2 Event Lineup
6 Brothers Share Rare Diagnosis
12 Noah's Legacy
14 Improving Outcomes with Data
18 7 Reasons to Invest
Kendall, 15 Patient Ambassador
For more than 115 years, from our beginnings as a tent hospital in Denver’s City Park to a thriving health system today, compassionate donors like you have sustained Children’s Hospital Colorado. We care for more than 284,000 patients each year, and we couldn’t do it without you, our generous community.
As just one example of support, the Children’s Fund helps Children’s Colorado address the greatest needs of our patients and community. More than 15,000 donors contributed generous unrestricted gifts to the Children’s Fund in 2023. By joining like-minded supporters who believe in creating a world in which every child has the chance for a healthy and hopeful future, you make an incredible impact.
Each time you give to Children’s Colorado, your contribution has the potential to transform a child’s life and give hope to a family in our community. Your generosity makes a positive impact across our nonprofit pediatric health system, advancing family-centered services and groundbreaking research, increasing access to care for every child who needs us.
Thank you for believing in the miracles that happen at Children’s Colorado every day.
Jennifer Roe Darling President and CEO Children’s Hospital Colorado Foundation
Children’s Hospital Colorado Foundation inspires giving to Children’s Colorado by engaging donors in mission-aligned partnerships that are trustworthy and relationship focused. We raise funds that deliver innovative research, treatment and the best possible care across the human lifespan. We engage donors based on trust in the Foundation’s stewardship of dollars and by demonstrating philanthropic impact.
Changemakers magazine is a publication of Children’s Hospital Colorado Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated solely to advancing the mission of Children’s Hospital Colorado.
Editor: Jaime Berg Cady • Art Direction: John LeCrone • Contributors: Erin Bodine, Adam Million Design: Claro Creative Group • Photography Contributor: Scott Dressel-Martin • Printing: Publication Printers Corp.
The Alice 105.9 Cares for Kids Radiothon was back for its 23rd year on Feb. 8, raising $1.1 million to support Children’s Colorado.
Alex Scott was not your average entrepreneur. As a young child diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a type of childhood cancer, she wanted to raise money to find a cure for pediatric cancers like the one she had been battling since her first birthday. At just 4 years old, she held a fundraiser for childhood cancer research in her front yard, selling lemonade. Her initial lemonade stand raised $2,000, which inspired her to continue her ambitious fundraising efforts. By the time she died at 8 years old, Alex had raised $1 million.
Over the past five years, Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation - the national nonprofit founded by Alex and led by Alex’s parents in her memory - has offered a matching gift, dollar-for-dollar, for donations to Children’s Hospital Colorado’s Experimental Therapeutics Program. The program works with pediatric patients who have recurrent cancer that hasn’t responded to treatment or who have cancers without a known cure. To date, they’ve helped Children’s Colorado raise nearly $1 million donated to fund lifesaving research.
Please consider making a gift to the Experimental Therapeutics program at Children’s Colorado.
Giving back was something Pam Burnelis, a volunteer at Children’s Hospital Colorado, Colorado Springs, learned at an early age. Growing up in rural western Nebraska, she spent many weekends traveling single lane highways and gravel roads with her father, who was a doctor. They would pile into the family car and make house calls to check on his patients to make sure they were doing ok.
“My dad didn’t have to drive out to meet with these people. He did it because he cared about his patients and their families. It was the right thing to do,” said Pam. “Many couldn’t afford to pay, so he often provided the care for free. Sometimes they would barter for farm eggs or offer a service in return—mowing grass or something like that.”
When Pam was in the 4th grade, she got her first job delivering newspapers, and her mother expected her to set aside 10% of her earnings to give to local charities. Pam decided where the money would go, but it was expected that she would give back to the community.
These formative experiences intersected early in Pam’s career. Working for healthcare delivery systems as an administrator, she saw the importance of community support in driving innovation and ensuring access.
