Sarah E. Hampl, MD Kemper Endowed Professorship for Healthy Lifestyles
As a pediatrician with the Center for Children’s Healthy Lifestyles & Nutrition, Dr. Hampl provides comprehensive and compassionate clinical care in the PHIT Kids Weight Management Clinic and provides medical oversight for the PHIT Kids and Zoom to Health evening group programs.
Dr. Hampl leads the Advocacy area at the Center, providing support to primary care providers in our region in childhood obesity treatment among many other duties. She is the chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics obesity clinical practice guideline writing group. She serves as an AAP Section on Obesity coach for colleagues in the Midwest and leads the University of MO Telehealth Network’s Show-Me ECHO on pediatric weight management. As a passionate advocate, she and colleagues promote increased access to obesity treatment through the MO Council for Activity and Nutrition’s Healthy Weight Advisory Committee and Healthcare Workgroup.
Currently, Dr. Hampl and state colleagues are researching the impact of a newly released MO Medicaid treatment benefit for children with obesity, and the use of clinical tools to aid obesity prevention and treatment. Her other research interests include correlates of patient attrition from weight management and interventions to improve retention, clinical outcomes of clinic- and group-based treatment, and impact of healthcare professional educational interventions on weight bias.
Bridgette L. Jones, MD, MSCR Marion Merrell Dow/Missouri Chair in Pediatric Clinical Pharmacology
Dr. Jones joined Children’s Mercy faculty in 2007. Nationally recognized as an outstanding educator, academic researcher and diversity advocate, Dr. Jones is a clinician scientist with a focus in therapeutics and interventions to improve the lives of children with asthma. She holds funding thru the National Institutes of Health and has also received other extramural and intramural resources to support her work.
he former medical director of the Office of Equity and Diversity, she started and continues to direct the Children’s Mercy Students Training in Academic Research (STAR 2.0) program which introduces high school students from under-represented backgrounds in science and medicine to those fields.
At the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine, Dr. Jones holds a faculty appointment as Professor of Pediatrics in the divisions of Allergy/Asthma/Immunology and Pediatric Clinical Pharmacology, Toxicology and Therapeutic Innovation. She also serves as the Assistant Academic Dean of Student Affairs.
Jean-Baptiste Le Pichon, MD, PhD, FAAP Madison Lauren Sargent Endowed Professorship in Neurology/Angelman Syndrome
Maddie’s Mission and The Shaw Family Foundation
Jean-Baptiste (JB) Le Pichon, MD, PhD, FAAP, is a Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Neurology and the associate director of the Division of Neurology at Children’s Mercy Kansas City and the University of Missouri Kansas City.
Dr. Le Pichon joined the Division of Neurology at Children’s Mercy Kansas City in 2007. At Children’s Mercy, he has inaugurated a number of subspecialty clinics and initiatives, including the neurocutaneous clinic, the neuro-rheumatology clinic, and the deep brain stimulation program. He was the Child Neurology residency program director from 2010 to 2021. Under his leadership, the program grew from one to three residents a year.
Dr. Le Pichon is the recipient of several teaching awards, including the Daniel Scagliotti Teaching Award. Dr. Le Pichon has a strong publication tract, including 30 peer reviewed articles and three book chapters. He is on the editorial board of two leading child neurology journals. His research interest includes epilepsy and neuro-genomics. He is currently the co-principal investigator on a $2.1M HRSA grant to develop medical homes in the State of Kansas.
With support from the Sargent family and under Dr. Le Pichon’s leadership, Children’s Mercy opened the area’s first Angelman syndrome clinic in December 2022.
Tolulope A. Oyetunji, MD, MPH, MBA, FACS, FAAP Thomas Holder/Keith Ashcraft Chair in Pediatric Surgical Research
Dr. Oyetunji is a Professor of Surgery at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) School of Medicine, and a practicing pediatric surgeon at the Children’s Mercy Hospital (CMH) Kansas City. He is the Program Director for the Surgical Scholars Program and the Director of Health Outcomes Research in the Department of Surgery. He is a member of multiple surgical societies including the Society of University Surgeons (SUS), the Association for Academic Surgery (AAS), the International Pediatric Endosurgery Group (IPEG) and the Society of Black Academic Surgeons (SBAS). He currently serves on national committees of several organizations. He has published over 120 papers, 150 conference presentations and book chapters. He is an assistant editor of the Journal of Pediatric Surgery and an associate editor of the World Journal of Pediatric Surgery.
Dr Oyetunji’s current research focuses on surgical quality improvement, surgical innovations, healthcare disparities and global surgical care delivery. He is particularly interested in the dissemination of evidence-based clinical protocols, and currently investigating factors that serve as facilitators and barriers to adoption of evidence-based practice leading to variations in care and unnecessary healthcare cost.
