Packard Children’s hospital school celebrates 100 years of caring for young patients
Posts By
Erin Digitale
Why Precision Medicine Leads to Better Diabetes Care
Diabetes can show up in almost anyone: pregnant women, babies, kids, teens, adults both young and old.
How to Safeguard Teens’ Well-Being on Social Media
Some tweens and younger teenagers may have difficultly understanding the motives behind social media content, or discerning fact from misinformation.
How a Cystic Fibrosis Drug Given Prenatally Changed the Lives of One Family
Giving a new cystic fibrosis medication to a pregnant woman who carries the gene for the disease was unexpectedly beneficial for her fetus, a Stanford Medicine team found.
“Through Their Eyes”: Patients Reflect on Illness Through Photography
Through a photo project, Stanford Medicine Children’s Health patient families shared their hospital experiences through their eyes.
Frequently Asked Questions about Screening for Food Insecurity
A Stanford Children’s team is deploying a systematic new way for our healthcare providers to ask about and respond to needs in patients’ lives that occur outside the medical system.
Back to School: Jason Yeatman on How Children Learn to Read
An expert answers questions that parents may have about how children learn to read and how to identify when a child is struggling.
Helping the Hospital Feel Like Home: Chief Nursing Officer Jesus Cepero on how workforce diversity makes patients feel welcome
Jesus Cepero, PhD, RN, reflects on how his journey has taught him the benefits of workforce diversity for health care workers, hospitals, and, most important, for patients and families.
Philip Sunshine, 92, a founder of neonatal medicine, retires from caring for babies
When Philip Sunshine, MD, now a professor emeritus of pediatrics, arrived at Stanford as a… Read more »
Helping Kids Cope with Separation Anxiety
Managing back-to-school separation anxiety for children and parents alike.
Predicting the Best Treatment for Young Ulcerative Colitis Patients
Children and teens with ulcerative colitis have many more treatment options than a decade ago,… Read more »
Stanford Research Uncovers Health Risks for Mothers Giving Birth in Two-Mom Families
A recently published study outlines several pregnancy and birth risks for mothers in two-mom families. Certain complications, including serious conditions such as postpartum hemorrhage, were substantially more common in these mothers.
Changing Infant Care to Improve Newborns’ Health in India
Modifying traditional infant massages led to more weight gain and fewer illnesses among newborns in a Stanford-led community study in India.
From Loss Comes Hope: Early Clinical Trial Results Show Promise for Treating Pediatric Brain Tumor
When Jace Ward came to Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford to join a clinical trial for a novel therapy, he had been fighting a deadly brainstem tumor for more than a year. A group of Stanford scientists published data from the trial Ward joined.
Stanford Team Finds Benefits to Online Autism Treatment
In the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, Stanford Medicine researchers had to pause a study of autism treatment in preschoolers. The halt was stressful for kids and their families, so a team of pediatric psychologists pivoted to offering the treatment online.
Kids Fare Better With Early Use of Diabetes Technology
Providing continuous glucose monitors to kids with new type 1 diabetes improves their blood sugar levels a year later, a Stanford study showed.
Frequently Asked Questions About COVID-19 Vaccines For Kids Aged 5-11
Stanford Medicine Children’s Heath experts answer parents’ FAQs, including how to schedule vaccinations.
Youngsters With ADHD Often Don’t Receive Best Treatment
About 2% of 4- and 5-year-olds have hyperactive and inattentive behaviors that interfere with their lives enough to warrant an ADHD diagnosis.
Children Born Early at Risk From Too Much Screen Time
Children born very prematurely are at risk for cognitive and behavioral problems linked to excess screen time.
When Can You Vaccinate Your Kids? What We Know as FDA Prepares to Consider Data From Studies
Stanford pediatricians helped conduct clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccines for children. Data from the study will be submitted to the Food and Drug Administration for consideration.