Pam was introduced to Children’s Colorado when a family member was in an accident. Having been around healthcare her entire life, she quickly realized after walking into Children’s Colorado that it was a very different experience than what she had observed at other hospitals.
This experience, and wanting to continue giving back to her community, inspired Pam to begin volunteering at Children’s Colorado, Colorado Springs in 2019. And when she created her will, it was an easy decision to add Children’s Colorado as a beneficiary of her estate and communicate her planned gift intentions to the Children’s Hospital Colorado Foundation.
“Looking back — even now — I am aware of my privilege,” said Pam. “It’s not about me anymore. It’s about the kids as our future. I chose to leave Children’s in my will because I’ve seen how it’s different, both as a volunteer and through my personal experience.”
After reviewing a few options, Pam designated her bequest to support Precision Medicine, a growing field that is leveraging new genomic technologies to make significant advancements in pediatric care, especially in the treatment of childhood cancer and rare diseases.
“I am fortunate to be able to give back. I hope my planned gift continues to grow and inspires others to give. Precision Medicine is the future of healthcare. It has the potential to truly impact the lives of kids and change the face of medicine in Colorado and the world. Children’s Colorado is ready to lead this work and I’m grateful I can make a difference.”
– Pam Burnelis, planned gift donor
I first came to Children’s Hospital Colorado because I was having a lot of problems, like getting angry, sad and frustrated. I just wasn't acting like myself.
We visited Children's Colorado, and I was diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and anxiety. Children's Colorado helped me by giving me strategies to help with my ADHD, including using fidget toys and breathing, and recognizing when I'm starting to feel uneasy. I still go there to get help and manage my medication. And it isn't always fun having doctor appointments after school, but I always feel better afterwards.
I would tell anyone who is struggling to reach out and get help by telling their parents. Getting help can be scary but everyone at Children’s Colorado is really nice. I'm thankful for my parents and Children’s Colorado for getting me help because I'm happier now and feel like myself again.
As parents, our hearts broke seeing our sweet boy struggle every day. Driving back and forth to Denver for therapy appointments was not benefiting anyone. However, once we were able to establish care with the Children’s Colorado Therapy Care Telstar location — just 10 minutes from our home — we began to understand ADHD and anxiety, and how it presents differently in each child because not all kids are the same.
With every visit, we became more comfortable with sharing our struggles and successes as we learned strategies to help Parker be less frustrated and sad. A few sessions in, Parker was begging us to leave so he could have his session with his therapist, DeAnne, and would proudly come into the waiting room with his picture or telling us about how he learned to recognize his anxiety when his tummy hurt.
There is a stigma associated with mental health, but Parker's story is meant to help change the narrative around getting help and the benefits of mental health services. We are thankful to have caring mental health professionals at Children's Hospital Colorado in Southern Colorado who want to help kids and families live their best life.
Parker, 10 Patient Ambassador
Brothers Zane, age 6, and Zeke, 4, are bound by more than just blood; they were both born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), a rare congenital condition in which the left side of the heart doesn’t develop properly.
Despite having the same diagnosis, Zane and Zeke have had very different treatment plans, each experiencing the specialized cardiac care they need at Children’s Hospital Colorado.
Zane was diagnosed with HLHS in utero when his mom, Kayla, had a routine ultrasound at 20 weeks of pregnancy.
“As soon as we found out, we were referred to the Colorado Fetal Care Center (CFCC) at Children’s Colorado,” said Kayla, the boys’ mom.
At Children’s Colorado, rare conditions are treated with rare expertise; Kayla, her husband, Misael, and her unborn baby were in the right place.
Zane was born in the CFCC and was immediately taken to the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) at Children’s Colorado. Just five days later, he had his first reparative surgery. Over the next 21/2 years, he had two more successful surgeries.
When Kayla became pregnant again, she was told that the odds of having another child with a severe heart complication were highly unlikely. But at Kayla’s 20-week ultrasound, she and Misael received devastating news — their second little boy had the same issue with his heart: HLHS.
