Introduction by the Chair

Our website is undergoing a major renovation! Please check back soon for more information about the Department of Paediatrics.

The Department has four fundamental activities:

1.                          Provision of all levels of clinical services to children in Calgary, throughout Alberta and other provinces;

2.                          Training the next generation of healthcare professionals caring for children and their families, and continued training for current healthcare professionals;

3.                          Knowledge generation and innovation in clinical care and education through the conduct, dissemination and translation of research;

4.                          Provision of leadership throughout clinical and academic health systems.

We have 214 clinical and academic faculty members in 20 clinical divisions and 2 academic units and we are still growing. The hub of our clinical services is the new 125 bed Alberta Children’s Hospital which last year (2008-09) received over 225,000 outpatient clinic visits, nearly 56,000 emergency department visits and nearly 7100 admissions. We provide neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) care at the Foothills Medical Centre, Peter Lougheed Centre (PLC) and Rockyview General Hospital. Last year, nearly 2800 babies were served in our NICUs. We also provide paediatric inpatient service at the PLC, as well as general paediatric and subspecialty ambulatory clinical services throughout Calgary. Our physicians travel to provide outreach clinics throughout southern Alberta. The population we serve continues to grow. Last year there were more than 18,000 births in Calgary and area and Alberta has the highest birthrate of all Canadian provinces, 23% higher than the Canadian average. 

Our newest service is the Rotary Flames House, located beside ACH. It will open in the autumn of 2009 to provide respite and palliative care.  

We teach health professionals at all levels throughout the University of Calgary, as well as SAIT and Mount Royal College. There are 11 Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Paediatric Residency Training Programs in Calgary (http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/postgrad/listprograms/programinfo). In 2009-10, a total of 76 medical residents and fellows are being trained..

Department members initiate or participate in biomedical, clinical, health services and population/public health research. Our main research partner is the ACH Research Institute for Child and Maternal Health (www.ucalgary.ca/research4kids/).  

The Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation provides generous support to services in the hospital and to research (www.childrenshospital.ab.ca).

Check back soon to see our new and improved website!

James D. Kellner MD, FRCPC

Professor and Head, Department of Paediatrics

University of Calgary

Alberta Health Services – Calgary Zone