The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) is staffed by full-time board-certified (or board-eligible) pediatric critical care specialists. The physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, and other specialists in the PICU work as a team in assessing, diagnosing and treating children afflicted with critical illnesses. Attentive care is ensured around the clock by assigning each registered nurse on each shift to no more than two patients. In addition, other professionals such as social workers, respiratory therapists, registered dieticians, physical and occupational therapists, child life and educational specialists, and clergy members provide support and care to the patient and family.

Christopher J. Gregory, M.D. — Christopher Gregory is a Pediatric Critical Care physician and is actively engaged in research in telemedicine and translational research.

Alexander A. Kon, M.D. — Alexander Kon is a Pediatric Critical Care physician and a Bioethicist. He is the Chair of the UC Davis Medical Center Bioethics Committee and is the Bioethicist for the UC Davis Clinical and Translational Science Center. His research focuses on issues of informed consent in both pediatric clinical care and clinical research involving children.

James P. Marcin, M.D., M.P.H. — James Marcin is a Pediatric Critical Care physician and directs the UC Davis Children's Hospital Pediatric Telemedicine Program, the UC Davis Critical Care Transport Team. He is also a member of the Center for Health Services Research in Primary Care and the Graduate Group in Epidemiology. His research involves the use of telemedicine in Emergency departments and the ICU and assessing and improving outcomes and the quality of care provided to acutely ill and injured children in Northern California.

Stephanie Mateev, M.D. — Stephanie Mateev in addition to being one of the Critical Care faculty is interested in neurodevelopmental outcomes of critically ill patients, particularly those with traumatic brain injury and those with congenital heart disease.

JoAnne E. Natale, M.D., Ph.D. — JoAnne Natale is the Medical Director of the PICU, and is an authority on the treatment of brain injuries. Her research focuses on improving the neurodevelopmental outcomes of patients with traumatic brain injury.

Kourosh Parsapour, M.D. — Kourosh Parsapour is a Pediatric Critical Care physician and is interested in the use of telemedicine and its various applications. He is currently involved in projects utilizing telemedicine technology to reduce pediatric healthcare disparities and ways to improve emergency transport practices from non-Children's Hospitals. He is also involved in the Family-Link project, which utilizes telemedicine to improve family-centered care in the ICU.

Robert K. Pretzlaff, M.D. — Robert Pretzlaff is the Division Chief of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine. Additionally, he is Medical Director of the ECLS program. His research interests include research ethics and professional development.

Rama Pullela, M.D. — Rama Pullela in addition to being a Critical Care physician is the groups leader in organizing and providing lectures and educational opportunities for the Pediatric residents.

• Pediatric critical care nurses, who have expertise in caring for critically ill children;
• Pediatric pharmacists
• Pediatric nutritionists
• Respiratory and physical therapists trained to accommodate the needs and capabilities of children
• Social workers committed to the support of children and their family members.

Through the UC Davis Health System, we have at our disposal a roster of medical specialists with expertise in general pediatric surgery, pediatric cardiology, pediatric cardiothoracic surgery, neurosurgery, hematology and oncology, pulmonology, and other disciplines.