Once Kayla and Misael got over the shock of having not just one child, but two, with the same rare condition, they realized they knew what to expect since they’d been through it before. However, with their second son, Zeke, their path would prove to be much bumpier.
Like his brother, Zeke was born in the CFCC and taken to the CICU immediately. He had his first reparative surgery when he was just 3 days old. Shortly after the surgery, Zeke’s heart stopped, and he was put on life support for a month.
Once he was stabilized, Zeke slowly started to get stronger and was able to go home. Not long after he got home, he started having trouble breathing, and Kayla took him to the emergency room at Children’s Colorado, North Campus, close to their home in Erie, Colorado.
From there, Zeke was rushed by ambulance to Children’s Colorado on the Anschutz Medical Campus, and when he arrived, his heart stopped again.
The little boy, who was just 4 months old, was in heart failure. Doctors quickly decided to put him on the list for a heart transplant. After months of waiting, juggling work and hospital stays and hoping their little boy would get a new heart, Kayla and Misael received a call they weren’t ready for.
Zeke’s care team needed them to come to his room immediately. They were told that their baby’s health was in such a perilous condition that he had roughly just 48 hours to live if he didn’t receive a donor heart. While sitting outside of the CICU, with the news that their little boy might not make it to his first birthday sinking in, Kayla and Misael were forced to consider the unimaginable. Then, like a scene from a movie, a nurse came running out, saying they had found a heart, and his transplant surgery was completed within a day.
Every year since, on May 17, Zeke and his family celebrate his ‘Heartaversary,’ his second chance at life, while honoring the donor and the donor’s family who selflessly gave him the greatest gift.
Congenital heart defects, or CHD, are heart conditions present at birth — and they are the most common birth defects. Infants born with CHD have an abnormal structure to their heart, which can affect how it works and how blood flows from the heart to the rest of the body. About 1 out of every 100 babies is born with a CHD.
Hypoplastic left heart syndrome is even rarer, affecting 1 in roughly every 3,800 babies. Many of these babies, including Zeke and Zane, are treated by experts at the Heart Institute at Children’s Colorado, one of the largest and highest volume pediatric and congenital cardiology programs in the country.
In decades past, most children with serious or critical CHDs did not survive. But with advancements in diagnostic technologies, research, cardiac care and surgical treatment, CHDs are being diagnosed earlier and treated more successfully through innovative techniques. As a result, children born with a CHD are living longer, healthier lives. In fact, there are now more adults than children living with CHD.
Children’s Colorado experts took lifesaving measures to keep Zane and Zeke alive at a very young age. As they are now growing and getting stronger, the toll of surgery, cardiac arrests, medications and the amount of time spent in the hospital have dramatically impacted their lives and those of their family, including their big sister, Leah.
When Zane was born, Leah was just 3 years old. Because Zane was in the hospital for so long after he was born, Leah couldn’t see her brother when he was an infant. Then, once he was home, every time he’d have an appointment, she’d cry and get upset thinking he wouldn’t be able to come home for a while. Additionally, Zane and Zeke have anxieties around coming to the hospital. As they get older, it gets a bit easier, but when the boys see the hospital, they still know they may be getting a blood draw or might have to stay the night, being away from their parents and family.
Taking a child home after they’ve had heart surgery, especially those who have an HLHS diagnosis, also has challenges for the parents caring for them. There’s anxiety around what to do if your child gets sick or determining at what point you take them back to the hospital.
At Children’s Colorado, family education and social and medical support for families of infants with HLHS (and other single ventricle heart disease) are a significant part of our care plan. These are incredibly fragile infants with a historically high risk of death after discharge from the first surgery.
With every act of kindness and generosity, Children’s Colorado isn’t just changing lives. It's shaping a future in which my boys can be kids and grow up to pursue their dreams.”
