Experts
The following experts and many others at Le Bonheur Children’s are available to interviews with the media on various pediatric healthy and safety topics. To arrange an interview, please contact media relations at 901.287.6030.
Chair, Department of Pediatrics
Dr. Jon McCullers, M.D.
Chair, Department of Pediatrics
Jon McCullers, MD, is an accomplished pediatric infectious disease researcher whose work at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has included research of co-infections and the study of influenza viruses and bacteria that result in fatal pneumonia.
He is a fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and serves on the IDSA Pandemic Task Force, advising Congress on issues pertaining to bioterrorism and the threat of severe acute respiratory infection outbreaks. His laboratory has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1999, and he is currently the primary investigator for a $3.2 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researching Etiology of Pneumonia in the Community to determine the incidence and cause of community-acquired pneumonia in hospitalized children.
McCullers became the sixth chair of the Department of Pediatrics for The University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) and pediatrician in chief for Le Bonheur in March 2012.
Dr. K.J.S. "Sunny" Anand, MBBS, D.Phil
Director of Critical Care
Director of the Division of Pediatric Critical Care for the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, director of Critical Care for Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital and the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Endowed Chair of Critical Care. His joint position enables him to isolate specific opportunities in the field of pediatric critical care and address them simultaneously across the three facilities. Anand received his medical degree from Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College in Indore, India, and completed his doctorate in philosophy at the University of Oxford’s Jesus College in Oxford, England; awarded the 2009 Nils Rosén von Rosenstein Award from the Swedish Society of Medicine.
Interests: Internationally acclaimed expert in pediatric critical care; focus on quality improvement, research and an optimal standard of care in the field of pain management in infants and children; pursuing approval from the National Institutes of Health to conduct a multi-center study on pediatric pain management
Giancarlo Mari, M.D.
Medical Director, Le Bonheur Fetal Center
Professor and Vice-Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center; Director of the High-Risk Obstetrics Center of Excellence at the Regional Medical Center at Memphis; Director of the Tennessee Institute of Feto-Maternal and Infant Health, UTHSC; Vice-Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology, UTHSC; Director of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, UTHSC; Fellowship (Research) – Pediatric Cardiology, Baylor College of Medicine; Fellowship (Research) – Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine; Fellowship – Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine; Marquis Who’s Who in America (2007); “America’s Top Obstetricians and Gynecologists” in “Guide to America’s Top Obstetricians and Gynecologists” (2007 Edition); American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine, Member of the Board of Governors (elected on January 31, 2008); Chairman Pre-Congress Courses, American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine, New York (2009), Best Doctors in America® - 2003 – 2009; American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Fellow
Interests: maternal-fetal medicine; fetal intervention; high-risk births; operations in utero; coordinates with pediatric specialists; prenatal diagnosis; specializes in the special needs of mothers and babies during pregnancy; mothers referred from their primary obstetrician due to a situation involving the health and well-being of the fetus; congenital anomaly; complications
Christopher Knott-Craig, M.D.
Co-Director, Le Bonheur Heart Institute and Professor
Professor, UT Health Science Center; University of Cape Town and Groote Schuur Hospital, South Africa, internship under Christiaan N. Barnard, M.D., PhD., who performed the first human heart transplant; training in cardiothoracic surgery at University of Stellenbosch and Tygerberg Hospital. Following residency training, he worked at the Tygerberg Hospital and University of Stellenbosch in Cape Town as Specialist Cardiothoracic Surgeon and was named Chief of Pediatric Surgery. In 1989, he received the Evarts A. Graham Traveling Memorial Fellowship from the American Association of Thoracic Surgery, which allowed for additional training in congenital heart surgery at Mayo Clinic and Boston Children’s.
Interests: first surgeon to successfully repair Ebstein’s anomaly, a rare and often fatal condition, in a newborn baby; uses unconventional means to treat the infant’s emotional, spiritual, and psychological well-being during cardiac surgery, like babies in ICU listen to music for its calming and brain stimulating effects
John DeVincenzo, III, M.D.
