I am delighted to announce that Dr. Kelly Chilson has accepted the appointment to serve as the interim Chief of the Division of Pediatric Anesthesiology. Dr. Chilson will be stepping into this role when Dr. Tom Cox steps down as the current Division Chief. Since January of this year, Dr. Chilson has been serving as the Associate Chief of the Division of Pediatric Anesthesiology. She has been outstanding in this new role and has helped Dr. Cox to lead our Pediatric Division during the ongoing time of unprecedented challenge, which is COVID-19.
The Division of Pediatric Anesthesiology is one of the largest divisions in the Department of Anesthesiology and provides exclusive perioperative and pain management services for St. Louis Children’s Hospital, the Children’s Subspecialty Care Center in West County, and the St. Louis Shriner’s Hospital for Children.
Dr. Chilson is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Medicine where she also completed her pediatric internship and anesthesiology residency. She completed both pediatric anesthesiology and pediatric cardiac fellowships at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Dr. Chilson is now a respected local and national leader in pediatric cardiac anesthesiology. She was previously the section chief for pediatric cardiac anesthesiology and is a core member of the St. Louis Children’s Hospital Heart Center leadership group. Dr. Chilson also serves on the board of directors of the Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society. She is recognized by surgical colleagues and administrative leadership as a highly capable clinician and thought leader. Last year Dr. Chilson served as an inaugural co-medical director for perioperative services at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
We are fortunate to have such a respected leader in pediatric anesthesiology agree to serve as the interim Chief of Pediatric Anesthesiology for our Department. Dr. Chilson enjoys strong support from her fellow leaders in the Anesthesiology Department, in St. Louis Children’s Hospital, and in Washington University School of Medicine. Please join us in thanking and congratulating Dr. Kelly Chilson. Also, please join me again in thanking Dr. Cox for his sustained leadership and phenomenal contributions to WUDA and WUSM over two decades. I am excited to work closely with Kelly Chilson as she embraces this critically important leadership role at a time of uncertainty, great need, and opportunity.
Michael S. Avidan, MBBCh, FCASA
Dr. Seymour and Rose T. Brown Professor of Anesthesiology
Head of the Department of Anesthesiology
Anesthesiologist-in-Chief, Barnes-Jewish Hospital