– Kayla, Zane & Zeke's mother
By funding programs like our Interstage Program within the Heart Institute, donors can help families through extensive education and preparedness prior to discharge so that they can look for and identify danger signs. Philanthropic support is crucial because the time and resources required to educate and prepare families cannot be billed to insurance companies.
Likewise, mental health care reimbursement from insurance companies is frustratingly poor in Colorado, which results in a lack of coverage for such services available to families of patients receiving cardiac care. Philanthropic support for the Wellness Program in the Heart Institute can fund and support training a cardiac psychology fellow who is critically important to the success of that program. More support is needed to make sure patients and families are getting the well-rounded care and mental health support during and following a life-threatening diagnosis.
The impact that heart problems have on a child and their family can be overwhelming. The Wellness Program strives to decrease the burden for children and families through personalized care and supportive services that include mental health treatment, medical teaching, social and spiritual support and even therapeutic play and music therapy. Children’s Colorado’s goal with the Program is to provide ideas, time, space and resources that help patients thrive while they undergo medical treatment, and long after.
“We are dealing with patients who have complex diseases that last a lifespan, and that is associated with a lot of family and child stress. Providing adequate mental, emotional and behavioral services is critical to their quality of life,” said Shelley Miyamoto, MD, co-director of the Heart Institute, Jack Cooper Millisor Endowed Chair in Pediatric Heart Disease and Selby’s Chair in Pediatric Cardiology.
Shelley Miyamoto, MD, the inaugural Jack Cooper Millisor Chair in Pediatric Heart Disease, was recently appointed the new section head of Pediatric Cardiology.
Dr. Miyamoto is also the co-director of the Heart Institute at Children’s Colorado and holds the Selby's Chair in Pediatric Cardiology. She is the immediate past chair of the Young Hearts Council of the American Heart Association and is a member of the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation and the Society for Pediatric Research, among others. She has presented extensively throughout her career, served on medical and scientific advisory boards for several foundations and patient advocacy groups and co-holds several patents.
Dr. Shelley Miyamoto
Throughout Dr. Miyamoto’s distinguished medical career, funding generated from the Millisor Family’s endowed chair has enabled her and other researchers at the Children’s Colorado Heart Institute to advance the understanding of congenital heart disease and heart failure in children.
Dr. Miyamoto has led the establishment of the largest heart tissue bank in the world, which contains cardiac tissue from nearly every Children’s Colorado patient who receives a heart transplant and consents to this process. Using this tissue, Dr. Miyamoto and her colleagues are studying how heart failure in children differs from heart failure in adults. By understanding the differences, researchers could eventually develop new drugs, or discover new ways to utilize existing drugs, to treat heart failure more effectively in kids.
The effects of early interventions to save both Zane and Zeke have impacted almost every area of their lives. The surgeries, procedures and interventions they had in their first couple years of life were mainly focused on their hearts and were aimed at keeping them alive. In some cases, the pumping of blood and oxygen to the brain, heart and lungs neglected things like the digestive system.
With open heart surgeries, which both boys had, there's also a significant risk of paralyzing a vocal cord. Both boys have at least one paralyzed vocal cord, which also impacts their ability to eat. As a result of these life saving interventions, both boys now need help getting nutrients because they have challenges with eating. They both receive nutrition through tube feeding, either directly into their stomachs or through their intestines.
A very special donor is at the center of every organ transplant story. We thank the many families who help make our extraordinary care possible.
Zane has also had many serious pulmonary complications, and he has been getting supplemental oxygen off and on for his whole life.
With philanthropic support, we can drive groundbreaking research to improve the quality of care for patients and reduce the harmful side effects that come with lifesaving measures—both while they’re in the hospital and as they grow.
Precision medicine is transforming how we provide personalized heart treatment for pediatric patients by looking at genetics, age, anatomy, markers circulating in the blood, how the patient’s heart muscles respond to their underlying heart disease
and other factors for every child who comes through our doors. These datasets help our team understand whether a patient will respond well to the therapies we propose and identify patients at higher risk so we can personalize treatment for them.
