Children’s Medical Center of Dallas: Top Pediatric Hospital in TX

Children’s Medical Center of Dallas is the flagship hospital of Children’s Health, the only academic healthcare system in North Texas dedicated exclusively to the care of children from birth to age 21. Located at 1935 Medical District Drive in Dallas’s Southwestern Medical District, the hospital is licensed for 488 beds and handles more than 553,000 patient visits annually across more than 60 pediatric specialties and subspecialties.

Overview of Children’s Medical Center of Dallas

Children’s Medical Center of Dallas ranks among the top pediatric hospitals in the United States and stands as the only pediatric Level I Trauma Center in North Texas.

The hospital is affiliated with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, one of the country’s leading biomedical research institutions. This 60-year academic partnership places UT Southwestern faculty directly at Children’s Medical Center, connecting patient care to clinical research, graduate medical education, and the development of next-generation pediatric treatments. U.S. News and World Report ranks the hospital in all 11 pediatric specialties, a distinction shared by only 23 hospitals nationwide.

History and Origins

Children’s Medical Center of Dallas traces its origins to 1913, when a group of nurses founded the Dallas Baby Camp on the lawn of old Parkland Hospital to provide focused care for infants.

The Dallas Baby Camp grew into the Bradford Hospital for Babies by 1930. In 1948, Bradford merged with the Children’s Hospital of Texas and the Richmond Freeman Memorial Clinic to form the unified institution now known as Children’s Medical Center of Dallas. A fourth facility, the Ivor O’Connor Morgan Hospital for Tuberculous Children, joined the same year. The hospital affiliated with UT Southwestern Medical Center in 1964, and moved to its current Southwestern Medical District campus in 1967.

Over subsequent decades the hospital pioneered multiple medical procedures in Texas, including pediatric day surgery in 1968, pediatric liver transplant surgery in 1984, sleep-disorder care in 1987, and pediatric heart transplant surgery in 1988. In 2014, the organization rebranded its broader network as Children’s Health, though the Dallas hospital retains the Children’s Medical Center of Dallas name. The Children’s Medical Center Research Institute was established in 2011 on the UT Southwestern campus to conduct biomedical research directed at understanding pediatric disease.

Specialties and Clinical Programs

Children’s Medical Center of Dallas offers care across more than 60 pediatric specialties, with internationally recognized programs in cardiac surgery, oncology, transplantation, gene therapy, and behavioral health.

The Heart Center operates the only pediatric heart transplant program in North Texas. In 2023 and 2024 combined, the cardiac team performed 64 pediatric heart transplants, more than any other center in the United States during that period. The program is internationally recognized for advanced cardiac imaging capabilities and provides the full continuum of pediatric cardiovascular care from diagnosis through surgery and post-operative management.

• Cardiology and cardiothoracic surgery, including the only pediatric heart transplant program in North Texas
• Hematology and oncology, including bone marrow transplantation
• Nephrology: the second-largest pediatric dialysis program in the nation
• Neurosciences, with Level III epilepsy center accreditation
• Behavioral health, ranked No. 1 nationally by U.S. News in pediatric and adolescent behavioral health
• Neonatology, ranked No. 13 nationally by U.S. News
• Gene therapy for spinal muscular atrophy and Duchenne muscular dystrophy
• Kidney, liver, heart, and bowel transplantation
• General and specialty surgery across 16 operating rooms
• Pulmonology and cystic fibrosis programs
• Gastroenterology, diabetes, and endocrinology
• Urology, orthopedics, and ear, nose, and throat
• Anesthesiology and pain management

The hospital is a pioneer in pediatric gene therapy, certified among the first pediatric centers in the country to provide new gene therapies for neuromuscular disease. According to the National Institutes of Health, gene therapy for pediatric spinal muscular atrophy represents one of the most significant advances in rare disease treatment in recent decades, and Children’s Medical Center of Dallas operates at the forefront of that clinical frontier.

Critical Care and Trauma Services

Children’s Medical Center of Dallas operates the only pediatric Level I Trauma Center in North Texas, housed within a two-story, 50,000-square-foot Emergency Department.

The Level I designation is the highest trauma designation available, requiring 24/7 availability of trauma surgeons, neurosurgeons, and the full spectrum of subspecialty support. The ER handles more than 97,000 visits annually. Three dedicated critical care units serve the most medically complex patients: the 47-bed Level IV NICU for critically ill newborns, a state-of-the-art PICU designed around family-centered healing principles, and a Cardiac Intensive Care Unit staffed by providers trained specifically for critically ill pediatric heart patients.

An Advanced Simulation Laboratory on campus trains care teams in complex clinical scenarios, reducing error rates and improving outcomes for the hospital’s most vulnerable patients. According to the American College of Surgeons, Level I Pediatric Trauma Centers demonstrate lower mortality and complication rates for severely injured children compared to non-designated facilities, underscoring the importance of Children’s Medical Center’s designation to the region.

Research, Education, and Innovation

Children’s Medical Center of Dallas functions as an academic medical center through its affiliation with UT Southwestern, supporting clinical trials, fellowship programs, residencies, and biomedical research.

The Children’s Medical Center Research Institute conducts translational research aimed at converting laboratory discoveries into clinical treatments. The institute operates on the UT Southwestern campus, enabling tight integration between basic science and bedside care. Research priorities include oncology, metabolic disease, genetics, and infectious disease affecting pediatric populations.

Graduate medical education programs at the hospital include pediatric residencies, subspecialty fellowships, continuing medical education courses, clinical pastoral education, and child life and music therapy training. The hospital also offers internships and externships for students in health professions. The Pediatric Insights Podcast and regular continuing education events extend the hospital’s educational reach to practitioners across the region.

In 2024, Children’s Health and UT Southwestern jointly announced a $5 billion campus expansion project. The planned development calls for three towers, including two 12-story buildings and one eight-story building, totaling nearly 2 million square feet. Construction targets a 2031 opening on a site adjacent to Clements University Hospital at UT Southwestern. The expansion responds to projected doubling of North Texas’s pediatric population by 2050.

Patient and Family Resources

Children’s Medical Center of Dallas provides extensive family support services designed to make hospitalization less stressful for children and their caregivers.

All inpatient rooms include overnight accommodations for a family member. The Child Life program staffs specialist teams across playrooms, the therapeutic arts studio, music therapy, and pet-assisted therapy to support children’s emotional wellbeing during hospitalization. Seacrest Studios offers an in-hospital broadcast studio where patients can participate in radio and TV programming. The Family Resource Library provides health education materials and guest computer access.

The MyChart portal and Children’s Health mobile app provide patients and families with access to health records, appointment scheduling, wayfinding, and care team communication. Bill payment, financial assistance applications, and price transparency tools are all accessible online. The hospital accepts a broad range of insurance plans; a current accepted insurance list is published on the Children’s Health website.

Community Outreach and Health Equity

Children’s Medical Center of Dallas participates in active community health programming through the Health and Wellness Alliance for Children, a coalition of more than 60 hospitals, school districts, government entities, and faith-based organizations focused on improving pediatric health across Dallas and Collin counties. The Beyond ABC Report tracks child health indicators across the Dallas-Fort Worth region, informing population health strategy and advocacy.

Financial assistance programs are available to qualifying families through the hospital’s billing and insurance department. The hospital publishes transparent pricing in compliance with federal requirements and maintains patient rights protections against surprise billing. International patient services support families traveling from outside the US to access the hospital’s specialized programs.

For families needing related pediatric care at comparable nationally ranked institutions, Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis and Boone Hospital Center in Columbia, MO represent other major regional medical centers affiliated with leading academic medical programs.