Shayla A. Sullivant, MD Joy and Stewart Koesten Endowed Professorship in Developmental and Behavioral Health
Dr. Sullivant joined Children’s Mercy faculty in 2010. Today she serves as an associate professor and Chief of the Section of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. In July 2019 Dr. Sullivant was the recipient of the Shining Star award for having the highest patient satisfaction ratings among the medical staff at Children’s Mercy.
Dr. Sullivant has published high-impact papers and is a sought-after speaker. She enjoys lecturing at AAP conferences throughout the US where she empowers pediatricians to address the mental health needs of all patients. Her research began as a collaboration with NIMH on validation studies of the ASQ Suicide Screening Questionnaire. She co-led implementation of our suicide screening program at Children’s Mercy, one of the first children’s hospitals to implement such screening.
Her current work focuses on providing education for parents on ways to reduce suicide risk for adolescents, including safe storage of medication and firearms. Dr. Sullivant co-leads the suicide prevention research group at Children’s Mercy.
Kemper Endowed Professorship for Healthy Lifestyles
Children’s Mercy is a global leader in scientific discovery and innovation. The Kemper Family Foundations at UMB Bank believe that by contributing to Children’s Mercy initiatives, Kansas City will become a healthier and an even more vibrant community while also leading the global efforts to improve children’s lives. The Kemper Foundations have provided focused support for programs and research at the Center for Children’s Healthy Lifestyles and Nutrition, including creating the Center’s Kemper Postdoctoral Diversity Fellowship and Kemper Endowed Professorship for Healthy Lifestyles. Last year, the Foundations helped launch the Kansas City Physical Activity Plan led by the Kansas City Healthy Lifestyles Collaborative, a program at Children’s Mercy that seeks to align community programs to promote healthy lifestyles within our region.
Sheila Kemper Dietrich, a Trustee of the Kemper Family Foundations and Founder & CEO of Livliga, a healthy lifestyle company, has a particular passion for helping children live healthier lives, having personally struggled with weight all of her life and understanding the psychological and physical challenges associated with obesity. Children with obesity suffer significant health concerns, and 80 percent will remain obese in adulthood unless widespread change is adopted. Establishing an Endowed Professorship for Healthy Lifestyles at Children’s Mercy will have an important impact on the efforts of clinicians across the US to help prevent and treat pediatric obesity.
Marion Merrell Dow/Missouri Chair in Pediatric Clinical Pharmacology
The MMD Foundation Chair in Pediatric Clinical Pharmacology was established nearly 30 years ago through the Marion Merrell Dow Foundation Scientific Education Partnership and as part of a unique matching gift partnership with the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Designed to elevate physicians, researchers and medical leaders whose work will have a significant impact on children, students and families in Kansas and across the globe, this chair is focused on advancing excellence in pediatric clinical pharmacology.
Fred Lyons and Edward M. Connolly
Fred is the retired Chairman and CEO of Hoechst Marion Roussel (now known as Sanofi-Aventis Pharmaceuticals). He joined the company as a Vice President and General Manager in 1970 when it was known as Marion Laboratories. Fred served in several capacities at the company, and was named President in 1977 and CEO in 1984.
Fred and his wife, Dee, are longtime supporters of Children’s Mercy. Their interest in the hospital and pediatric medical research dates back to the 1970s and they have each served and supported the hospital in several ways including as members of the Children’s Mercy Healthier Ever After Campaign Cabinet from 2008 to 2013.
Ed Connolly formerly served as Executive Vice President of Right Management Consultants, a global career company based in Overland Park, KS. He is a retired executive from Aventis Pharmaceuticals, where he served as President of the Aventis Pharmaceuticals Foundation and Vice President of Community Affairs. He previously held executive human resources positions at Hoechst Marion Roussel, Marion Merrell Dow, and Marion Laboratories, predecessor companies to Aventis. He was also a Director on the Board of EPIQ Systems Inc. Ed is also a major supporter of Children’s Mercy and served as Chair of the Children’s Mercy Board of Directors from 2008 to 2010.
Fred Lyons and Ed Connolly are trustees of the Marion Merrell Dow Donor Advisory Fund which created this endowed chair position.
Madison Lauren Sargent Endowed Professorship in Neurology/Angelman Syndrome
Maddie’s Mission and The Shaw Family Foundation
Patrick and Laura Sargent’s daughter Maddie loves cheese and fruit snack gummies, being right in the middle of the action, and playing with her twin sister, Kellie, and older brother, Colin. When she was diagnosed at 15 months with Angelman syndrome (AS), it changed the course of their family’s life forever, setting them on the path to help launch the area’s first Angelman Syndrome Clinic at Children’s Mercy.