Zane and Zeke have had multiple rounds of genetic testing and though a genetic link for their identical diagnoses hasn’t been identified, their participation in research could improve outcomes for other kids in the future. It could also help them make decisions when they’re adults if they carry a genetic marker for this kind of condition. With donor support, our cuttingedge Precision Diagnostics Laboratory, a national leader in data analysis and the development of innovative testing, will continue to make significant advances that impact care for kids like Zane and Zeke.
Zane and Zeke continue to be followed closely by the experts in the Heart Institute, the Digestive Health Institute, the Breathing Institute and Child Life. Despite regular appointments, they do not let their heart conditions slow them down. Zane is in kindergarten and loves sports, including watching the Colorado Avalanche. Zeke is usually trying to keep up with his big brother and loves Mickey Mouse.
“Both of my boys have overcome so much and have come so far with their heart conditions despite the challenges they’ve faced,” said Kayla. “They’ve shown incredible resilience and strength. I know that philanthropy has played a crucial role in their journey—providing resources, research and support —that have helped with their quality of life and paved the way for brighter tomorrows. With every act of kindness and generosity, Children’s Colorado isn’t just changing lives. It’s shaping a future in which my boys can be kids and grow up to pursue their dreams.”
In 1994, when 9-week-old Noah received a heart transplant, he was among the first pediatric patients at Children’s Hospital Colorado to undergo this surgery. He was also one of the youngest to get a new heart at the hospital.
Not only was this surgery on such a small baby extremely rare at the time, but research on cardiac transplant outcomes was also still in its infancy. The long-term physical and mental health impacts of major surgeries on kids like Noah were just beginning to be studied.
In the decades since, physician-scientists at Children’s Colorado have made leaps in their understanding of congenital heart conditions. They have also significantly advanced cardiac surgeries needed to save kids’ lives, with the hospital performing its 500th heart transplant in 2023.
Noah’s story has inspired his family to invest philanthropically in the Children’s Colorado Heart Institute to ensure this progress continues.
As a talented artist who enjoyed drawing Powerpuff Girls© and horses as a young boy, Noah loved being creative and spending time with his family. In middle school, he struggled with his grades and experienced challenges. But over the coming years, Noah discovered a new passion and attended cosmetology school after graduating from high school. Like many kids who have transplants or multiple surgeries and intense medical interventions, Noah’s life involved numerous doctor’s appointments. He required daily anti-rejection medicine, and he also underwent additional heart procedures and surgeries. The toll of these surgeries, as well as all other aspects of lifelong treatment, started to affect him mentally. He grew up knowing he would eventually either need a new heart or that he’d be required to take intense medications for the rest of his life.
Despite the support of his loving family and a dedicated medical team at Children’s Colorado, Noah found himself navigating a lonely and daunting emotional journey. When he was 20 years old, Noah decided to stop taking his anti-rejection medicine. He wanted to live the rest of his life on his own terms, without medicine and the expectation of another major surgery.
On April 21, 2015, Noah passed away.
“I can’t help but wonder how everything he went through as a baby affected him later,” said Annette, Noah’s mom. “When your child is young, we navigate the school years with them. They may have these learning issues when they’re younger, but when they’re older, that can affect their self-esteem and their ability to have relationships.”
Noah made an impact on everyone around him, and he had an especially unique and close relationship with his aunt Holly. As she choked back tears, Holly fondly recalled teaching Noah to drive and attending a Van Gogh art exhibit together. When Noah passed away, Holly wanted to honor his memory so other families would not have to experience the loss that hers had. When Noah was a boy, the Heart Institute had not yet established its Wellness Program, which helps patients, and their families find healthy ways to cope with and adapt to living with a heart condition.
Through Holly’s Ventimiglia Family Foundation, she and her family generously donated $900,000 to the Children’s Colorado Heart Institute Wellness Program, general cardiac care and cardiac research. “The Wellness Program is a big focal point for us,” said Holly, “because kids need psychological support to help them deal with their heart conditions. It’s not an easy journey.”
