Boston Children's Hospital

Congratulations to Eyal Krispin, MD, director of the Fetal Care and Surgery Center and chief of the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine and Surgery, on presenting at the 23rd World Congress in Fetal Medicine (FMF 2026) in Vienna, Austria. Dr. Krispin’s presentation, titled “The Role of Placental Structural Sharing and Oxygenation in Fetal Growth in Complicated Monochorionic Twin Pregnancies: An MRI Study,” showcased a collaborative study co-authored by Patricia Ellen Grant, MD, and Esra Abaci Turk, PhD, that advances the Center’s efforts to better understand fetal growth in complicated monochorionic twin pregnancies. We're proud to see the team’s work shared on the international stage and excited to see their continued impact on the field of fetal care. Learn more about our research initiatives: http://ms.spr.ly/6041vASfL #FMF2026 #FetalMedicine #MedicalResearch #prenatalMRI

Our Skeletal Health Center was thrilled to attend the Little People of America, Inc. National Conference in New Orleans last week. Representing the center were Center Directors Jennifer Arnold, MD; Christina Jacobsen, MD; and Samantha Spencer, MD, along with Natalie Reilly, RN. The LPA National Conference brings together individuals and families affected by skeletal dysplasia and the health care professionals who care for them. This was our first year attending as an official Boston Children's center, and it was a wonderful opportunity to connect with families, learn from others in the skeletal dysplasia community, and share information about the services we provide.

Boston Children’s Hospital is proud to join Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and The Jackson Laboratory’s Rare Disease Translational Center to launch the Center for Therapeutic Genetics (CTG) — a new collaboration advancing genetic medicines for patients with rare diseases. With fewer than 1 in 20 rare diseases having an approved treatment, CTG is building a scalable, platform-based approach to accelerate the development of tailored therapies and expand access for more patients and families. Boston Children’s Wendy Chung, MD, PhD and Tim Yu, MD, PhD join collaborators David R. Liu, PhD, Cat Lutz, PhD, and Winston Yan, MD PhD in leading this effort. Together, we’re working to make individualized genetic medicine more efficient, accessible, and repeatable.

Boston Children’s Hospital’s Teddy Bear Clinic is an interactive, hands-on event designed to help pediatric patients feel more comfortable with eye exams. Learn more below 🧸⤵️

Boston Children's Hospital and OpenEvidence collaborate to Advance AI-Powered Analysis of Clinical Practice Patterns: The multi-year collaboration will examine how clinicians' real-world use of AI tools at the point of care relates to practice patterns and delivery of care. "This initiative brings together Boston Children's deep clinical expertise and OpenEvidence's clinical evidence platform to better understand care delivery and help children thrive, while preserving patient privacy," said John Brownstein, PhD, Chief Innovation Officer at Boston Children's Hospital. "OpenEvidence has quickly become a trusted, everyday resource at the point of care, supporting millions of patient visits across the U.S. By analyzing anonymous patterns in how clinicians ask and answer questions during these encounters, we can surface insights into health trends that would otherwise remain hidden—and, in collaboration with OpenEvidence, continue helping clinicians deliver better care." The collaboration includes an integration that enables Boston Children's clinicians to access OpenEvidence directly within the electronic health record, reflecting how central the tool has become to clinical workflows at Boston Children's. ⤵️

We’re pleased to announce our next Chief of the Department of Cardiology: Rahul Rathod, MD, MBA. During the past 20 years, Dr. Rathod has built and led initiatives across the Department of Cardiology and Benderson Family Heart Center, including founding the multidisciplinary Fontan at Boston (FAB) Clinic. He is widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost experts in single ventricle heart disease and the Fontan circulation. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Rathod as he steps into this new role and in thanking Tal Geva, MD, for his exceptional leadership as Chief over the past decade. Connect with us or refer a patient to the Department of Cardiology: http://ms.spr.ly/6044vs6xi

The extreme positioning of superior-inferior ventricles — one almost on top of the other, instead of side by side — is a complex heart defect that typically has limited treatment. But our heart surgeons have overcome that complexity by using biventricular repair techniques that give children two functioning ventricles. Find out how they do it ⤵️

In celebration of Community Health Improvement Week (#CHIW), we were thrilled to host the first Employee Volunteer Day at Family Food Connections, our food pantry in Jamaica Plain, on June 9. Twenty-eight employees from across the hospital stepped up to volunteer, stocking shelves and helping distribute food to 440 community members that day. Our employee volunteers played a key role in making this day possible, demonstrating how Boston Children’s supports the health and well-being of our communities beyond the hospital’s walls. We’re excited to continue creating opportunities for our employees to give back and to support the vital work of Family Food Connections and the communities we serve. More on Family Food Connections: https://lnkd.in/e9mZh9Sz

“It felt very surreal at the time because I just didn’t expect to get an answer in my lifetime,” says Kyra, a 28-year-old who received a diagnosis for her rare disease after enrolling in a study where researchers used OpenAI’s o3 Deep Research tools to analyze de-identified clinical and genomic data from cases that had remained unsolved for years. Dr. Catherine Brownstein, senior author of the study, explains how these AI tools can help accelerate the diagnostic process while giving researchers more time for in-depth analysis, review, and scientific discovery. She also emphasizes that human expertise remains essential for leading the research, validating findings, and ensuring these tools are used effectively. Learn more about the study published last week in NEJM AI and featured on ABC News ⤵️

Neuro-oncology is advancing so quickly that it can be challenging for pediatric neurosurgeons to stay up to date. Enter the Society for Pediatric Neurosurgical Oncology (SPNO), a new global professional organization established by a team of pediatric neurosurgeons including our own Lissa Baird, MD. The goal: to advance care through education, collaboration, and innovation. To learn more, check out their paper in JNS Pediatrics. ⤵️