Maddie’s diagnosis means she is missing a certain gene which causes her to have problems with motor skills including speech, moving, walking and vision. AS occurs in one in 15,000 births or 500,000 people worldwide.
After her diagnosis, Maddie’s family went to Denver and Boston to seek out Angelman syndrome specialists. Over the years, they’ve developed “an army of caretakers.” Laura, a pediatric nurse practitioner who formerly worked at Children’s Mercy, has been instrumental in seeking out the best treatment for Maddie and navigating the insurance labyrinth.
The Sargents began meeting other Angelman families in the area and found many didn’t have the resources to travel to specialists or were struggling with the insurance process. The Sargents wanted more for Maddie, and they wanted more for her peers in the area. With persistence and perseverance, they began exploring starting an Angelman Syndrome Clinic at Children’s Mercy.
Encouraged all along the way by Laura’s father, Bob Shaw, and mother, Jeanne, a special education teacher, Maddie’s Mission, a nonprofit committed to bringing awareness to rare diseases including Angelman syndrome, was born. With genetic therapy and treatments on the horizon, the goal of having meaningful research and therapy right here in Kansas City was a primary impetus of Maddie's Mission and a partnership with Children’s Mercy.
Since that time proceeds from Maddie’s Mission, other Angelman’s families and the Angelman Syndrome Foundation have helped create funds at Children’s Mercy to support a new Angelman Syndrome Clinic, Angelman syndrome research efforts and the Madison Lauren Sargent Endowed Professorship in Neurology/Angelman Syndrome. Maddie’s Mission demonstrates the inspiration and lifechanging power of collaboration to advance care and research for individuals with AS to have less burdensome symptoms and improved quality of life.
Thomas Holder/Keith Ashcraft Chair in Pediatric Surgical Research
The Thomas Holder and Keith Ashcraft Chair in Pediatric Surgery was established upon the retirements of these world-renowned pediatric surgeons to honor them and their outstanding work in pediatric surgery.
Funding and establishing this chair became a mission for Children’s Mercy in the mid-1990s as the hospital sought to become a world-class research institution. Over the years, numerous donors helped to fund this chair and support in perpetuity an outstanding investigator to further the field of knowledge in pediatric surgery.
Dr. Thomas Holder and Dr. Keith Ashcraft are inspiring pediatric surgeons who personally treated hundreds of children in the Kansas City region. They set the standards for pediatric surgeons throughout the world and helped develop the surgery program at Children’s Mercy into one of the most respected in the country. Dr. Thomas Holder became the first Surgeon-in-Chief at Children’s Mercy in 1959. Dr. Ashcraft served as Chief of Urology and then Chief of Heart Surgery before becoming the Surgeon-in-Chief and the Director of the Pediatric Surgery Training program in 1992.
In addition to caring for children at Children’s Mercy, Dr. Holder and Dr. Ashcraft each served as President of the American Pediatric Surgical Association, as Chairmen of the surgical section of the American Academy of Pediatrics and on the executive committee of the World Federation of Association of Pediatric Surgeons. Together, they co-authored Pediatric Surgery, one of the two pediatric surgery textbooks used most frequently in medical school.
Thank you to all donors who made this chair possible.
Joy and Stewart Koesten Endowed Professorship in Developmental and Behavioral Health
For more than a decade, Joy and Stewart Koesten have been committed to understanding and curbing the epidemic of teenage anxiety, depression, addiction and suicide.
Having lived through their own family’s mental health crisis, Joy and Stewart have worked tirelessly in their community to reduce the stigma often associated with mental illness.
Through Joy’s work as a volunteer with the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI), Joy and Stewart found there were constructive ways in which they could support their loved one. When Joy was elected to serve as a Kansas State representative, she helped establish the House’s first Mental Health Caucus and served as co-chair, bringing awareness to the legislative body.
Over the years, Joy and Stewart became inspired by Children’s Mercy work with the Blue Valley schools to support children and families struggling with mental health challenges. Consequently, Joy and Stewart, with help from others, established the Koesten professorship, focused on supporting a researcher who is helping to make a difference in developmental and behavioral health, especially as it pertains to teenage depression and suicide prevention.