“I will always remember Noah as independent, introspective, and thoughtful. His potential in life was obvious to everyone around him. His story stays with us in the hopes that we can do better for all of our patients who come after him.”
– Scott Auerbach, MD, pediatric cardiology, who treated Noah in his late teens
Both Holly and Annette want the Ventimiglia Family Foundation gift to inspire others to give and impact the lives of patients and families at Children’s Colorado.
“I hope that we can continue to help kids from a young age and treat them specifically for the life they’re going to live,” said Annette. “They need to learn how to cope and deal with medical challenges their entire life. I hope we can have more psychologists who are trained to help these kids in an age-appropriate way.”
Noah’s donor heart came from a baby named Robby, who's family is from Nebraska. Robby died from croup when he was just 13 months old. Through this gift of life, a gift of friendship also blossomed as Robby’s and Noah’s parents connected, sharing the deepest levels of gratitude and understanding for each other’s journeys, even while navigating loss and grief.
A very special donor is at the center of every organ transplant story. We thank the many families who help make our extraordinary care possible.
Children’s Hospital Colorado envisions a day when every child receives personalized care—the right interventions in the right place at the right time—powered by high-quality information and highpowered analyses.
Children’s health is a complex interplay between many variables: genes, environment, social determinants of health and lifestyle. For a variety of reasons, many of these factors are missing from our datasets and information is often omitted or overlooked from minoritized populations. Without this data, we cannot get an accurate picture of, or effectively treat, the whole child.
Thanks to a $3 million gift from Ovintiv, all of this will soon change. The company’s generous investment in the Children’s Colorado Analytics Resource Center will improve the quality, quantity, completeness and accuracy of our data and analyses. This will allow us to enhance care, ensure more equitable outcomes and make life better for millions of kids across our region and around the world.
With Ovintiv’s visionary philanthropy, we will be better equipped to add environmental dimensions to data we analyze—such as a child’s zip code, past exposure to trauma, safety of their neighborhood or quality of their school to answer one of the most significant and challenging questions of today: How can we create a world where every child can obtain the best health outcomes possible?
With the tremendous support Ovintiv has provided, Children’s Colorado is poised to become the anchor of equitable health care in our region and ultimately a global leader in this area. For more information about giving a corporate gift, please contact Emily Kotas at ekotas@childrenscoloradofoundation.org.
In recent years, several of our physician-scientists leveraged seed funding from private donors to secure multi-million-dollar federal grants, leading to new breakthroughs in pediatric medicine that have had ripple effects throughout patients’ lifespans.
Investing in the best and the brightest at all phases of their careers has proven to pay dividends for decades to come, including significant returns on investment with funds from outside the organization.
Pilot awards provide financial support for cutting-edge research projects that will allow investigators to catapult their innovative ideas forward. At Children’s Colorado, we know that discoveries change lives. Philanthropic support for research allows us to invest in emerging science, quickly accelerating the investigation of novel ideas from across many areas of the hospital that have the most promise and scientific merit, catalyzing new treatments and cures.
Pilot Award Funding Opportunity*:
$50,000 per year
Endowment Opportunity*: $1 million endows one award every year in perpetuity
*Funding opportunities with naming recognition available.
James Todd and Mimi Glodé Endowed Chair for Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology
Inaugural Chairholder: Elizabeth McFarland, MD
In 2018, the Herdman Family established the James Todd and Mimi Glodé Fund for Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology to honor the outstanding achievements and careers of James Todd, MD, and Mimi Glodé, MD. In 2022, with additional contributions to the fund from the Herdmans and others, including the Todds and Glodés, the endowed fund was converted to the endowed chair that Elizabeth McFarland, MD, is now honored to hold.
