john pietsch

John Pietsch, MD, founder of the ECMO program at Children’s Hospital, is retiring after 50 years of caring for patients.
July 14, 2022

Pediatric ECMO program founder Pietsch retires

John Pietsch, MD, the recently retired founder of the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) program at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, didn’t grow up wanting to be a doctor.

By Jessica Pasley
Shawn Drumgoole greets neighbors and fellow walkers at his 30th birthday walk.
July 30, 2020

Walk celebrates patient’s ECMO journey 30 years ago

Thirty years ago, Shawn Drumgoole took a life-saving ride to Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt to be placed on Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO).

By Jessica Pasley
July 24, 2020

Shawn Drumgoole and scores of friends celebrate his birthday with a walk to Children’s Hospital

The man behind the social media sensation “We Walk with Shawn” says Vanderbilt saved his life 30 years ago

By Jessica Pasley
November 20, 2014

ECMO program celebrates 25 years of saving lives

For 25 years, patients at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, like 20-month-old Easton Cunningham, have been given a second chance at life when their lungs or heart, or sometimes both, have failed to perform.

By Christina Echegaray
January 24, 2013

Gates Foundation grant aids pediatric nutrition research

Using a SmartPhone platform and a $100,000 grant from Grand Challenges Explorations, an initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Vanderbilt Pediatric Surgeon John Pietsch, M.D., and fourth-year medical student Katherine Allen may revolutionize the way infants and children all over the world are assessed and treated for proper nutrition.

By VUMC News and Communications