About Us

At Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital, our Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) provides exceptional, family-centered care for infants, children, and adolescents facing serious medical conditions. Our PICU is equipped with the latest monitoring technologies and life support systems, ensuring that we offer the highest level of care for your child.

Our dedicated critical care team is available 24/7, working exclusively with children and providing specialized care for the most complex conditions. We collaborate with leading pediatric specialists in cardiology, infectious disease, neurology, oncology, hematology, surgery, and many other fields to provide comprehensive, individualized treatment.

In our child- and family-friendly environment, we focus on healing and helping your child regain strength, so they can return to what they love. We prioritize family involvement through our family-centered rounds, encouraging parents to actively participate in the discussions and decisions about their child's care.

At Yale-New Haven Children’s, we are here for you with the expertise and compassion you need when it matters most.

Our international expertise in pediatric critical care research directly informs the care we provide at the bedside. By staying at the forefront of scientific advancements, we offer the latest in evidence-based therapies, ensuring the best possible outcomes for our patients. Our commitment to research-driven care translates into an unparalleled level of treatment for critically ill children.

• Trauma and severe injuries
• Hypoxic injury (lack of oxygen)
• Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and lung failure
• Life-threatening infections and sepsis
• Liver failure
• Cardiopulmonary failure, including ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation) for heart and lung support
• Post-surgical and transplant care (solid organ, bone marrow)
• Multi-organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS)
• Acute kidney failure requiring dialysis
• Neurologic dysfunction and severe head injury
• Monitoring and management of sedation, analgesia, and palliative care needs

Our PICU is staffed 24/7 by Board-Certified/Board Eligible Pediatric Critical Care physicians, ensuring that your child has continuous access to expert care. We are supported by a dedicated team that includes:

• Pediatric Critical Care Fellows
• Pediatric Residents
• Advanced Practice Providers
• Pharmacists
• Respiratory Therapists
• Physical Therapists
• Child Life Specialists
• Case Managers
• Social Workers
• Dietitians

Our collaborative approach integrates pediatric specialists from multiple disciplines—including cardiology, surgery, neurology, oncology, and radiology—ensuring comprehensive and personalized care for each patient.

Our Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) program is one of the most advanced in the region, offering life-saving support for children with severe heart and lung failure. ECMO is used when conventional therapies are not enough, providing prolonged heart and lung support to allow the body time to heal.

We specialize in:

• Cardiac ECMO: For children with heart failure due to cardiac surgery or cardiomyopathy.
• Respiratory ECMO: For patients with severe lung diseases such as ARDS or pneumonia.

Our ECMO team consists of specially trained physicians, nurses, and respiratory therapists, all working together to ensure optimal outcomes. We are part of the international Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO), and our center meets the highest standards of quality in ECMO care.

Through innovation and research, we continually advance our ECMO capabilities, offering families the best chance for recovery.

Intensive Care evolved in the Department of Pediatrics at Yale Medical School and Yale-New Haven Hospital, as it did elsewhere, in response to specific patient needs that could not be met safely without an area of concentrated resources. In the early 1960s a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit was developed by Louis Gluck to care for premature and other potentially unstable infants.

In the mid 1970s, a 6-bed Pediatric Intensive Care Unit was built at Yale New Haven Hospital and Peter Rothstein, M.D., from the Department of Anesthesiology, was its first Director from 1978-1983. During this time, a full-time ICU Service and regular rotation through the PICU was developed for the pediatric residents. The care of all pediatric patients needing intensive care, including a growing number of patients who underwent cardiac surgery, were cared for in the PICU.

In 1983, George Lister, M.D., became Director of the PICU and in the following year he established the Section of Critical Care and Applied Physiology in the Department of Pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine. Over the ensuing years, Dr. Lister presided over an impressive expansion of both the clinical and academic activities of the section. In addition, in 1985, he was named Director of an NIH-sponsored cardiopulmonary training program (T32) that had been in existence since 1977 under the directorship of Norman Talner, M.D. This was the beginning of the Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Fellowship at Yale. In 2000, the Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital was built and the PICU moved to a new 11-bed unit.

The Section of Critical Care Medicine is now in its fourth generation. In 2003, Clifford Bogue, M.D. was named Chief of Critical Care Medicine and Director of the PICU, Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital. In 2004, the PICU was remodeled and expanded to its current size of 19 beds. The section maintains active clinical, research and educational programs. In 2012 Josep Panisello, MD became the Medical Director of the PICU as Dr. Bogue became interim Chair of Pediatrics and ultimately the Chief Medical Officer of the Children's Hospital. In 2022, Oliver Karam, MD, PhD, joined the Section as their new chief.