Drs. Todd and Glodé are leaders in the fields of infectious diseases and epidemiology and have worked collaboratively for decades. Notably, Dr. Todd was the first physician to identify toxic shock syndrome in 1978. Dr. Glodé developed the first effective treatment of Kawasaki's disease.
Accomplished physician-scientists, they made groundbreaking discoveries and established new treatments for life-threatening conditions. It's particularly fitting that their legacies of care and research breakthroughs are honored through this endowed chair.
These two doctors were instrumental mentors for Dr. McFarland, who has focused much of her career working in the field of HIV, making great progress in transforming a once-fatal disease into a chronic condition that can be managed. “The funds generated through this endowed chair will contribute to changing child health throughout our community and around the world,” said Dr. McFarland.
Dale and Cindy Francescon Family Endowed Chair for Mood Disorders
Inaugural Chairholder: Jessica Hawks, PhD
A generous gift from Dale and Cindy Francescon, through their DCF Family Foundation, has established the Dale and Cindy Francescon Family Endowed Chair for Mood Disorders. This is the Francescon’s second significant commitment to Children’s Colorado and was inspired by a deeply personal desire to improve evidence-based pediatric mental health care, reduce youth suicide and help establish an Outpatient Mood Disorders Specialty Program.
The inaugural chairholder, Jessica Hawks, PhD, is a child and adolescent psychologist and the clinic director of the Pediatric Mental Health Institute at Children’s Colorado. She is also an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. In her clinical director role, Dr. Hawks has led the design, implementation, and evaluation of evidence-based clinical services across the mental health service line, including innovative programming for youth experiencing a mental health crisis. With this chair, she intends to build comprehensive, evidence-based outpatient specialty services for pediatric mood disorders, including developing a highly skilled mental health workforce and establishing critical family member supports for those who have a child who has attempted suicide or died by suicide.
Committed, brilliant clinicians are key to providing world-class care, advancing cutting-edge research and piloting one-of-a-kind treatments. Visionary donors who generously establish endowed chairs equip Children’s Colorado with perpetual resources to attract the country’s top pediatric experts; support and retain them as their careers flourish; and develop the next generation of physicians and scientists.
Endowed chairs may be established with a gift of $2.5 million or more. Please contact Sharon McMeel, Chief Development Officer, at smcmeel@childrenscoloradofoundation.org, to learn more.
Inaugural Chairholder: Lalit Bajaj, MD, MPH
Daniel Hyman, MD, served as Chief Medical and Patient Safety Officer at Children’s Colorado for 12 years and is widely recognized as a national leader in pediatric patient safety and quality of care. During his tenure, Children’s Colorado was awarded the American Hospital Association – McKessen Quest for Quality Prize, which is presented annually to reward successful efforts to develop and promote a systemsbased approach toward improvements in quality of care. Children’s Colorado was only the second pediatric hospital to receive the award.
The Daniel Hyman Endowed Chair for Quality and Safety recognizes Dr. Hyman’s considerable contributions during his tenure at Children’s Colorado. Thanks to several generous donors, Children’s Colorado endowed a chair in his honor and named Lalit Bajaj, MD, MPH, as inaugural chairholder. Dr. Bajaj currently leads the Department of Patient Safety, the Department of Clinical Effectiveness and the Department of Diversity, Health Equity & Inclusion and is Children’s Colorado’s Chief Quality Officer. With his chair appointment, Dr. Bajaj will continue to contribute to excellence in patient care and safety at Children’s Colorado.
Children’s Hospital Colorado is pleased to announce the following clinicians have assumed endowed chairs:
Maureen M. O’Brien, MD, MS
Robert J. and Kathleen A. Clark
Endowed Chair for Pediatric Cancer Therapeutics
John Wiersch, MD
Colorado Firefighters Endowed Chair for Burn and Trauma Care
Katherine L. Chin, DDS, MS
Delta Dental of Colorado Endowed Chair in Pediatric Dentistry
Kevin C. Ess, MD, PhD
The Ponzio Family Chair in Pediatric Neurology
Adam B. Hill, MD
Tanner and Ellie Seebaum
Endowed Chair for Palliative Care
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A reputation as one of the country’s best pediatric hospitals for decades
We rank among the best children’s hospitals in the nation. Children's Colorado is ranked No. 1 in Colorado and the region.
