senior Vice President of Patient Care Services
Specialty: NURSING
Hedrick has been on the staff at The Children’s Hospital since 1976. Prior to her current appointment, Hedrick served as the vice president of Nursing, the Pediatric Nursing Program director and as an inpatient clinical director. Hedrick holds board appointments and memberships on several professional nursing and health-care organizations and is a member of The Children’s Hospital Board of Directors and executive team.
Francois Lacour-Gayet, MD
Specialty: HEART SURGERY
Dr. Lacour-Gayet is the chair of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery. He is also section chief of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery within the division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery of the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He has been featured in more than 100 publications and has served on surgical missions throughout the world. Dr. Lacour-Gayet performs up to 250 pediatric heart operations a year. He is trained in adult cardiac surgery and has particular interests in neonatal cardiac surgery, especially hypoplastic left heart syndrome with the Norwood procedure, complex biventricular repair, Fontan circulation and immune transplantation.
Kate Clark, MD, Emergency Department
Specialty: INJURY PREVENTION
Dr. Clark has spoken in front of the Colorado Legislature on child product safety, a National Traffic Highway Safety Association grant studying restraints in SUVs, and the Junglemobile, a mobile injury-prevention project for children.
Bob Brayden, MD, Medical Director of the Child Health Clinic
Specialty: IMMUNIZATIONS & VACCINES
Dr. Brayden is president of the Colorado Children’s Immunization Coalition. He also has written numerous articles on immunization and has received and been supportive to grants that study immunization delivery.
Jeff Dolgan, MD, Chief of Psychology, Department of Psychiatry
Specialty: BEHAVIORAL/MENTAL HEALTH
In 1999, Dr. Dolgan spoke at the NACHRI annual meeting on the “Stop the Violence” panel and served as The Children’s Hospital’s spokesman on Columbine. Dr. Dolgan also developed the Dollar-A-Day teen pregnancy prevention program in 1992 for the National Planned Parenthood Association. The program is still strong today. In September 2002, Dr. Dolgan spoke on post-traumatic stress disorder at the 11th Annual O’Neil Pediatric Clinical Update.
Nancy Krebs, MD, Head of Section of Nutrition in Department of Pediatrics
Specialty: CHILD NUTRITION
Dr. Krebs was the first recipient of the American Society for Clinical Nutrition’s Physician Nutrition Specialist for 1998 to 2000. Dr. Krebs also is the current chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Nutrition and is the principal investigator for the Nutrition Academic Award in Colorado at the School of Medicine, an NIH-supported grant to foster nutrition training for physicians, including pediatricians, residents and medical students.
Andrew Sirotnak, MD, Director of the Child Protection Team at the Kempe Center for Child Abuse
Specialty: CHILD ABUSE/NEGLECT
Dr. Sirotnak serves on the Child Fatality Review Teams at the state level and in Denver and Adams County and testifies frequently in court cases involving crimes against children. He lectures extensively about child abuse and neglect to a wide range of audiences. His current clinical work, education and outreach efforts, administrative duties and research all focus on child maltreatment.
Michael H. Handler, MD, FACS, FAAP
Specialty: NEUROSURGERY
Dr. Handler has been at The Children’s Hospital since 1994 and is an associate professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Colorado Medical School. His areas of particular interest include pediatric brain tumors, epilepsy and congenital malformations. Dr. Handler has been certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery and the American Board of Pediatric Neurological Surgery. He is immediate past president of the medical staff at The Children’s Hospital and serves as secretary of the Colorado Neurosurgical Society.
Norman R. Friedman, MD
Specialty: PEDIATRIC OTOLARYNGOLOGY and SLEEP MEDICINE
Dr. Friedman joined The Children’s Hospital in 2000, where he currently serves as director of the Rocky Mountain Pediatric Sleep Disorders Unit. Dr. Friedman also is an assistant professor with the Department of Otolaryngology and Pediatrics. He is board-certified in Otolaryngology and Sleep Medicine.
Specialty: SENSORY INTEGRATION DYSFUNCTION, AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS and FRAGILE X SYNDROME
Clare Summers has been at The Children’s Hospital since 1997. She holds a master’s degree in occupational therapy from the University of Southern California . She completed the four-month Sensory Integration Treatment Course at the Ayres Clinic, where sensory integration theory and treatment was developed. She then worked at the Ayres Clinic for seven years as a staff therapist and supervisor. She has worked on a multi-site grant for research on the efficacy of occupational therapy using a sensory integration treatment. She also teaches administration of the Sensory Integration and Praxis Tests (SIPT).
