Christine Pazandak, M.D.

Biography

Christine (Cortelyou) Pazandak, M.D., M.S.C.I., M.P.H., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at UT Southwestern Medical Center. She specializes in neonatal-perinatal medicine.

Dr. Pazandak earned her medical degree at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and simultaneously completed a master’s degree in public health through a collaboration with the UT Health Science Center in Houston. She performed her residency in pediatrics at UT Southwestern and Children’s Medical Center Dallas and then gained advanced training in neonatal and perinatal medicine through a fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis, where she also earned a Master of Science in clinical investigation.

Certified by the American Board of Pediatrics, she joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 2021.

Dr. Pazandak’s research interests include neonatal brain injury, neonatal brain development, infant-parent bonding, mental health resources for families, and health care policy. In 2021, she was a co-director of the American Academy of Pediatrics National Advocacy campaign, Carousel Care, aimed at increasing awareness and improving the approach to parental mental health in the neonatal intensive care unit.

In addition, she has presented and published widely, including contributing to a chapter of the book Necrotizing Enterocolitis: Pathogenesis, Diagnosis and Treatment.

She is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Arnold P. Gold Foundation, the Newborn Brain Society, and the Society for Pediatric Research.

In 2013, Dr. Pazandak received the Gold Humanism Award from UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, and she is a repeat recipient of UT Southwestern’s Above and Beyond Award.