Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/237564
COVER FEATURE its bigger pledge to provide the city with pediatric subspecialists who have never before been available locally. For example, the community has never had a pediatric adolescent and bariatric medicine specialist, but with the addition of Suzanne Cuda, MD, another area of medicine is now available to families who would otherwise have left San Antonio for diagnosis and treatment. In a matter of weeks, patients were eagerly visiting Dr. Cuda's clinic, a sign of what's ahead for Dr. Gilger as he continues to recruit talent. "I am looking for two things in faculty for the Children's Hospital of San Antonio," Dr. Gilger says. "First, I'm searching for top-quality physicians. Second, I'm looking Children's Hospital of San Antonio Building a New Community Mark Gilger, MD, Pediatrician-in-Chief; Michelle Barajaz, MD, Residency Program Director; Vanessa Hill, MD, Chief Medical Information Officer; and Richard Wayne, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, from the Children's Hospital of San Antonio N after the Children's Hospital of San Antonio announced its partnership with Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital, dramatic changes in staff are propelling the hospital quickly forward. You might even say the Children's Hospital of San Antonio is on a hiring spree, with nearly 100 new doctors in place and plans to add 100 more by this time next year. The very first faculty member to join the team was Mark Gilger, MD, Children's Hospital of San Antonio's first Pediatrician-inChief. He is a Vice Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and is board-certified in pediatrics and pediatric gastroenterology. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. EARLY ONE YEAR 6 | San Antonio MD NEWS ■ MDNEWS.COM New Faces, New Specialties and Services He may have been the first of the Baylor faculty to join Children's Hospital of San Antonio, but Dr. Gilger wasn't alone for long. Among the first group hired was a high-caliber team of 10 pediatric hospitalists led by Baylor College of Medicine Associate Professor Ricardo Quinonez, MD, who came from Texas Children's Hospital. Particularly significant about hiring the hospitalist group is that a pediatrician is in the hospital and on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Formerly, pediatricians were on call, but this commitment of around-the-clock care by the Children's Hospital of San Antonio is indicative of for people who want to help us build this community, knowing we have a lot of work to do. I want them to be part of building something special for San Antonio." Dr. Gilger hasn't had to work too hard to spread the word about hiring for the Children's Hospital of San Antonio. Almost immediately after the partnership was announced, he started getting inquiries from around the state, then from farther afield. Now, it's self-generating; Dr. Gilger receives inquiries every day from physicians who are interested in joining the new team. "We are recruiting nationally and have already hired physicians from both coasts and gone international with our efforts," he says. "One thing that is clear is that the Baylor name is attractive. They know it in Texas, and they know it nationally." By late 2013, nearly all the section heads were in place for key programs, including critical care, infectious disease, pulmonology, endocrinology, genetics, emergency medicine, dermatology, cardiothoracic IMAGES © CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF SAN ANTONIO for Excellence in Pediatric Health Care

