Welcome to the website of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School.  The Department, which includes over 225 full-time faculty members focused on the problems of child health, has a long and rich history interwoven with the roots of Southwestern Medical School (UT Southwestern: From Army Shacks to Research Elite) and with the development and growth of Children's Medical Center of Dallas.

Current and former members of the faculty have achieved considerable prominence nationally: Gilbert Forbes received the John Howland Medal, the highest honor in Academic Pediatrics.  Three (3) members of the Department have been elected President of the Society for Pediatric Research.  Fourteen (14) are listed in Best Doctors in America, thirty-seven (37) were listed by D Magazine as Best Pediatric Specialists in Dallas in 2007; and numerous members of the Department have received distinguished awards, such as the Maxwell Finland Award bestowed on George McCracken in 2004 and the E. Mead Johnson Pediatric Research Award  bestowed on Perrin White. 

As an academic department, we have three (3) major missions:

• The constant effort to improve the standard of practice and the provision of the highest quality of patient care to infants, children, and adolescents who seek care or are referred to us from North Texas, other regions of the United States, or other countries,
• The acquisition of new knowledge in developmental biology and pediatric care through research by pursuing unanswered questions and continuing to test and refine previously established ideas,
• The education  of medical students, residents, postdoctoral fellows and other health care professions by transmitting knowledge, instilling excitement for learning, and translating and refining questions raised during the process.

Our Department is clustered in 16 academic divisions that represent areas of clinical practice and components of our mission.  Within each division the members of the faculty practice as a group to provide comprehensive care for their respective areas of expertise.  In addition, many of the faculty of a Division either direct active research programs or engage in research projects in collaboration with others.  Each division also has specific educational goals for the students and residents.  Most divisions also have fellowship programs, which provide education to prepare fellows for an academic career. 

We have three (3) major practice sites:

• Children's Medical Center is a multi-specialty inpatient and outpatient facility with state of the art resources that sponsors with us a Pediatric Residency Program for over 85 categorical pediatric residents.  The Children's main campus located in Dallas is licensed for 411 beds.  Children's Medical Center Legacy, a second full-service inpatient and outpatient facility located in Plao, is licensed for 72 beds.  Each year, Children's has more than 20,000 admissions, 200,000 outpatient visits and 90,000 emergency room visits, and conducts nearly 20,000 surgical cases.
• Parkland Hospital System consists of a multi-specialty hospital, which serves as the home of our Neonatal and Perinatal Medicine.  The system also oversees a series of Community Outpatient Centers located in geographically diverse areas of Dallas County, which serve as the home of many of the outpatient community pediatric training experiences.  There are currently over 16,000 infants delivered each year, which makes this the largest such service in North America.  Faculty in the Department of Pediatrics supervise resident training in several of these community outpatient centers while serving the community's pediatric needs in each of those neighborhoods.  The Parkland Hospital System also has outreach in many underserved areas of Dallas County through their Homeless Van and Refugee Clinics where community pediatric services is also experienced. 
• Texas Scottish Rite is a specialty hospital that provides in-patient, surgical, and out-patient services for children who require orthopedic care related to birth defects, rheumatologic disorders, cerebral palsy, neuromuscular disease and developmental disabilities.  It serves as a partner for residency training and for care by our faculty with expertise in these areas. 

Our Department has a number of unique resources that arise out of our long standing, integrated and valued collaboration with Children's Medical Center.  These include a Children's Clinical Research Program, and extensive continuing Medical Education Programs, such as our weekly Grand Rounds, which are video-conferenced to many area hospitals. 

Many of our faculty are engaged in interdisciplinary educational programs, locally, nationally, and internationally, which create opportunities for students, residents, fellows, and other faculty to expand their experience.  Members of our Department  have also established extensive interdisciplinary research programs locally and nationally. 

This website is intended to provide you ready access to the faculty and the programs of the Department of Pediatrics, and linkage to the vast number of programs in which we participate.  We appreciate your interest and certainly welcome your suggestions, especially if there are difficulties in locating an individual or program of interest (george.lister@utsouthwestern.edu).