Uneven Healthcare Access Stresses DACA Families, Study Finds
During four decades of caring for the children of immigrants who live in the U.S. without legal permission, Stanford pediatrician Fernando Mendoza, MD, often had to ask the parents of his patients a painful question: “Have you talked to your kids about what happens if you get picked up by immigration enforcement?”
Stanford Pediatrician Answers COVID-19 Vaccine Questions
In a series of short FAQ videos, Stanford Medicine pediatric infectious disease expert Yvonne Maldonado, MD, and two other pediatricians discuss the vaccines’ safety and efficacy, the need for everyone 12 years and older to be vaccinated and the status ofongoing clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccines for younger children.
Preventing Kids’ Head Injuries: Tips from a Concussion Expert
After a lull early in the pandemic, head injury rates for kids are ticking up again. Parents should know what to do if their child gets hurt.
5 Questions: Elizabeth Reichert on Handling Back-to-School Anxiety in a Pandemic
Returning to school as the pandemic stretches on may spark anxiety in young students, but there are approaches parents can use to build children’s resilience.
5 Questions: Lisa Patel on California Wildfires and School Ventilation
As the peak of wildfire season coincides with the beginning of the school year, Stanford pediatrician Lisa Patel, MD, answers key questions about the effects of climate change and the dangers smoke can have in children.
Newborn Avoids Surgery With Stanford Medicine’s Unique Treatment for a Small Jaw
Stanford Medicine Children’s Health is the first to provide this procedure in the country.
Helping Parents Respond to Anti-Asian Racism and Violence
Recent attacks on Asians, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders may leave parents struggling with how to have conversations about racism with their children. Stanford Medicine Children’s Health’s Mari Kurahashi, MD, offers expert advice on the subject.
It Takes a Team: Caring for Kids with COVID-19
Stanford Medicine Children’s Health physician Alan Schroeder, MD, talks about his work caring for kids with COVID-19 symptoms in the pediatric intensive care unit.
5 Questions: Tandy Aye, MD, on What Transgender Teens Need from Their Parents
A recent Stanford study showed that, for teens exploring their gender identity, simple acts of caring from their parents were what they valued most.
Names on Surgical Caps Boost Communication During C-sections, Study Finds
New Stanford research finds labeled surgical caps improve communication among patients and health care providers during C-sections.
COVID-19 Vaccine Answers from a Stanford Medicine Children’s Health Expert
Stanford Medicine Children’s Health pediatric infectious disease expert Roshni Mathew, MD, answers common questions about the COVID-19 vaccines.
Nation’s pediatricians push for safe, effective COVID-19 vaccines
The country’s pediatricians have called for new COVID-19 vaccines to be appropriately vetted for safety and efficacy for everyone, including children.
Stanford Team Improves Diagnostics for Newborns’ Brain Bleeds
Mini-strokes, caused by breaks in tiny blood vessels, can occur during or soon after birth. New Stanford research expands the capability of ultrasound diagnosis of these injuries to provide a real-time window into brain function.
Helping Parents Talk about Racism with Kids
An overview of resources that exist at Stanford and beyond designed to guide families’ conversations about racism.
Learning in the Age of COVID-19: How to Help Kids with Distance Learning
Stanford Medicine Children’s Health experts offer ideas and advice for helping kids with distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, including children with special needs.
Inflammatory Syndrome and COVID-19: What Parents Need to Know
Infectious disease experts at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health discuss the rare pediatric multi-system inflammatory syndrome that has been linked with COVID-19.
Preventing Prematurity: Stanford Leads Research to Help Moms and Babies
Stanford researchers develop a new noninvasive blood test to help predict premature births.
Virtual Pitch Competition Recognizes Pediatric Device Innovators
Seed funding awarded to start-ups working to develop health technology for children.
Helping Kids and Families Cope with COVID-19
As COVID-19 continues to spread, Stanford Medicine Children’s experts have advice about communicating with children and reducing their anxiety.
Eva and Erika: Mastering kindergarten, movement and big vocabularies!