Investigator, Children’s Foundation Research Center
Medical Director of the Virology Lab and Molecular Diagnostics
Associate Professor of Pediatrics in Division of Infectious Diseases and Department of Molecular Sciences, UT Health Science Center; Bachelor of Science, Stanford University; Vanderbilt University School of Medicine; residency, University of California at Los Angeles; fellowship in infectious diseases, Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Boston; fellow, Harvard University; Best Doctors seven years; board certified, American Board of Pediatrics Section of Infectious Diseases; AAP Fellow; American Society for Microbiology; Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society; Society for Pediatric Research; Pan American Society for Clinical Virology: Memphis Business Journal’s Health Care Heroes award for RSV research
Interests: Respiratory syncytial virus; GEMINI study RNA-interference-based therapeutics; PCR tests for Influenza A (H1N1 and A), RSV and Influenza B
Keith English, M.D.
Professor of Pediatrics, UTHSC
Chief, Pediatric Infectious Diseases
Le Bonheur Children's Hospital
Medical Director of Epidemiology and Infection Control
Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases and Professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Tennessee Health Science Center; American Board of Pediatrics; Pediatric Infectious Diseases; Fellow, American Academy of Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases Society of America; American Society for Microbiology; Society for Pediatric Research; Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society; Member, Pediatric Infectious Diseases Sub-board of the American Board of Pediatrics; Research Fellow, University of Washington, Children's Hospital and Medical Center; Chief Resident, Baylor College of Medicine; Texas Children’s Hospital
Interests: vaccines and vaccine-preventable infections, staphylococcal infections, pneumonia; 2009 H1N1 screening, national expert on H1N1 and flu, seasonal flu, RSV, infectious disease, cold, vaccines, pneumonia, PCR tests; first H1N1 vaccines in U.S.
Frederick Boop, M.D.
Medical Director of Neurosurgery
Chief, Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery; Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at University of Tennessee Health Science Center; leads joint brain tumor program with Le Bonheur Children's, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, UT Health Science Center and Semmes-Murphey Clinic; President, American Society of Pediatric Neurosurgeons; Board of Directors of American Association of Neurological Surgeons; American Board of Neurosurgery; and American Board of Pediatric Neurosurgery; national reputation for excellence in neurosurgery; one of the highest success rate of brain tumor removal in the U.S.
Interests: Brain cancer; brain tumors, neurosurgery, epilepsy, tumor, brain surgery
James Wheless, M.D.
Medical Director of Neurosciences
Professor, University of Tennessee Health Science Center; trained at The University of Oklahoma; Board-certified, American Board of Pediatrics and American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology with Special Competence in Child Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology
Interests: seizures, epilepsy, ketogenic diet, epilepsy surgery, vagus nerve stimulation and new drugs for epilepsy, magnetoencephalography, MEG, high-density EEG, brain mapping, EEG, brain wave monitoring, absence seizures, NIH study for seizure drugs, Neuroscience Institute, ADD/ADHD
Jeffrey R. Sawyer, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Orthopaedics University of Tennessee-Campbell Clinic, Co-Director Growing Spine Program Campbell Clinic, Director Pediatric Orthopaedic Fellowship
University of Rochester; board certified American Board of Orthopaedic Surgeons; American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons;Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America; Scoliosis Research Society; University of Tennessee Health Science Center and Campbell Clinic; Board Certifications: American Board of Orthopedic Surgery
Interests: Pediatric spinal deformities/trauma, pediatric trauma and fractures, deformity correction, pediatric sports injuries, obesity, spine stapling, scoliosis, VEPTR
Susan Helms, R.N., M.A.L.S.
Director, Injury Prevention and Safe Kids
Former Pediatric Critical Care Nurse
Interests: Safety and injury prevention, safety, accidents, unintentional injury, safe kids, car seats, fire safety, home safety, critical care, swimming safety
Barry Gilmore, M.D.
Medical Director of Emergency Services
Board Certifications: American Board of Pediatrics, Sub-board Pediatric Emergency Medicine
Interests: Trauma, Difficult Airways, Acute Asthma Management, ED process flow and efficiency, emergency, trauma, unintentional injury, safety, advocacy, H1N1 screening, 2009 H1N1 influx and screening tent, critical care
