Alumni

By Darla Brown

Alumni Profile – Spedale, '85, making a difference

Steve Spedale, M.D., '85

It’s difficult to find silver linings in the tragedies and devastation that Hurricane Katrina wreaked upon the Gulf Coast. But Steve Spedale, M.D.,’85, who as chief of neonatology at Woman’s Hospital in Baton Rouge directed the rescue of more than 120 babies from hospitals in Orleans and Jefferson Parishes following that incredible storm, and then took on displaced medical residents from Louisiana State University, has an uncompromisingly hopeful outlook.

Dr. Spedale may not consider himself an activist, but he is one to get involved to affect positive change – and that’s the kind of difference he wanted to make following Katrina.

“The Tulane and LSU medical schools were wiped out by the storms, and while I worked with those residents, I kept thinking that they could have been one of my kids,” says the father of four. “Then I received Dr. Wolinsky’s letter, and I felt the need to help out and support the UT medical students.”

Following a letter by interim Dean Jerry Wolinsky introducing the Medical School’s first annual fund, Dr. Spedale made a gift to this fund, which supports unfunded initiatives, such as recruiting talented students and faculty.

Dr. Spedale, who was sophomore class president and president of the Student Senate when in medical school, says he has been amazed at the growth and change of his alma mater. “I enjoy seeing the faculty accomplishments and what is happening at the Medical School – I knew many of the faculty while in school, and it has been rewarding to see their accomplishments over time. When I went to UT, you got the sense people cared about the students, and that feeling is still there,” he says.

Dr. Spedale says that feeling of student friendliness was evident immediately when as an undergraduate Rice student he penned a letter to Dr. Rodney Howell, the first chair of pediatrics.

“I let him know I was interested in pediatrics. I knew since the seventh grade I was either going to be a priest or a neonatologist, those were my two options,” he says.

Dr. Howell matched the young student up with Dr. Frank Morris, who later became an associate dean at UT and subsequently the chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Iowa.

Dr. Spedale conducted research with Dr. Morris through his first two years of medical school and considers him his guiding mentor through medical school. “What I remember most about UT are the friends I made, the camaraderie with the students. It was fulfilling what I always wanted to do – and being around the faculty, working with my friends in a different capacity,” he recalls.

Upon graduation, Dr. Spedale completed his residency in pediatrics and a fellowship in neonatology at the University of Colorado Health Science Center. He accepted a faculty position there, and then moved back to Houston in 1991, when his friend and colleague Dr. John Sparks accepted a position with the Medical School as section chief of neonatology. He moved into private practice in Baton Rouge in 1993 and is president of Infamedics, a private group practice devoted to the care of premature infants and infants less than 12 months who require intensive care at Woman’s Hospital.

“We deliver 9,000 babies a year and are the largest nursery in the state,” he says.

Dr. Spedale also is active in the Louisiana Legislature in the area of children’s health, having served on gubernatorial commissions for universal hearing screening and maternal/infant morbidity and mortality prevention. He currently is the chairman of Medicaid Policy for the Louisiana Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and also serves on the Board of Governors for the Louisiana State Medical Society.

“I’m also involved in making sure that the children of this state have access to pediatricians since 68 percent of the births in Louisiana are covered by Medicaid and over 50 percent of the older children are covered by Medicaid,” he says. In his role as the chairman of the Medical Policy Committee for the Louisiana Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, he is spearheading efforts to improve access (www.lakidsaccess.org).

He and his wife, Marla, have four children – a daughter who is a junior at Rice University; a daughter who is a freshman at Southern Methodist University; a son in high school; and a son in middle school.

“I’ve come full circle,” he says. “When I left academics, I just wanted to take care of patients. Then I began teaching residents after the storms, which was kind of fun. UT has helped me get to where I am today, and I am just giving back.”