In July, Children’s Hospital New Orleans will welcome Mark Kline, MD, an internationally recognized leader in child health, as the hospital’s physician-in-chief. In this role, Kline will partner with Raymond Watts, MD, professor and head of the Department of Pediatrics at LSU Health New Orleans, and Samir El-Dahr, MD, chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Tulane University School of Medicine, to advance academic medicine, training, and teaching at Children’s Hospital.
“Dr. Kline’s expert leadership, together with the excellent pedigree of our academic partners, will allow Children’s to innovate care delivery while training our next generation of pediatricians,” said John R. Nickens IV, president and CEO of Children’s Hospital New Orleans. “Over the last several years, Children’s has recruited administrative and physician leaders trained in some of the top pediatric programs across the country to join our mission. Combining the new perspectives of these extraordinary leaders with the strong, energized collection of LSU and Tulane pediatric experts has created a dynamic and distinct group of professionals ready to tackle the health challenges our kids and communities are facing – Dr. Kline is at the top of that list.”
In his role, Kline will oversee Children’s Hospital’s pediatric academic medical programs. With a strong vision for pediatrics, he will also help expand academic programs at both LSU Health New Orleans and Tulane University School of Medicine, building alignment in the areas of education, research, and medicine. In addition to Kline’s primary responsibility as an executive leader for Children’s Hospital, he will hold faculty positions at both LSU and Tulane, working directly with LSU’s Dean Steve Nelson and Tulane’s Dean Lee Hamm to develop innovative, cohesive strategies to improve the future health and wellbeing of Louisiana’s children.
“Dr. Kline’s visionary ability to create a positive environment for academics and research compliments the generational change already happening at Children’s Hospital New Orleans,” said George Bisset, MD, chief medical officer at Children’s Hospital. “His passion and unmatched expertise will be transformational for child health outcomes in our state.”
A pediatric infectious disease specialist by training, Kline founded an international pediatric HIV/AIDS program, Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative (BIPAI), a program that builds healthcare infrastructure, trains health professionals, and provides medical care and treatment to children and families across sub-Saharan Africa and in Romania. BIPAI currently provides HIV/AIDS care and treatment to more than 350,000 of the world’s poorest and least fortunate children and families, more than any other organization worldwide. This pioneering work led to Kline’s nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019. Additionally, Kline has been the recipient of more than $150 million in research and training grants from the U.S. National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Most recently, Dr. Kline served in the roles of physician-in-chief at Texas Children's Hospital and chair of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine, from 2009-2020.