Our unique geographic location draws patients from a large region
The large volume of patients we see each year helps us improve treatments and outcomes –and offer access to clinical trials that children might not otherwise have.
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Unparalleled collaboration across an academic medical campus
Here, located on the Anschutz Medical Campus, we embrace a culture of teamwork and innovation that enables discoveries to thrive and advances to happen faster.
No children's hospital is better equipped to care for kids in a 1,000-mile radius.
284,000+ unique patients treated in 2023
expertise developed over 100+ years of treating only
We are worldwide leaders across many specialty areas, unearthing countless treatments and cures that have helped hundreds of thousands of children, from saving newborns with severe lung disorders around the world to pioneering lifesaving cystic fibrosis treatments. 4
A long and growing list of breakthroughs that impact the human
Our discoveries impact people at every age, from fetal care to geriatrics, since so many disorders have their roots in childhood.
An unparalleled ability to recruit and retain world-class talent
We invest in the best and the brightest across all critical positions, at all phases of their careers, which pays dividends for decades to come.
We leverage generous donations to secure funds from inside and outside Children's Colorado — from industry and corporate partners and community donors to the NIH and federal government. This multi-faceted funding stream exponentially grows the impact of giving and creates ripple effects for future generations.
Mike Segura’s connections to the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus run deep.
Long before he was the lucky winner of the stunning Mighty Millions Raffle Grand Prize Showhome in 2023, Mike spent his childhood in a far more modest family home: military quarters at the Fitzsimons Army Medical Center, where the medical campus is now located.
Mike lived there for about six months in the 1970s while his father, Command Sergeant Major Ramon Segura, decommissioned another hospital on the campus. “Ray,” as Ramon was known, had also trained as a psychiatric nurse at Fitzsimons decades earlier in his military career.
Throughout Mike’s life, his dad played a special role in the Army, helping take care of his fellow soldiers by serving in a variety of medical positions. After Ray passed away in 2006, Mike and his family looked for a way to preserve the legacy of their dad’s contributions to the country at the new Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center on the campus, since Ray’s second career was at the former VA hospital in Denver. But it was not meant to be.
The stars aligned when Mike won the Mighty Millions Raffle showhome and later sold it. That inspired him to donate $500,000 back to Children’s Hospital Colorado — and honor his father in the process.
It’s because of the Mighty Millions Raffle that I have this windfall, and it’s the right thing to do,” said Mike. “Anything that Children’s Colorado does to help kids with the money I give will be much more meaningful than what I would have done with it.”
He chose the staff-centered patio for a recognition plaque to honor his dad’s legacy of caring for others. This patio is intended to provide a respite spot for the Children’s Colorado caregivers who take care of patients every day — the perfect place to remember a man who dedicated his life to supporting the resilience of his fellow military members. “Dad took care of people, who took care of people,” said Mike. “Throughout my dad’s careers in the U.S. Army and in the Veterans Administration, so many people were struck by his humanity by giving of himself and caring for others: a fitting testament to those who choose the medical profession.”
And Mike has generously followed in his father’s footsteps by giving back to Children’s Colorado — leaving a legacy of care and compassion.
On the following page learn more about how you can give through the Colorado Enterprise Zone.
Immediately after selling the 2023 Mighty Millions Raffle Grand Prize Showhome, Mike made a generous “full circle” gift of $500,000 to Children’s Colorado, designating $400,000 to Enterprise Zone programs. Giving through the Enterprise Zone allowed Mike to maximize his giving and get a generous Colorado state income tax credit. Mike designated the remaining $100,000 to the Children’s Fund, which allows the hospital to allocate the money where it is needed most.