We checked in with formerly conjoined twin sisters Eva and Erika Sandoval, who in 2016 were surgically separated at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford.
Stranger Donates Kidney to Save Young Packard Children’s Patient Thanks to the Power of Social Media
NBC Bay Area Proud tells the story of a stranger who saved a two-year-old Packard Children’s patient in need of a kidney transplant.
Stanford Trial Shows Parents Can Learn Therapy to Help Their Children With Autism Learn to Speak
When James Pim was small, he struggled to express himself. His mom enrolled in a Stanford trial of an autism therapy called pivotal response treatment with the hope that she could help him understand how to use words to communicate.
What One Speech Therapist Wishes You Knew About Stuttering
Many young children develop a stutter as they learn to speak—as their brains are processing thousands of new words and sounds in the first few years of their lives.
An Unusual Stem Cell Transplant Saves Two Brothers
Brothers Ronnie and Levi Dogan were born with a very rare condition called IPEX syndrome. Packard Children’s was the first in the U.S. to offer a unique stem cell transplant they would both need for survival.
Rising To Meet the Need for Pediatric Device Innovation
The second annual Pediatric Innovation Showcase brought together pediatric experts and innovators to highlight progress in pediatric device development.
A decade of advances in prematurity research at Stanford
Babies who are born prematurely, arriving three or more weeks early, face a variety of… Read more »
Seeking a better way to match donor hearts with children awaiting transplant
Doctors leverage 3D imaging software to expand the potential donor pool for children in need… Read more »
What parents need to know about acute flaccid myelitis
5 questions with Dr. Keith Van Haren, pediatric neurologist and expert on polio-like illness. It’s… Read more »
Congenital heart patient happy and healthy at 8 months
Lola is happy and healthy at 8 months after undergoing open heart surgery for a congenital heart defect.
Stanford expert explains how border separations can traumatize children
Unplanned separation from parents is among the most damaging events a young child can experience, according to trauma research. A Stanford expert explains how it can hurt kids’ development.
New documentary describes heart transplant family’s journey
On Saturday, MSNBC aired a two-hour documentary called “Heartbreak: Saving the Binghams”.
Formerly conjoined twins Erika and Eva Sandoval are thriving
When they are not hopping, both girls are scooting quickly around on three limbs, playing and talking with gusto, and expressing themselves as individuals.
Every day is Father’s Day for the Berquist family
For pediatric gastroenterologist Bill Berquist, MD, the phrase “works with children” has a double meaning. Three of his grown children are following in his scientific footsteps.
Stanford Medicine Children’s gender clinic helps young people affirm their identities
When Noah Wilson realized he was transgender, he was afraid to tell his parents. When he did gather the courage to come out, his family had many questions. Together, they sought help from the Pediatric and Adolescent Gender Clinic at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health.
Baby born with half a heart supported with unusual ventricular assist device
Brayden McQuillan, now 3 months old, had a ventricular assist device implanted on his 18th day of life to help his failing heart pump blood.
Christopher Almond, MD discusses pediatric heart pump trial
Stanford is leading a multisite study of a new ventricular assist device for children who are awaiting heart transplantation.
Heart transplant for Gage Bingham
Early Wednesday morning, after 512 days on the transplant wait list, 8-year-old Gage Bingham became the third child in his family to receive a new heart.
Formerly conjoined twins returning to Sacramento
Formerly conjoined twins Eva and Erika Sandoval are one step closer to going home. The 2½-year-old sisters, who were surgically separated on Dec. 6, moved from Palo Alto to UC Davis Children’s Hospital in Sacramento.
Formerly conjoined twins update: Erika and Eva
Formerly conjoined twins Erika and Eva Sandoval, who were separated December 6 are making good progress on learning to live as two people.
New hormone helps explain how high-fat diets make us fatter
A Stanford team published their discovery of a hormone that signals when the body needs more fat stores. It sends its message in response to two external signals that we already knew could make people fatter.
