About Us

The Department of Pediatrics is a vital component of the West Virginia University School of Medicine. In collaboration with West Virginia University Children’s Hospital which serves as the premiere site of pediatric care within West Virginia and the surrounding region housing the largest group of primary care and specialty care physicians and surgeons dedicated to the care of children and adolescents. 

“As West Virginia’s leading academic medical center, we have a responsibility to the children of our state and their parents to provide the highest level of care close to home,” Albert L. Wright, Jr., president and CEO of the West Virginia University Health System, said. “The demand for our services has increased so that we must grow in order to meet their needs.” 

The Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center at West Virginia University is a comprehensive institution with a full range of undergraduate, graduate, and professional degree programs to prepare you for a future in the fields of science and health. The extraordinary array of real-life, hands-on experiences, bring you an unsurpassed education in advanced patient care, diagnosis treatment, disease prevention, health and wellness.

Our faculty, staff and infrastructure are dedicated to serving infants, children, and adolescents and their families. We create an environment that promotes healthy development, provides reassurance and comfort, fosters healing, and enables our young patients to maintain a primary focus on their lives as children and students rather than on their disease or impairment. By educating both the current and future generations of child health providers, we promote the development of excellent clinical skills, humanistic qualities, and commitment to professionalism. Our research efforts are designed to advance scientific knowledge, provide state-of-the-art care, and serve as a national model for health promotion, disease prevention, and health care delivery to rural children.

The Department of Pediatrics includes 16 clinical and research Divisions with approximately 45 faculty members. Each section is headed by pediatric board certified sub-specialist. Besides clinical care and teaching, our faculty are involved in research and national education efforts.

The West Virginia University Children’s Hospital includes a pediatric and adolescent ward with 30 beds, a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit with 19 beds, a level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit with 42 beds, and a suite of 25 labor-delivery-post-partum rooms for the mother and infant. A playroom and teen-room facilitate the rehabilitation of our young patients.

At the Ambulatory Clinic located in the Physician Office Center, our physicians and staff see approximately 40,000 patient visits representing both primary care and specialty visits.  WVU Pediatric Healthcare is also offered at WVU Cheat Lake Physicians and our new facility at WVU Healthcare University Town Centre.

WVU Medicine Children’s is currently constructing a new 10-story Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

The new tower will include:

• Entry, registration, administration, outpatient clinics, and building services
• Loading dock, dietary services, diagnostic imaging, and connection to the Southeast Tower (the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute tower)
• Operating rooms, cardiac catheterization, and endoscopy facilities
• A 20-bed Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) and 10-bed procedure/sedation unit
• A 50-bed Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)
• A 40-bed pediatric acute care unit
• A 30-bed obstetrical unit with potential for expansion
• Pediatric subspecialty and maternal-fetal medicine clinics

All of the inpatient rooms will be private. The tower will also include a satellite pharmacy, laboratory, respiratory therapy, and a cafeteria.

The new Children’s tower will be attached to the southeast tower (WVU Heart and Vascular Institute). The building will extend southward to Medical Center Drive.

The construction of the tower will be subject to Certificate of Need approval by the West Virginia Health Care Authority. Construction costs are estimated to be $105.8 million with the remaining $46.2 million for financing and other related costs. A capital campaign will be launched to raise $60 million for the project. WVU Hospitals will finance the remainder of the cost. No state funds will be sought, and no extraordinary rate increase is anticipated as a result of the construction.

“This is a necessity, not a nicety,” Gordon Gee, WVU president and chairman of the West Virginia University Health System Board of Directors, said. “The children and families we serve will be relying on our friends and alumni, our businesses, the people of West Virginia, and the Mountaineer Nation – wherever they may be – to pitch in and to make this project a reality. We’re launching this campaign right now, right here.”