News You Can Use
(From the June 2025 issue of MedStat)
Gail Besner, MD, Awarded the Medallion for Scientific Achievement
The American Surgical Association has awarded Gail Besner, MD, chief of Pediatric Surgery at Nationwide Children’s, the Medallion for Scientific Achievement, the highest honor bestowed by the association. This award is given only when a worthy recipient is nominated. Dr. Besner is the 35th recipient, the third pediatric surgeon and the second woman ever to receive this award. This award recognizes Dr. Besner for making significant scientific strides in the field of pediatric surgery, specifically regarding her research contributions for neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC).
Dr. Besner’s research focuses on eliminating NEC, a debilitating and deadly condition affecting infants born prematurely. In NEC cases, intestinal tissues become inflamed, and in severe cases, there is ischemia and death of the involved intestines. Treatment often involves surgery to remove the diseased intestines, and in its severe forms, the mortality approaches 50%.
“I am incredibly humbled to join the distinguished surgeons who have previously received this honor,” says Dr. Besner. “A treatment for NEC is desperately needed to save these babies, and I remain dedicated to the vital work needed to discover a cure for this devastating disease.”
Maitreya Coffey, MD, Named as Chief Quality Officer
Maitreya Coffey, MD, was recently named Nationwide Children’s inaugural Chief Quality Officer (CQO). As part of this role, Dr. Coffey will oversee the Center for Clinical Excellence. In addition to her role of CQO, Dr. Coffey will provide clinical care as a pediatric hospitalist and will be a professor of Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Prior to joining Nationwide Children’s, Dr. Coffey served as the associate chief medical officer for quality and medical affairs at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, Ontario, as well as a hospitalist in the division of pediatric medicine.
Heart Center Faculty Appointed in New Leadership Roles
Curt Daniels, MD, has been appointed medical director of the Richard M. Ross Heart Hospital at The Ohio State University, effective May 1, 2025. With more than 23 years as faculty at both Nationwide Children’s and The Ohio State University, Dr. Daniels has established a reputation for his groundbreaking work in creating nationally recognized transition programs for patients with congenital heart disease.
Dr. Daniels has held significant leadership positions at the American College of Cardiology, the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Heart Association. He developed Adult Congenital Heart Disease (ACHD) as a subspecialty board certification, creating ACGME fellowship training for ACHD and developing national accreditation for ACHD programs. He’s led efforts to improve workforce issues and care models for patients with ACHD by engaging with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and patient advocacy organizations and worked with members of the U.S. Congress to pass relevant legislation.
At Nationwide Children’s, Dr. Daniels has established and built an expansive ACHD program and has led the training of significant leaders in this field worldwide. His leadership has been fundamental to the success of our collaborative work with The Ohio State University.
Rob Gajarski, MD, has been appointed medical director for the Center of Clinic Excellence (CCE), effective May 1, 2025. Dr. Gajarski has built a successful clinical career as section chief of Cardiology focusing on cardiac critical care, transplant and pulmonary hypertension. He also serves as an associate chief quality officer in charge of patient safety. In this position, along with the CCE team, he has been leading efforts to reduce hospital-acquired conditions. Over the last few years, he has successfully reduced rates of patient harm events, including unplanned extubations, CLABSIs and nephrotoxic drug-associated kidney injuries in conjunction with ongoing work to reduce race-based health care disparities. Given his quality improvement expertise, Dr. Gajarski has also been one of the faculty mentors for Nationwide Children’s quality improvement course (QLA) and the QI writing course (QIPP), which mentors participants through the preparation and submission of QI manuscripts.
Nationally, Dr. Gajarski has been part of the Solutions for Patient Safety collaborative and the Children’s Hospital Association, collaborating with others to further improve patient safety in pediatric hospitals. He also helps lead the QI committees of Advanced Cardiac Therapies Improving Outcomes Network and the international Pediatric Heart Transplant Society. Dr. Gajarski will continue his present leadership and clinical roles as section chief of Cardiology and professor of Pediatrics.
Stephen Hart, MD, has been selected as the next co-director for the Pediatric Acute Care Cardiology Collaborative (PAC3), effective this summer. PAC3 is an international collaborative of inpatient pediatric cardiology with a mission to improve cardiac acute care outcomes and experiences for patients, families and hospital systems through collaborative quality improvement and a dedicated clinical registry. With over 50 member centers across the United States and Canada, PAC3 continues to grow and make strides in advancing pediatric cardiac care.
Dr. Hart has been a key leader within PAC3 for the past five years, serving as the co-chair of the database committee. In this role, he has played a pivotal part in guiding the organization through two major registry updates. He has also been instrumental in developing PAC3's virtual audit process, ensuring the registry remains robust and clinically validated and has played an essential role developing risk-adjusted metrics for the organization. Dr. Hart will continue his present roles of associate section chief for the Division of Cardiology.
Partners For Kids® Announces New Chief Medical Officer
Gavin Baumgardner, DO, MHA, joins Partners For Kids as the new chief medical officer (CMO). Dr. Baumgardner previously served as the vice president and national medical director for palliative care at Amedisys, a leading provider of health care in the home. Prior to that, he spent 20 years at OhioHealth, serving in a succession of leadership positions.
In his new role as CMO, Dr. Baumgardner will join the executive leadership team at Partners For Kids, where he will use his experience, passion and clinical expertise to support the mission of delivering best outcomes for children throughout Ohio. Learn more at PartnersForKids.org/news-updates.