About the Pediatric General Surgery Team at Nemours Childrens - PDF document

About the Pediatric General Surgery Team at Nemours Children’s Hospital , Orlando Our Pediatric General Surgery Program at Nemours Children’s Hospital in Orlando is composed of four Board Certified Pediatric Surgeons, three Physician Assistants, two Nurse Practitioners and a Clinical Coordinator. We provide the full scope of pediatric surgical care including neonatal surgery, ECMO, tumors, minimally invasive and single site surgery, laparoscopic & thoracoscopic surgery, management of chest wall malformations, and urgent/emergent general pediatric surgery. We have experienced tremendous growth since the opening in 2012 of our state-of-the- art Children’s Hospital in Lake Nona Medical City, next to the University of Central Florida Medical School. Our case mix index is up to par with major academic medical centers. We are in the process of expanding our surgical services in the central Florida region under the leadership of Dr. Adela Casas-Melley, Chairman of the Department of Surgery. Members of the division of Pediatric Surgery include: Dr. Cynthia Reyes, Dr. Tammy Westmoreland, and Dr. André Hebra. Dr. Casas-Melley was appointed Chair of the Department of Surgery in 2016. She has successfully expanded the size and scope of the pediatric surgical program, not only in Orlando, but also collaborating with our partnership facilities. Prior to Nemours, Dr. Casas- Melley was the Chief of Pediatric Surgery and Medical Director of the trauma center at Sanford Children’s Hospit al in South Dakota, as well as Professor of Surgery at the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine. She earned her medical degree and completed a residency in general surgery at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, followed by a fellowship in pediatric surgery at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia. As part of her personal interest, she has developed significant clinical expertise in biliary atresia, liver transplantation, and minimally invasive surgery. Dr. Cynthia Reyes recently joined Nemours Children’s Hospital as the Division Chief of Pediatric Surgery and Surgical Director of Quality to help with expansion of the pediatric surgery program and development of a surgery quality program. Dr. Reyes received her medical degree from Harvard Medical School, and completed general surgery training and a post-doctoral research fellowship at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital, and a pediatric surgery fellowship at St. Christopher’s Children’s Hospital. Prior to joining Nemour s, Dr. Reyes served as the Vice Chair for Quality and Patient Safety for the Surgery department at the University of New Mexico where she led quality improvement and financial gains at the department and institutional levels. Throughout her career, Dr. Reyes has been passionate about teaching medical students and residents. Her research interests include ECMO, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, necrotizing enterocolitis and surgical quality improvement. Her clinical interests include minimally invasive surgery, chest wall deformities, anorectal malformations and intestinal motility disorders. Dr. Reyes is president-elect for the Pacific Association of Pediatric Surgeons where she was chair of the Global Assistance Program for 10 years. She has studied martial arts since childhood and is currently studying Kung Fu and Tai Chi.

Tamarah Westmoreland, MD, PhD joined Nemours Children’s Hospital shortly after its inauguration three years ago. Dr. Westmoreland has a significant interest in clinical and basic science research. Her lab is focused on surgical oncology and has targeted neuroblastoma research. Her outstanding work has been recognized and recently published in Oncotarget describing a novel long non-coding RNA in neuroblastoma. She is passionate about pediatric surgical oncology and serves as the COG representative. Furthermore, she is the director of the surgical tumor board and also coordinates medical student education in pediatric surgery. Dr. Westmoreland completed general surgery training at Duke University followed by fellowships in pediatric surgical oncology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and pediatric surgery at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Dr. André Hebra is the Chief Medical Officer and Physician-in-Chief of Nemours Children ’s Hospital. He is an active member of the division of pediatric surgery. Dr. Hebra joined Nemours in the summer of 2016 after leaving the Medical University of South Carolina where he was the Surgeon-in- Chief of the MUSC Children’s Hospital . He received his M.D. degree in 1987 from MUSC where he also completed his residency in General Surgery. He trained in pediatric surgery at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He is board certified in General Surgery, Pediatric Surgery, and Surgical Critical Care. Dr. Hebra has had more than 120 publications of peer-reviewed scientific articles and book chapters. He has received awards for original research, service and excellence in teaching & patient care. Dr. Hebra is a pioneer in the development and improvement of minimal access surgical techniques, particularly for the treatment of Pectus Excavatum. He is leading the team for the chest wall malformation destination program at Nemours. Nemours Children’s Hospital in Orlando, Florida is currently seeking additional BC/BE Pediatric General Surgeons to join our team. This is an exciting opportunity to help expand a comprehensive pediatric surgery practice in Central Florida with the ability to join a rapidly developing academic practice in the setting of an amazing free- standing Children’s Hospital. Faculty appointment with the University of Central Florida provides outstanding clinical and laboratory research opportunities. Candidates interested in outcomes research would enjoy Nemours’ high clinical volume and network provided by a major collaborative enterprise institutional database. Nemours offers a competitive salary and benefits package with yearly financial incentives, relocation, health, life, dental, CME, 403B Retirement Plan with matching, 457 retirement savings plan, licensure and dues allowance, and extremely low-premium in-network health coverage for children of full-time employees. Inpatient care is delivered at Nemours’ state -of-the-art 137-bed facility with 8 surgical suites. There is 24/7 critical care coverage of a Level III NICU, 9-bed Cardiac ICU and 18-bed PICU. Busy pediatric emergency room with 40,000 visits per year. Dedicated transport team for neonates and children. Our hospital has the second largest pediatric radiology department in the country with dedicated and nationally recognized pediatric interventional radiologists. Nemou rs Children’s Hospital has a pediatric

multispecialty and primary care group with over 250 medical and surgical physicians, 24/7 in-house pediatric hospitalist coverage and 8 pediatric anesthesiologists. All pediatric medical and surgical specialties are represented. The institution is poised to expand services in a new ambulatory surgery center and medical office building. The surgery team works collaboratively with their colleagues and the organization to provide the highest level of quality patient care that is and family and patient centered. For more information on the location, click the following link: Discover the Orlando City Guide For more information regarding the opportunity, please contact Eric Dickerson by email or phone. Sincerely, Eric Dickerson EricD@kbic.com 972.265.5245