Expanded Pediatric Services

CPMC Joins Forces with Nationally-Ranked Lucile Packard

By Robin O'Connor

CPMC has a long history of caring for children. Since the late 1870s, pediatric specialists have cared for children at what is now our California Campus. Much has changed since then, but CPMC’s commitment to providing the highest-quality care for children remains the same. Continuing our effort to expand pediatric specialty services in San Francisco, in January CPMC began a collaborative arrangement with Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford. Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital is annually ranked as one of the nations best pediatric hospitals by U.S. News & World Report. Physicians from Packard Children’s now work side-by-side with CPMC physicians at the California Campus. “Collaborating with Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and its physicians is ideal for us,” reports Warren Browner, M.D., MPH, CEO of CPMC. “Not only do Packard Children’s physicians have a national reputation for providing the highest quality of care, but their physicians are highly skilled in caring for some of the most complex pediatric cases. This will further augment the expert, personalized care already provided at CPMC.”

Claudia Mueller, M.D., Ph.D., is the lead Packard Children’s pediatric general surgeon at CPMC. She is at the hospital nearly every day performing surgeries. “Some surgeries are routine, but we have also seen complex and unusual cases,” explains Mueller, one of eight pediatric surgeons from Packard Children’s.

Urgent Care

CPMC’s transport team brought 7-year-old Briana Tam to our pediatric emergency department. Briana, who loves to sing hip-hop, was complaining of abdominal pain. At Mills-Peninsula Medical Center, another Sutter affiliate, they found an abdominal mass and arranged transport to CPMC. “I rode with Briana in the ambulance and when we arrived it was about three in the morning, everyone and everything was ready for us,” says Annie Tam, Briana’s mother. “An MRI identified four fist-size masses in Briana’s abdomen, which, when I removed them with my partner Gary Hartman, M.D., turned out to be pancreatic pseudocysts. This is very unusual in a child,” states Mueller.

Briana wants to be a doctor when she grows up. “Briana received a blue stethoscope from CPMC’s Little Wishes program and Dr. Mueller gave her a book about the parts of the body,” Annie says. “She was scared, but she knew what was going to happen in surgery, and she didn’t cry.” Child Life staff met with Briana to explain and prepare her for surgery. The CPMC staff has been welcoming to the Packard Children’s physicians. Mueller explains, “What makes it so special is that each child is made to feel special, and the family support is fantastic.”

Working Side-by Side

In August 2011, Jacob Dovlet, a 17-year-old high school student from Rescue, California became very ill with gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding and had recently met with J. Antonio Quiros, M.D., a CPMC pediatric gastroenterologist, at the CPMC outreach center in Sacramento. Jacob was admitted to UC Davis Medical Center and a few days later, at home, became very ill again. Quiros transferred Jacob to CPMC’s pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) in San Francisco. Complications from Crohn’s disease (an inflammatory bowel disease) caused a section of Jacob’s intestine to die. When he arrived at CPMC, Mueller removed a two-foot section of his necrotic (diseased) bowel.

When Jacob was finally able to eat solid food again, his stomach muscles didn’t work properly. With the help of the dietitian and Child Life staff, special smoothies were made to order for Jacob. “Everyone on staff made us so comfortable. I was able to stay in Jacob’s room, we could eat meals together. I felt like we were in good hands the entire time,” says Jacob’s mother Kim Dovlet.

“With this new relationship, physicians associated with two superb providers of pediatric care can continue to do what they do best – and, in fact, create a situation where we are better together,” explains Lorry Frankel, M.D., chair of CPMC’s Pediatric Division.

Packard Children's Surgeons

Claudia Mueller, Ph.D., M.D.
Craig Albanese, M.D., MBA
Matias Bruzoni, M.D.
Sanjeev Dutta, M.D.
Julie Fuchs, M.D.
Gary Hartman, M.D.
Karl Sylvester, M.D.