Stanford Trauma Center saves 10-year-old’s hand — and his life
When Elijah Olivas’s hand was severed in a car accident, dozens of experts from our pediatric trauma team coordinated to perform 20 hours of life- and limb-saving surgery.
Child Life specialists help hospitalized kids handle stress and have fun
When children who’ve been ill or injured go home from the hospital, they often carry fond memories of their child life specialists, the folks who brought toys and games to their bedsides, explained medical procedures in a non-scary way, and helped their families worry less.
New cystic fibrosis screening test developed at Stanford
Stanford researchers have invented a new technique to detect cystic fibrosis in infants. The test, described in a paper published today in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, is more comprehensive, faster and cheaper than current newborn screening methods.
World-first treatment for rare heart defect saves baby born at Packard Children’s
Linda Luna was five months pregnant with her first child when she got the bad news: Ultrasound scans showed a deadly defect in her baby boy’s heart. He had a 90 percent chance of dying before or just after birth. But thanks to a groundbreaking treatment at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, two-month-old baby Liam, who just went home to San Jose last week, is beating those odds.
Girls with autism show behavior and brain differences compared to boys, Stanford study finds
Girls with autism tend to have less severe manifestations of one of the disorder’s core features, repetitive and restricted behavior, and they show brain-scan differences from boys that help explain the discrepancy, a new Stanford study has found.
A serendipitous save that changed treatment of the most common tumor of infancy
Serendipity played a key role in the success of Isabella Manley’s treatment for a life-threatening tumor that made it difficult for her to breathe.
Stanford Medicine Children’s Health adds Fertility and Reproductive Health Services
The longstanding expertise of Stanford Medicine’s Fertility and Reproductive Health team has a new home: This month, the team moved to Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford and Stanford Medicine Children’s Health.
Stanford-led study suggests changes to brain scanning guidelines for preemies
A Stanford-led research team has examined how brain scans can help doctors predict preemies’ neurodevelopmental outcomes in toddlerhood. The researchers found that for babies born more than 12 weeks early who survive early infancy, brain scans performed near their original due date are better predictors than scans done near birth.
What does a cardiac electrophysiologist do? Anne Dubin explains her profession.
Other cardiologists are plumbers; I’m an electrician,” says Dubin. “Most cardiologists deal with structural heart disease: how the plumbing works and how the heart pumps. I focus on the electrical system that drives the pump.
An easy plan for healthy school lunches
It’s fall! Now that the school year is underway, you may be looking to streamline some healthy family routines, such your system for making simple and nutritious school lunches.
Early Support Program for Autism, a collaboration between Stanford Medicine Children’s Health and Children’s Health Council, connects families to autism resources
Finding autism caregivers and treatments is a daunting challenge for families facing a new autism diagnosis. But now there’s help. The Early Support Program for Autism, a free service with no waiting list, gives parents someone to call for up-to-date information about doctors, therapists, treatment programs and other community resources.
Dietary supplement helps lung function in cystic fibrosis patients, Stanford/Packard study finds
Life expectancy for people with cystic fibrosis has improved dramatically in the last few decades, but those with CF still struggle with a very basic action: breathing easily. However, a new study indicates that a specific dietary supplement might stave off the decline in lung function that characterizes this genetic disease.
Stanford/VA study finds link between PTSD and premature birth
Scientists have long suspected that post-traumatic stress disorder raises a pregnant woman’s risk of giving birth prematurely. Now, new research from Stanford and the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs confirms these suspicions.
Talking to kids about the Ebola virus
Heavy media coverage of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa and isolated cases in the U.S. may leave parents wondering how to talk to their children about the disease. The American Academy of Pediatrics, along with Drs. Yvonne Maldonado and Victor Carrion of Stanford Medicine Children’s Health, have information to assist parents in these conversations.
