OKLAHOMA CITY – A longtime faculty member and chief of pediatric critical care at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, Morris R.Gessouroun, M.D., has been named chairman of the college’s department of pediatrics. The OU Board of Regents approved the appointment today at its December meeting.
Gessouroun has served as the department’s interim chair since August 2016 and has provided clinical leadership for the OU Physicians group practice as the inaugural children’s practice division chief since September 2017, working in close affiliation with The Children’s Hospital at OU Medical Center.
”We are deeply appreciative of Dr. Gessouroun’s leadership at a time of transformation and opportunity for children’s healthcare in Oklahoma, building upon a foundation of tremendous community support,” said Jason Sanders, M.D., senior vice president and provost of the OU Health Sciences Center. “We are confident in his ability to advance comprehensive pediatric care, training and translational and clinical research programs.”
Gessouroun, who specializes in the treatment of critically injured or ill infants, joined the OU Health Sciences Center faculty in 1990 and assumed the responsibilities of section chief of pediatric critical care and medical director of the pediatric intensive care unit at The Children’s Hospital at OU Medical Center.
During his tenure, he has expanded and enhanced the pediatric critical care program to serve a larger number of patients with more diverse conditions and needs. Gessouroun was one of several OU physicians who provided critical care to survivors of the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City. He also has advanced the critical care center to participate in a national research collaboration through the Pediatric Acute Lung Injury and Sepsis Network.
"We are pleased that Morris R. Gessouroun, M.D., has been named the chairman of the department of pediatrics by the OU Board of Regents,” said Chip Keating, president of The Children’s Hospital Foundation Board. “We are thankful to have Dr. Gessouroun serve as The Children’s Hospital Foundation Scientific Director, as he is committed to serving and protecting the well-being of the children of Oklahoma by ensuring the continuity and improvement of health care to future generations of children through the training and recruiting of outstanding research-physicians to Oklahoma.”
In addition to providing pediatric care, Gessouroun is a respected teacher and mentor of aspiring physicians. He was honored with the College of Medicine’s Exellence in Teaching Award in 1991-92 and has authored numerous peer-reviewed, scholarly articles in pediatric medicine over his lengthy career. Gessouroun also has been active in clinical research. In 2016, he accepted the Patricia Price Browne Distinguished Chair in pediatric medicine.
Gessouroun graduated from the University of Maryland Baltimore County with a bachelor’s degree in 1977 and earned his M.D. from the University of Maryland School of Medicine at Baltimore in 1981. He completed his medical training at Children’s Medical Center, Parkland Hospital and the University of Texas Southwestern Health Sciences Center in Dallas.
