Lara S. Shekerdemian, MB ChB, MD, MHA
Dr. Lara S. Shekerdemian is Chair of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and Pediatrician In-Chief at Texas Children’s Hospital, positions she has held since 2022. She has 25 years’ experience in clinical and academic medicine and on three continents — 14 of those at Baylor/Texas Children’s, where she previously served as Chief of Critical Care from 2010-2022. She is a tenured Professor of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine. She now leads the nation’s largest department of Pediatrics with more than 1300 faculty.
Lara earned her medical degree (MB ChB) from the University of Birmingham Medical School in the United Kingdom and trained in pediatrics, pediatric cardiology, pediatric and adult intensive care in the UK and Toronto. She obtained her research doctorate (MD) in pediatric cardiac intensive care in 1997 and earned her MHA from La Trobe University in Melbourne, in 2009. Prior to joining Baylor and Texas Children’s, Lara served as Chief of Paediatric Intensive Care at The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne.
Lara has co-authored more than 160 papers and has contributed to 15 textbooks as an author or editor. Her research interests include cardiovascular physiology, mechanical cardiopulmonary support, and long-term outcomes after critical care admission, particularly after surgery for heart disease. Throughout her career, she has conducted clinical and laboratory research, participating as a principal investigator and co-investigator for numerous collaborative studies.