Dr. Griggs is a pediatric critical care practitioner who has been delivering care for 20 years in a private practice setting. His two-year pediatric critical care fellowship training followed a three-year residency in general pediatrics. These two training periods were briefly interrupted by a two-year stint working as a pediatrician in a children’s hospital emergency department. Although Dr. Griggs saw occasional sick and injured visitors in the emergency department, he missed the exposure to critically ill patients he had seen in  his pediatric residency training program, becoming “addicted” to providing pediatric care to the sickest of the sick. This prompted his return to the medical center for the additional fellowship training in pediatric critical care medicine.

Although Dr. Griggs practices in a private care setting, he is still responsible for teaching family medicine, anesthesiology, and emergency medicine residents. Work days include a combination of teaching and direct patient care responsibilities. He chose private care practice because of his limited interest in research and the academic environment. He loves the high-energy atmosphere and rapid-fire nature of the intensive care surroundings.

Dr. Griggs obtained Pediatric Critical Care Board Certification after his fellowship and serves actively in several capacities at his hospital, including the Ethics Committee, Organ Donation Committee, Physicians and Nursing Liaison Committee, Hospital Board of Directors, Sepsis Committee, and Pediatric Specialty Committee. Even after 20 years of pediatric critical care, he enjoys it as though it was his first post-training day.

Paul A. Checchia, MD, FAAP, FCCM
Chief, Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care Service
Medical Director, Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit
St. Louis Children's Hospital
Associate Professor of Pediatric Critical Care and Cardiology
Washington University School of Medicine
St. Louis, Missouri

Dr. Checchia is a pediatric critical care physician at a large academic children’s hospital.  His practice is concentrated in the field of pediatric cardiac critical care.  Although this is not a specific board-eligible subspecialty, it is continuing to emerge as an area of concentration within pediatric critical care medicine.  Practitioners in this field include individuals with dual training in cardiology and critical care medicine, as well as those solely trained in either. Dr. Checchia is certified in both pediatrics and critical care medicine.

Dr. Checchia is the medical director of a pediatric cardiac intensive care unit with nearly 1,000 admissions each year. The types of cardiac disease seen range from congenital heart disease (both pre- and postoperatively), heart failure, transplantation, and mechanical circulatory support. Dr. Checchia is on call for one  week at a time, 12 weeks out of the year. His other responsibilities include administration, research, teaching, and lecturing. He is an associate professor of pediatric critical care and cardiology.

During medical school, Dr. Checchia decided to work with children. While in residency, he felt a greater attraction to the critical aspects of pediatric disease. During his three-year fellowship in critical care medicine, Dr. Checchia performed both clinical and basic science research in cardiac physiology, an exposure that led to his interest in critical cardiac disease.

Dr. Checchia belongs to various academic societies and organizations, including the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Society, the Society of Critical Care Medicine, the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, and the American College of Cardiology.