Welcome Message

Welcome to University of Kentucky Department of Pediatrics. Located on the beautiful University of Kentucky campus near downtown Lexington, the Kentucky Children's Hospital and Department of Pediatrics have provided service and education from the opening of the UK College of Medicine in 1961. 

As the Chair, I am honored to follow in the footsteps of the previous leadership of Jack Githens, Warren Wheeler, Jacqueline Noonan, Vipul Mankad, Heinrich Werner, Tim Bricker and Carmel Wallace.  All of whom helped grow the reputation of UK Pediatrics. A state-of-the-art Children's Hospital facility opened in 1997. We are now in the process of a comprehensive renovation program which will include new pediatric, cardiac, and neonatal intensive care facilities; new house-staff support areas; updated research laboratories; and other facilities on campus. 

We are a nationally ranked program in pediatrics and are proud to be the only facility in Central and Eastern Kentucky dedicated to the expert medical and surgical care of infants, children, and adolescents. The UK, UK HealthCare and Kentucky Children’s Hospital have a proud and distinguished history of providing comprehensive programs and innovative care to the children of the region. It is our mission to be dedicated to the health of the people of Kentucky and to provide the most advanced patient care. 

This year, the UK College of Medicine launched a strategic plan which is divided up into five pillars:  Clinical Care, Education, Community Engagement, Diversity and Inclusivity, and Research. I would like to briefly address these five areas as they are extremely important to our patients, health care providers, and educators.

Clinical Care: We have established a scorecard to monitor Hospital Consumer Assessment or HealthCare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) and Clinician and Group Consumer Assessment of HealthCare Providers and Systems (CGCAPHS) surveys. This scorecard was also created to provide transparency to physician connectivity and to address issues such as physician engagement, retention rates and mentorship programs. We are also continuing to work on quality improvement projects as we strive to remain the No. 1 overall hospital in Kentucky as named by the US News and World Report. The approach at the Kentucky Children's Hospital is focused on family-centered clinical care. Full-time child life coverage, parent-partnership councils, facilities for families to stay with children overnight, age-appropriate playrooms, children's library facilities, in-hospital school services, a dedicated television channel, a computer lab and many other features to provide a special environment and the best of care for children. 

Education: The emphasis on teaching is palpable at the Kentucky Children's Hospital. A high percentage of UK College of Medicine students are attracted to the field of pediatrics. The three-year pediatrics residency, four-year combined medicine-pediatrics residency and the five-year psychiatry-child psychiatry-pediatrics residency are all highly regarded. The close relationships between these groups of trainees provides a unique and highly productive learning environment. Following this training, it is our goal to increase the number of residents who stay in Kentucky. Additionally, advanced training opportunities are available in child neurology, neonatology and pediatric research. We plan to increase the number of trainings, education grants and the number of educational-related publications by 25 percent each year.

Community Engagement: Throughout the history of UK Chandler Hospital and Kentucky Children’s Hospital, we have worked hard to establish partnerships and employ state-of-the-art technology, education, and research to improve the health and livelihood of the children of the Commonwealth and beyond. While we work hard to build collaborations with those in our Lexington community, we have leveraged existing relationships to spread information and outreach beyond just those who live in Fayette County. Feedback from our communities is tremendously important to us and we have used that information to better understand the health needs of the children we see and how we can align to meet those needs. 

Diversity and Inclusivity: The Department of Pediatrics strives to enhance all forms of diversity through education, recruitment, hiring, retention, promotion and initiatives that provide experiences to ensure inclusive excellence. Examples of some of our diversity initiatives include: increasing the number of research grants in disparate populations; diversity and inclusion training programs; and increasing the number of underrepresented faculty, staff and students. Pediatrics has a very strong and sturdy infrastructure that is the foundation for promoting a culture where diversity and inclusion are respected and valued.

Research: As the leading research institution in Kentucky, the UK College of Medicine continues to provide transformative research through collaboration and innovation leading to scientific impact and improved health of the children of Kentucky and beyond. We provide a broad base of specialty care areas and the growth of our clinical programs and service capability has been matched by considerable growth in pediatric research at our institution. We recruit elite faculty members to enhance our research community, and take the time to develop and retain our current outstanding faculty members.  One of our primary goals is to create more collaborative research opportunities to advance groundbreaking discoveries. 

Through these five pillars, we remain committed to improving the lives and health of the children of the Commonwealth and improving the future for their families. It is exciting for us to meet candidates for residency training who might benefit from the opportunities offered at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine and the Kentucky Children's Hospital.

Collectively, our dedicated staff, trainees and faculty will continue the upward trajectory of the University of Kentucky Pediatrics Department and Kentucky Children’s Hospital to become one of the best pediatric programs in the country. We strive and fulfill the mission of the University of Kentucky to be the children’s health care center for the Commonwealth.

Scottie B. Day, MD, FAAP
Chair, Department of Pediatrics
University of Kentucky