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New Chief of Critical Care Medicine Installed as First DC Lawyers Care for Children Professor of Critical Care Medicine

WASHINGTON — Children’s National on May 24 installed Michael J. Bell, MD, chief of the Division of Critical Care Medicine as the first DC Lawyers Care for Children Professor of Critical Care Medicine. Endowed by the founders and sponsors of the DC Lawyers’ Golf Classic, the professorship supports Dr. Bell’s work as a nationally known expert in the field of pediatric neurocritical care and provides the foundation for the growth of the Division of Critical Care Medicine at Children’s National into one of the nation’s best. Over the past 14 years, the DC Lawyers’ Golf Classic has raised $2 million to fund this endowment in pediatric critical care medicine at Children’s National. It’s 15th annual tournament will be held June 20.

“We are truly grateful to the DC Lawyers Golf Classic committee and sponsors for their commitment to Children’s National and the health of children everywhere,” said Robin Steinhorn, MD, senior vice president of the Center for Hospital Based Specialties at Children’s National. “As the inaugural DC Lawyers Care for Children Professor of Critical Care Medicine, Dr. Bell will unite basic, clinical, translational and outcomes research to inform new approaches and therapies.”

As a critical care faculty member at Children’s National for 10 years, Dr. Bell helped to build one of the first clinical pediatric neurocritical care programs in the nation. His expertise then led him to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, where he established a neurocritical care program and served as director of Pediatric Neurocritical Care and the Pediatric Neurotrauma Center. Children’s National welcomed Dr. Bell's return this year as chief of the Division of Critical Care Medicine, where he oversees both the pediatric intensive care unit and the region’s only pediatric-dedicated neuro-intensive care unit.

“Dr. Bell is a tremendous clinician and researcher, and we were proud to previously have him on our team at Children’s National for 10 years,” said Kurt Newman, MD, president and CEO of Children’s National. “We are so pleased to welcome him back and honor him with this professorship.”

Established in 2002, the DC Lawyers’ Golf Classic emerged from the friendship between co-founders John Devaney and Jerry Stouck and their families’ experiences in the critical care unit at Children’s National. Together with Carter Phillips – who engaged his firm, Sidley Austin LLP, to become the tournament’s lead sponsor and create the endowed fund – they have grown the DC Lawyers’ Golf Classic into a signature event of the Washington, D.C., legal community and helped raise awareness about Children’s National and the need to continuously advance critical care medicine for children and their families.

“It is an incredible honor to be the first recipient of the DC Lawyers Care for Children Professorship. I am deeply indebted to the DC Lawyers Care group led by Carter Phillips, John Devaney, and Jerry Stouck,” said Dr. Bell. “The sickest kids deserve our absolute best, and I pledge to work every day to build the best critical care division in the world to serve the children who need it most.”

Contact: Mark Miller | [email protected]| 301-802-6783


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