UC Davis Health
UC Davis Children's Hospital
Year in review: 2024-2025
Nunes family at the beach
Specialties

Surgery

“We have the utmost gratitude for the UC Davis care team, they gave our child a chance to live a normal life.”

– Katie Hunter, on son Ryder’s care after he was diagnosed with robin sequence, a rare condition in which an infant has a smaller than normal lower jaw and a tongue that falls back in the throat.

  • New program improves surgery experience for neurodiverse kids

    To make surgical procedures less scary, UC Davis Health has pioneered a first-in-the-nation program called PATH (Promoting Accessibility To Healthcare) to improve health care experiences for neurodiverse patients and their families. To create a safe and healing environment, the PATH program helps families identify their child’s likes and dislikes, sensory needs, and how they prefer to communicate with providers. This patient-centered approach helps inform the way health care teams interact with patients each time they come for care.

  • New interim co-chiefs in pediatric general, thoracic and fetal surgery

    Payam Saadai, M.D., associate professor and fellowship-trained pediatric and fetal surgeon, and Jonathan Kohler, M.D., professor and medical director of pediatric trauma, have been appointed interim co-chiefs of the Division of Pediatric General, Thoracic and Fetal Surgery in the UC Davis Department of Surgery. Saadai leads the UC Davis Fetal Care and Treatment Center as well as the Center for Complex Colorectal Care in Children, and Kohler leads the level 1 Children’s Surgery Verification Program.

  • Re-verified as a level 1 Children’s Surgery Center

    UC Davis Children’s Hospital was re-verified as a level 1 Children’s Surgery Center by the American College of Surgeons (ACS), the world standard bearer for surgical quality. Level 1 centers have children’s surgeons in every discipline, with pediatric anesthesiologists and dedicated operating rooms for children available 24 hours a day. They also train future leaders in education and research and participate in community outreach.

  • Farmer awarded for spina bifida research

    The Association for Clinical and Translational Science awarded UC Davis Distinguished Professor Diana Farmer, M.D., F.A.C.S., F.R.C.S., the prestigious Edward H. Ahrens, Jr. Award for Outstanding Achievement in Patient-Oriented Research. The award recognizes her first-of-its-kind work, which combines fetal surgery with stem cells to treat spina bifida. It also honors her excellence in moving basic research from laboratory to patients. Farmer is an internationally renowned fetal and neonatal surgeon, the Pearl Stamps Stewart Endowed Chair and the chairperson of the UC Davis Department of Surgery, and founder and co-director of the Center for Surgical Bioengineering.