University of Maryland Children’s Hospital Announces New Board of Advisors Chair, Stephen Lazinsky

The University of Maryland Children's Hospital (UMCH) announced today that Maryland business owner Steve Lazinsky has been named chair of its Board of Advisors. Lazinsky, who has served on the board since 2017, replaces George "Chip" Doetsch III, who has stepped down after a decade holding the board leadership role. Doetsch recently joined the University of Maryland School of Medicine Board of Visitors.

Lazinsky is a longtime member of the University of Maryland family, receiving his bachelor's degree from University of Maryland Baltimore County in 1971. He has served in leadership roles with the University System of Maryland Foundation for over 25 years, including as chair of the Budget and Finance Committee, vice-chairman of the Foundation Board, and currently as an Honorary Director. Lazinsky is also a volunteer for the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center, and a passionate advocate of the national Stop the Bleed initiative.

He traces his interest in health care volunteerism back to his teen years, when he was a volunteer at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Now, years later, he is advancing pediatrics in a board leadership role with the medical center's nationally ranked children's hospital. For five years in a row, U.S News & World Report has ranked UMCH as a "Best Children's Hospital for Pediatric Cardiology & Heart Surgery," and among the top 15 children's hospitals in the Mid-Atlantic region, which encompasses seven states and the District of Columbia.

UMCH's Board of Advisors has championed many transformative initiatives, including a major expansion of the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), one of only two Level IV NICUs in Maryland; the upcoming state-of-the-art pediatric cardiac catheterization lab renovation; and Maryland's first inpatient psychiatric unit that is both architecturally and clinically designed to deliver trauma-informed care for children and adolescents. Trauma-informed care is a framework for treating patients who have endured abuse, neglect, violence, school issues, or other traumatic events.

"I am grateful for the time that Chip spent at the helm and look forward to working more closely with Steve Lazinsky," said Steven J. Czinn, MD, Director of the University of Maryland Children's Hospital and the Drs. Rouben and Violet Jiji Endowed Professor and Chair, Department of Pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Dr. Czinn continued, "I am excited to see where we can go under his leadership. As a board member, Steve goes above and beyond to make patients—and staff—feel special, arranging visits from sports mascots, handing out Ravens and Orioles gear, and donating winter pajamas and gifts around the holidays."

In the business sector, Lazinsky is chair and past-president of Comeq, Inc., a leading importer of metal fabrication machinery that powers a broad range of industries, from medical to government to theme parks. Founded in 1971 by Lazinsky and his father, Irv Lazinsky, Comeq is based in White Marsh.

"I want to thank Dr. Czinn and the board members for the confidence they are placing in me. Serving on this board is really an impactful role given our unique opportunities to improve the health and quality of life for thousands of children. As chair, my priorities will be to champion our incredible staff, who fearlessly and with great compassion take on the toughest cases, and to recruit additional members to the board who can help us advance into new communities," Lazinsky said.

UMCH, located inside the University of Maryland Medical Center, is commemorating its 75^th anniversary this year. It was the first children's hospital in Maryland to perform a dual lung and heart transplant, and the first in the state to create a neonatal intensive care unit for critically ill newborns--one of only two Level IV NICUs in Maryland. UMCH also established the state's first neonatal air transport program. As a result, countless infants from multiple states have received lifesaving care in the NICU.

"Steve Lazinsky is someone I admire for his choice to use his influence, time and resources in service to the medical community. He is a true friend to our employees and the children of Baltimore. As chair of the Board of Advisors, he will be a powerful advocate for them," said Bert W. O'Malley, MD, President and CEO of the University of Maryland Medical Center.

About the University of Maryland Children's Hospital

The University of Maryland Children's Hospital at the University of Maryland Medical Center is recognized throughout Maryland and the mid-Atlantic region as a resource for children with critical and chronic illnesses. UMCH physicians and staff excel in combining state-of-the-art medicine with family-centered care. More than 100 physicians specialize in understanding how to treat conditions and diseases in children, including congenital heart conditions, asthma, epilepsy and gastrointestinal disorders. The Drs. Rouben and Violet Jiji Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) provides the highest level of care to the tiniest newborns. To learn more about the University of Maryland Children's Hospital, please visit www.umms.org/childrens.

About the University of Maryland Medical Center

The University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) is comprised of two hospital campuses in Baltimore: the 800-bed flagship institution of the 11-hospital University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) and the 200-bed UMMC Midtown Campus. Both campuses are academic medical centers for training physicians and health professionals and for pursuing research and innovation to improve health. UMMC's downtown campus is a national and regional referral center for trauma, cancer care, neurosciences, advanced cardiovascular care, and women's and children's health, and has one of the largest solid organ transplant programs in the country. All physicians on staff at the downtown campus are clinical faculty physicians of the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The UMMC Midtown Campus medical staff is predominately faculty physicians specializing in a wide spectrum of medical and surgical subspecialties, primary care for adults and children and behavioral health. UMMC Midtown has been a teaching hospital for 140 years and is located one mile away from the downtown campus. For more information, visit www.umm.edu.

About the University of Maryland Medical System

The University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) is an academic private health system, focused on delivering compassionate, high quality care and putting discovery and innovation into practice at the bedside. Partnering with the University of Maryland School of Medicine and University of Maryland, Baltimore who educate the state's future health care professionals, UMMS is an integrated network of care, delivering 25 percent of all hospital care in urban, suburban and rural communities across the state of Maryland. UMMS puts academic medicine within reach through primary and specialty care delivered at 11 hospitals, including the flagship University of Maryland Medical Center, the System's anchor institution in downtown Baltimore, as well as through a network of University of Maryland Urgent Care centers and more than 150 other locations in 13 counties. For more information, visit www.umms.org.