Q & A about Enterovirus-D68 with infectious disease expert Yvonne Maldonado, MD and Keith Van Haren, MD, pediatric neurologist
Yvonne Maldonado, MD, service chief of pediatric infectious disease at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, answers questions about the respiratory symptoms caused by this virus. In addition, Keith Van Haren, MD, a pediatric neurologist who has been assisting closely with the California Department of Public Health’s investigation, comments on neurologic symptoms that might be associated with the virus.
Transplant pioneer at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford celebrates 30 years of saving lives
Three decades ago, in the early days of liver transplant, babies with liver failure usually died. Transplants were saving adults and older children, but were not offered to patients younger than 2. For these youngsters, doctors thought, the operation was too risky and difficult. But an ambitious surgeon named Carlos Esquivel changed that.
New research shows how to keep diabetics safer during sleep
Life with type 1 diabetes requires an astonishing number of health-related decisions – about 180 per day. But patients’ vigilant monitoring of their daytime blood sugar, food intake, insulin and activity levels is perhaps less exhausting than the worries they face about getting a safe night’s sleep.
Cardiac arrest in pregnancy: New CPR recommendations for expectant moms
When a pregnant woman’s heart stops, two lives are threatened. Yet few caregivers know how to modify their cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) technique for the expectant mom and her fetus, and few hospitals are optimally prepared for such an event.
Empowerment training prevents rape of Kenyan girls
Adolescent girls in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya, are frequent targets of sexual harassment and… Read more »
Q&A with Greg Enns, MD, about NGLY1 deficiency, a newly discovered genetic disease
Gregory Enns, MD, pediatric geneticist at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford and a professor of… Read more »
Q & A: Rare polio-like disease emerges in California
(Updated March 25, 2014.) Keith Van Haren, MD, pediatric neurologist at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital… Read more »
Global Impact: Self-Defense Training for Kenyan Girls Reduces Rape, Stanford/Packard Study Finds
A low-cost, empowering approach makes a huge difference for high school girls in Kenya, thanks in part to a collaboration with Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford.
Center for Fetal and Maternal Health – 1,000 patients
Zoë Bower was 18 weeks pregnant when she and her husband, Dan Edelstein, received devastating… Read more »
Neuro NICU Supports Babies at Risk for Brain Injury
From brain monitoring to therapeutic cooling, babies at risk for brain injury get their strongest start in life at Packard Children’s Neuro NICU.
Mother Earth: Pollution Impacts Pregnancy
Breathing traffic pollution in early pregnancy is linked to higher risk for certain serious birth defects, according to new research from the Stanford University School of Medicine.
“Downton Abbey” revisited: Modern medicine’s approach to a dangerous complication of pregnancy
Maurice Druzin, MD is leading efforts to equip every California hospital for saving moms’ and babies’ lives when confronted with pre-eclampsia.
Sugar intake, diabetes and kids: Q&A with a pediatric obesity expert
Sugar may play a stronger role in the origins of diabetes than anyone realized, according… Read more »
Addie and Max Have a Christmas to Remember
The Graham twins from Texas are celebrating a lifesaving gift, thanks to their parents and Packard Children’s.
News about Newborns, Delivered Each Morning
For parents dealing with a sick newborn, access to their baby’s condition needs to be clear and immediate. While conversations with the physician or nurse are a key source of information, Packard Children’s found another way to keep parents updated and in the loop.
Improving the Odds of Breast Milk for Preemies
Premature babies benefit from consuming breast milk, but their chance of receiving it is strongly influenced by the hospital where they spend their early days.
Online Health Records Benefit Teens in Juvenile Justice System
Teens who get in trouble with the law often have serious untreated health problems. But a strong collaborative relationship between Packard Children’s and the local juvenile justice system is helping physicians improve the health of high-risk adolescents.
Something to Smile About
A year ago, Jon and Kristi Cannon feared their young son would never smile again…. Read more »
Noah’s Tiny Voice Speaks Volumes
Noah Jackson was born without a voice. Because of a rare genetic disease, his airway… Read more »
