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Three prominent pediatric specialists are joining NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center to lead programs in pediatric cardiology, critical care medicine and nephrology.

Dr. Richard A. Friedman has been named chief of the Division of Pediatric Cardiology; Dr. Steven G. Kernie, chief of the Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine; and Dr. Fangming Lin, director of the Division of Pediatric Nephrology. All are members of faculty of the Department of Pediatrics at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

"I am thrilled to welcome Drs. Friedman, Kernie and Lin. Not only are they highly regarded for their skills as clinicians, investigators and educators, but they also each have proven leadership ability. Their talents will equip us to better help our young patients and their families," says Dr. Lawrence Stanberry, pediatrician-in-chief at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center and the Reuben S. Carpentier Professor and chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

"On the research front, these three physician-scientists are pushing the boundaries of what is possible. Dr. Friedman is looking at how implantable devices can improve outcomes in pediatric heart patients, and Drs. Kernie and Lin are each studying how stem cells can be used to repair damage," adds Dr. Stanberry.

Dr. Richard A. Friedman

Previously, Dr. Richard Friedman was clinical director of the Pediatric Cardiology Clinic at Texas Children's Hospital and professor and vice chairman of pediatrics in finance and administration at Baylor College of Medicine — both in Houston.

An internationally recognized authority on cardiac electrophysiology, Dr. Friedman is currently developing a national database to evaluate the safety and efficacy of automatic implantable defibrillators for children with complex arrhythmias and adults treated for congenital heart disease. He is also studying the efficacy of ECG screening for sudden death in children, and he has been involved in research into treating heart failure with newer, biventricular pacemakers for patients with complex congenital heart disease.

Dr. Friedman received his M.D. degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and completed subsequent training in pediatrics and pediatric cardiology at Texas Children's Hospital and Baylor Affiliated Hospitals. He also completed an NIH Electrophysiology Research Fellowship. In 2002, he received an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. Beginning in 1993, he held several leadership positions at Baylor Affiliated Hospitals while serving on the faculty of the Baylor School of Medicine. He also served on most of the executive committees of Texas Children's Hospital and was interim physician-in-chief at the Hospital from 2008 to 2009. He was president of the Pediatric and Congenital Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology Society from 2009 to 2010 and is currently a fellow of the Heart Rhythm Society.

Dr. Steven G. Kernie

Previously, Dr. Steven Kernie was medical director of research administration at Children's Medical Center Dallas and director of the Perot Family Center for Brain and Nerve Injuries at Children's Medical Center Dallas; associate professor in the Departments of Pediatrics, Developmental Biology and Biomedical Engineering at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Dallas; associate professor in the Integrative Biology Program at the University of Texas Southwestern Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences; and adjunct assistant professor of cognition and neuroscience at the University of Texas at Dallas School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

Dr. Kernie is leading federally funded research on how neural stem and progenitor cells may contribute to recovery following brain injury. He has developed novel methods of studying the brain for elucidating the role of specific molecules in this recovery process, with the ultimate goal of identifying new therapies that might improve recovery.

Dr. Kernie received his M.D. from the University of Washington, Seattle. He received subsequent training at the Children's Medical Center of Dallas and University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, where he joined the faculty in 1999.

Dr. Fangming Lin

Previously, Dr. Fangming Lin was an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas and a pediatric nephrologist at Children's Medical Center of Dallas. She also serves as a guest professor at Fujian Medical College in China; as a fellow of the American Society of Nephrology; and as a member of the Society for Pediatric Research.

Dr. Lin is a leading authority in the emerging field of renal regeneration — using stem cell–based therapy to treat acute kidney injury — and is conducting NIH-funded studies using animal models in this area. She is also interested in the issue of pediatric hypertension as it relates to preventing kidney damage and other health issues.

Dr. Lin received her M.D. at the Fujian Medical College and had her initial pediatric residency training at Union Hospital in Fuzhou, Fujian, China. She received her Ph.D. in pharmacology from New York Medical College. She completed a pediatric residency at the New York University Medical Center and Bellevue Hospital in New York, her clinical pediatric nephrology fellowship at the Seattle Children's Hospital, and her research fellowships in the Department of Molecular Biotechnology and Division of Nephrology in the Department of Internal Medicine, University of Washington in Seattle. In 2001, she joined the faculty of University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. She is a recipient of the American Society of Nephrology Gottschalk Award; the Norman Siegel Pediatric Research Grant Award by the American Society of Nephrology and the American Society of Pediatric Nephrology; and a Research Administration Volunteer Recognition Award from the American Heart Association.

NewYork-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital

NewYork-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, located in New York City, offers the best available care in every area of pediatrics — including the most complex neonatal and critical care, and all areas of pediatric subspecialties — in a family-friendly and technologically advanced setting. Building a reputation for more than a century as one of the nation's premier children's hospitals, Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital is affiliated with the Department of Pediatrics at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and is Manhattan's only hospital dedicated solely to the care of children and one of the largest providers of children's health services in the tri-state area with a long-standing commitment to its community. It is also a major international referral center, meeting the special needs of children from infancy through adolescence worldwide. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital also comprises NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Westchester Division and NewYork-Presbyterian/The Allen Hospital. NewYork-Presbyterian is the #1 hospital in the New York metropolitan area and is consistently ranked among the best academic medical institutions in the nation, according to U.S.News & World Report.

Columbia University Medical Center

Columbia University Medical Center provides international leadership in basic, pre-clinical and clinical research, in medical and health sciences education, and in patient care. The Medical Center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, public health professionals, dentists, and nurses at the College of Physicians & Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions. Established in 1767, Columbia's College of Physicians and Surgeons was the first institution in the country to grant the M.D. degree and is now among the most selective medical schools in the country. Columbia University Medical Center is home to the largest medical research enterprise in New York City and state and one of the largest in the United States. For more information, please visit www.cumc.columbia.edu.