Dr. Utpal Bhalala, MD, FAAP, FCCM, BCMAS, CHCQM

During my pediatric rotation at King Edward Memorial Hospital, University of Bombay, I got an opportunity to manage some of the challenging cases, connect with the patients and families and felt overwhelmingly happy every time I saw them smiling as they recovered. I was thrilled to be accepted for pediatric residency in Bombay. During pediatric training, I developed a special interest in critical care and therefore came to USA for a formal training. My career took a turn when I joined The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) for fellowship training in pediatric critical care. I not only got an all-round training in academic pediatric critical care but also developed life-long relationship with my mentors who are world-renowned resuscitation scientists and simulation experts. They played a vital role in infusing the passion for resuscitation and simulation research in me. Following a rigorous training at CHOP, I joined Johns Hopkins Hospital as an assistant professor and continued to build my clinical and academic experience and expertise in pediatric critical care, especially cardiac arrest, resuscitation, simulation and neuroprotection after cardiac arrest. I was fortunate to spearhead the NIH-funded cooling trial in children after cardiac arrest at Hopkins. In January 2016, I was very happy to take on the challenging and exciting opportunity to lead the research program at The Children’s Hospital of San Antonio (CHofSA), Baylor College of Medicine. It has been an exciting journey building the robust research program at CHofSA, continue my own resuscitation and simulation research and build a clinical program to support high-quality resuscitation and post-resuscitation care. In June 2021, I was recruited at Driscoll Children’s Hospital as Physician Advisor for Research, Chair of Research Taskforce, Pediatric Intensivist and Associate Professor for Texas A & M University and University of Texas Medical Branch. As an Associate Professor, Physician Advisor for Research and Chair of Research for Driscoll Health System, I conduct cutting-edge research in critical care and I also oversee research program for Driscoll Health System. As an intensivist, I take care of critically ill children in a busy, tertiary care ICU at Driscoll Children's Hospital.