Ahmed Tawfik Abdelmoity, MD, FAAP, FAES
Melva Dessenko O’Donnell Endowed Chair in Neurology
Aliessa P. Barnes, MD
Melva & Randall O'Donnell Chair in Pediatric Cardiology
Denise Bratcher, DO
Dr. Sidney F. Pakula Endowed Chair in Graduate Medical Education
Mark A. Clements, MD, PhD, CPI, FAAP
RIck and Cathy Baier Family Endowed Chair in Endocrinology
Tom Curran, PhD, FRS
Donald J. Hall Eminent Scholar in Pediatric Research
William Ian Douglas, MD
Jerry Smith Endowed Chair in Pediatric Cardiac Surgery
Kathy Goggin, PhD
Ernest L. Glasscock, MD, Chair in Pediatric Education and Research
Elin Grundberg, PhD
Roberta D. Harding and William F. Bradley, Jr. Endowed Chair in Genomic Research
Sarah E. Hampl, MD
Kemper Endowed Professorship for Healthy Lifestyles
Jeanne M. James, MD, MBA, FAAP
Joyce C. Hall Eminent Scholar in Pediatrics
Shao Jiang, MD
Frederick J. McCoy Endowed Chair in Plastic Surgery and Craniofacial Research
Bridgette L. Jones, MD, MSCR
Marion Merrell Dow Endowed Chair in Pediatric Clinical Pharmacology
Paul D. Kempinski, MS, FACHE
Alice Berry, DDS, and Katharine Berry, MD, Endowed Chair in Executive Leadership
Robert H. Lane, MD, MS, MHA, EMBA
Schellhorn Family Endowed Chair in Medical Administration
J. Steven Leeder, PharmD, PhD
Marion Merrell Dow Chair in Pediatric Precision Therapeutics
Jean-Baptiste Le Pichon, MD, PhD, FAAP
Madison Lauren Sargent Endowed Professorship in Neurology/Angelman Syndrome
Maddie’s Mission and The Shaw Family Foundation
Cy Nadler, PhD
Josh Barnds and Stella Carlson Endowed Professorship for Autism
James O'Brien, MD, FACS
Joseph Boon Gregg/Missouri Chair in Pediatric Cardiac Surgery
Steven Olsen, MD
Swatek Family Endowed Chair in Neonatology
Norman Y. Otsuka, MD, MSc, FRCSC, FAAP, FACS, FAOA
Dr. Brad and Dawn Olney Chair in Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery
Tolulope A. Oyetunji, MD, MPH, MBA, FACS, FAAP
Thomas Holder/Keith Ashcraft Chair in Pediatric Surgical Research
Tomi Pastinen, MD, PhD
Dee Lyons/Missouri Endowed Chair in Pediatric Genomic Medicine
Eric T. Rush, MD, FAAP, FACMG
Underdown Yeomans Family Endowed Professorship in Connective Tissue Disorders Care
Venkatesh Sampath, MBBS, MRCPCH
Sosland Chair in Neonatology Research
Richard M. Schwend, MD, FAAP
Dr. Rex L. Diveley Endowed Professorship in Orthopaedic Research
Rangaraj Selvarangan, PhD, BVSc, D(ABMM), FIDSA, F(AAM)
William R. Brown/Missouri Endowed Chair in Medical Genetics and Molecular Medicine
Sarah E. Soden, MD
Nick Timmons Endowed Chair in Developmental & Behavioral Health
Shawn D. St. Peter, MD
Newly appointed to the Katharine B. Richardson Chair in Pediatric Surgery
Shayla A. Sullivant, MD
Joy and Stewart Koesten Endowed Professorship in Developmental and Behavioral Health
Jon Wagner, DO
Matson Family Endowed Professorship in Cardiology Research
Bradley A. Warady, MD
McLaughlin Family Endowed Chair in Nephrology
Endowed Faculty Positions Under Recruitment Batterson Family Endowed Chair in Pediatric Psychiatry
Bernell Hevner O’Donnell, RN, Endowed Chair-Chief Nursing Officer
DeBruce Foundation Endowed Chair in Cancer Immunotherapy
Dr. Timothy Bennett Endowed Chair in Fetal Health Surgery
Elizabeth J. Ferrell Chair in Maternal Fetal Medicine
Gallagher Family Endowed Professorship in Neurology
Glasnapp Foundation Endowed Chair in Bioethics
Gordon Family Endowed Professorship in Endocrinology
James F. Daniel, MD Endowed Chair in Liver Care
MMD Missouri Chair in Pediatric Medical Research
Schutte/Speas Endowed Chair for Pediatric Hematological Malignancies
Stanley H. Durwood Foundation Endowed Chair in Health Outcomes
Underdown Yeomans Family Endowed Professorship in Connective Tissue Disorders Research
V. Fred Burry, MD & Sandra Hobart Burry Chair in Nursing Advocacy & Leadership
Victor E. and Caroline E. Schutte Foundation/Frantze Family Endowed Chair in Pediatric Immunotherapy
Victor E Speas Foundation Endowed Chair in Pediatric Immunotherapy