Pediatrics Grand Rounds

The Department of Pediatrics holds weekly Grand Rounds from August through June every Wednesday at 8am in the State Street Conference Center on the campus of Children's Hospital New Orleans (200 Henry Clay Ave. New Orleans, LA).  Grand Rounds is held in conjunction with LSU Pediatrics and Children's Hospital New Orleans.  Please contact Children's Hospital Medical Staff for information on how you can participate (504-899-9511).

Annual transcripts from 2019 and earlier are available for $95 through Tulane's Continuing Medical Education Department. The transcript covers attendance at multiple Tulane Grand Rounds for the academic year. Additional fees may apply if a  multi-year transcript is requested.

Tulane Pediatrics Grand Rounds Director: Jay Goldsmith, MD

Postels Grand Rounds

Endowed Lectures

Ralph V. Platou, MD Visiting Professor

Dr. Platou was graduated from the University of Minnesota where he earned his bachelor's, master's, and medical degrees.  After serving a residency at Babies Hospital in New York, Dr. Platou returned to the University of Minnesota' where he became an instructor in the School of Medicine. In 1942 he came to Tulane as an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and was promoted to Chairman in 1944.  He was also a senior visiting physician and chief of the Tulane Pediatric Service at Charity Hospital.

An enthusiastic and dynamic man with a passion for teaching, and an astute diagnostician who loved medical oddities, he was extremely popular with medical students and house officers.  In his 25 years in New Orleans he attracted large numbers of students into pediatric specialization, and interns into his residency training program.

In 1966 Dr. Platou left Tulane to become Professor and Head of Pediatrics at the Kauikeolani Children's Hospital in the School of Medicine of the University of Hawaii.  In 1968 he resigned from that position to become executive secretary of the American Board of Pediatrics at Bryn Mawr, Pa., of which he was a former president. Dr. Platou was a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics and served on the editorial board of Pediatrics.  He published nearly seventy papers, the best known being those on congenital syphilis and its treatment with penicillin, hand prints in mongolism, and his well-known treatise "Johnny Won't Eat."

This fund is used to bring in a visiting professor of stature to present at our Pediatric Grand Rounds.  The Platou lecture part of our annual residency graduation.  The guest speaker is chosen by the graduating residents.  The guest speaker will give a lecture on a topic of his or her specialty and also give a keynote address at graduation.

 Dr. Delany Gracy, the Chief Medical Officer of the Children’s Health Fund in New York was the 2017 Platou Visiting Professor.

We are extremely grateful to the Platou family for their support of this visiting professorship so that we may continue to honor Dr. Platou and his memory.

John Lewy, MD Visiting Professor

A dedicated child health ad vocate, Dr. Lewy enjoyed teaching residents about advocacy. Dr. Lewy earned his M.D. from Tulane in 1960, followed by an internship, residency (1961-'64) and pediatric nephrology fellowship (1965) in Chicago. He then joined the faculty at Cornell University Medical College, New York, before returning to Tulane to chair the Department of Pediatrics at Tulane University, New Orleans, from 1978-2004.

In December 2005, he took his advocacy efforts overseas to Benin, West Africa, where he met with 59 pediatricians from 17 African countries for a full day of interactive training on how to advocate for child health. The workshop was designed around the AAP Legislative Conference but focused specifically on issues affecting children in Africa. After he retired, he and his wife moved to Washington, D.C., so he could continue his advocacy efforts on behalf of children through his work with the Committee on Federal Government Affairs as chair (2002-'06) and Committee on State Government Affairs. He also served as a member of the AAP Sections on Nephrology, Seniors, and Admin istration and Practice Management and was involved with several AAP Louisiana Chapter committees.

Kathy Newman Visiting Professor

A native of Hollywood, Florida, Kathy Newman was a warm, intelligent and community-minded person, one who was voted "Most Likely to Succeed" by her high school classmates.  Although she originally considered attending a state university, neighbor and Tulane alumnus Harley Ginsberg persuaded Kathy to consider Newcomb College.  She entered Newcomb in 1974 and was graduated in 1978 with a B.S. in Psychology. While at Newcomb, she wrote an honors thesis displaying the inequities of the grading systems at Tulane and Newcomb.  The thesis was accepted and subsequently caused those grading systems to be altered.

In the fall of 1978, Kathy began medical school at Tulane and was one of those responsible for the publication of the first yearbook for Tulane Medical School.  Prior to her death in April, 1981, her third year in medical school, Kathy was planning to pursue a residency in pediatrics, specializing in developmental disabilities.  She spent much of her time working with handicapped children.  To honor their classmate, the 1982 class presented the medical school a gift to establish the Kathy Newman Memorial Lectureship, the first of which was delivered in February, 1987 by Dr. Barbara Korsch, professor of pediatrics at the University of Southern California, and head of the Division of General Pediatrics at Los Angeles Children's Hospital. We are appreciated to the Richman family for their continued support.

Douglas Postels, MD, MS, Associate Professor Pediatrics. International Neurologic and Psychiatric Epidemiology Program Michigan State University School of Medicine spoke on Thursday, May 11, 2017 on "Neurologic Sequelae of Cerebral Malaria."

James W. L. Mann, MD Visiting Professor

Dr. Mann entered Tulane University College of Arts and Sciences in 1950 and graduated in 1952.  He graduated from Tulane University Medical School in 1955.  He completed his internship and pediatric residency at Charity Hospital, now known as the Medical Center of Louisiana, New Orleans, in the Tulane Hospital Program in 1957.  Dr. Mann completed a Pediatric Fellowship at Ochsner Hospital in 1958.

Dr. Mann was appointed to the Tulane Pediatric Department Faculty in 1958.  As a faculty member, he was active as a preceptor and teacher in the classroom, the emergency room, the pediatric wards, and in his office.  As a Tulane alumnus, he was an enthusiastic and strong supporter of Tulane and served as President of Tulane Pediatric Alumni Association.  In 1998, Dr. Mann was appointed Emeritus Professor of Pediatrics at Tulane.

Dr. Mann was just as active in the medical community, devoting time and energy to local, regional, and national professional organizations.  Dr. Mann served as President of the Greater New Orleans Pediatric Society, in addition to serving on many hospital boards and committees. Dr. Mann faithfully attended Tulane’s weekly Grand Rounds for the forty years he was a part of the Tulane Community.

On Thursday, September 9, 2016, Ina Stephens, M.D., RYT, FAAP, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Medical Education, University of Virginia Medical School, spoke on “Innovation the Return of the House Call.”

Charles F. Wasserman, MD Visiting Professor

The  Charles F. Wasserman Visiting Professorship in Pediatrics honors Dr. Charles Wasserman, Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Tulane University School of Medicine.  Through his long years of clinical practice, Dr. Wasserman taught many students and house officers about the care of children’s health problems, including his son, Michael Wasserman.   Dr. Wasserman emigrated to the United States as a teen-ager in 1939 from Munich.  After a short stay in New York, he moved to New Orleans.  He served as a US Army Medical Officer in Germany and then opened a Pediatrics practice in New Orleans.  He has been a leader in Pediatrics in the area ever since.  The purpose of the Charles F. Wasserman Visiting Professorship in Pediatrics is to continue Dr. Wasserman’s work in the general pediatric education of health care professionals in the Greater New Orleans area.

On Thursday, December 15, 2016, Robert Annett, Ph.D. Professor; Vice Chair of Research Department of Pediatrics, University of Mississippi, Children’s Hospital of Mississippi spoke on “Epigenetic Effects Upon Child Brain Development.”