Rick Barr, M.D.
Barr to lead Pediatric Critical Care division
Rick Barr, M.D., has been named chief of the Division of Pediatric Critical Care at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt.
Barr, associate professor of Pediatrics and Anesthesiology, joined Vanderbilt in 1995 and also serves as co-director of Pediatric Critical Care services, a role which he shares with Neal Patel, M.D.
“Rick is an extraordinarily talented clinician, investigator and teacher. We were fortunate to have such a highly qualified leader and wonderful person already at Vanderbilt to fill this important position,” said Arnold Strauss, M.D., chair of Pediatrics and medical director of Children's Hospital.
“It is an honor to be selected to succeed Dr. Jay Deshpande in this role. Jay is a wonderful colleague, mentor and trusted friend who built our division from its inception 16 years ago,” Barr said. “We have a wonderful group of pediatric critical care colleagues who are clinically excellent, academically productive, and serve Vanderbilt Children's Hospital and Vanderbilt University Medical Center in major leadership roles. It is truly a pleasure to work with and now serve my critical care colleagues in this role.”
In 2002, Barr earned a Master of Science in Clinical Investigation degree from Vanderbilt. He now serves as associate director of the program.
He received his medical degree from the University of Virginia. He completed his residency at Vanderbilt and his Pediatric Critical Care Fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco and Oakland Children's Hospital.
Barr's research interests include the role of nitric oxide precursors in pulmonary hypertension, especially of polymorphisms in genes involved in nitric oxide synthesis, and he has published extensively on the topic.