All parents hope their kids are healthy enough never to need more than an annual checkup, but it's still great to know that our city is home to some of the world's finest doctors. New York Family worked with consumer health research firm Castle Connolly Medical Ltd. to present our fifth annual list of Manhattan's top-ranked pediatricians and pediatric specialists. We also spoke with seven of these doctors, who represent a range of pediatric specialties and medical centers, and graciously agreed to share with us the joys and challenges of their profession. What follows is a celebration of all the work they do keep our kids healthy and strong.

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Dr. Francine Blei, Vascular Birthmark Institute of New York

By Veronica Torok

Pediatric Hematologist and Oncologist Dr. Francine Blei graduated from college uncertain about her career plans—but an aptitude test soon confirmed her early childhood ambitions. "I would like to be a pediatrician or a family doctor," she wrote in an elementary school assignment. Over 40 years later, now Medical Director at the Vascular Birthmark Institute of New York, Blei has achieved her goals of becoming a wife, mother and world-renowned pediatrician.

What do you like about working with children?
Working with children spans from newborns through teenagers, so there is great variety in the skills one needs to be engaging and effective. It is gratifying following patients and seeing them develop as young, and then older children.

What is the most challenging part of your day-to-day job?
Finding the needle in the haystack, being thorough in assessing a patient, and frank with families without making them panic. Effective time management and organization are key. One has to be very focused and multitask at the same time. Remaining calm, effective and unruffled if an emergency arises. 

What is the most gratifying part of your job?
Seeing a self-assured child with a confident smile after they have been through an ordeal of treatments is heartwarming.

What do you like about practicing in this city?
The ethnic, socioeconomic and medical diversity of the patient population as well as the availability of services.

What's the best advice you've been given as a doctor?
Do what you love and never give up. Treat everyone equally, independent of background. Take the time to learn about the patient and family beyond the medical issue.

Do you have children?
Yes, two teenagers, one in college and one in high school. They love science, likely due to the exposure they have had from both parents, who are physicians.

If you weren't a doctor, what would you want to do as a career?
Be a photographer for National Geographic!

Are there any career highlights that stand out in your mind?
Getting my MBA in 2010. My kids loved watching me struggle with studying for exams, writing papers, and sometimes learning similar material as them. I met incredible people too— professors, classmates and staff who will be lifelong friends. I matured personally and professionally. I subsequently made the giant leap to leave a tenured professorship to devote my profession to the field of vascular anomalies.

Curious about Dr. Blei's work? Check out her book, 100 Questions & Answers About Vascular Anomalies.

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Dr. Ilene Fennoy, NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital

By Melanie Dostis

An established clinician in Pediatric Endocrinology, Dr. Ilene Fennoy's professional interests lie in osteoporosis, growth disorder and obesity. As the Medical Director of the Adolescent Bariatric Surgery Program, Fennoy has worked with a group of morbidly obese adolescents whose average weight loss at six months was over 20 pounds! And her personal interests? A voracious appetite for historical novels.

What drew you to medicine, and what do you like about working with children?
My father was a veterinarian. I was always helping him and assisting in surgeries. As for children, it is wonderful to watch them grow. You get to see the world through their eyes.

Do you have children?
Yes! My daughter is an anesthesiologist.

How did you choose pediatric endocrinology as your specialty?
I was interested in what regulated growth. I wanted to evaluate that and pursue issues hormonally related.

What do you like about practicing in this city?
I like the academic institutions and the range of complex cases. For pediatricians, in part, you are not going to see so many complex cases unless it is in a pediatric hospital.

What's the best advice you would give to parents?
Choose your battles with your children. Make sure that [what you're arguing about] is really important. There is no point in fighting over nonsense; some things are more important than others. Also, you want to have them engaged. Let them see the world and come up their own ideas. Keep them challenged!

What is the most gratifying part of your job?
Seeing patients succeed. I like seeing their growth and to watch them achieve their physical and health-related goals.

What is next for you in terms of your career?
I hope to do more research in child obesity. It is an ongoing effort.

What challenges ahead do you see for medicine?
I think the biggest challenge ahead is not to destroy the relation between clinical research and basic scientific research. It is hard to have huge efforts in both for any one person if people are forced to just see millions of patients. They will not have time to think through and develop new ways of dealing with them. There needs to be a new balance act to support both.

What's the best advice you can give for those planning to pursue the health field?
Medicine is a changing field. So you really have to be interested in lifelong learning. You must be dedicated to it.

What do you like to do in your free time?
I read mystery novels. Lots and lots of mystery novels!

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Dr. Jacqueline Jones, NewYork Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center

By Christine Wei

While screaming kids occasionally have the best of us covering our ears - Ear, Nose and Throat extraordinaire Dr. Jacqueline Jones loves listening to children and playing detective to uncover what's wrong. In her 21st year of practice, she is as comfortable in the office as she is in both the operating room and the classroom as Associate Professor of Clinical Otolarngology.

What drew you to medicine?
My mother was a marine biologist, so she was a great role model for me. Seeing her do something she was passionate about helped me to say "I want to do this."

What do you love most about working with little kids?
Kids are just such interesting people. They understand so much, and if you just take the time to establish a relationship with them, you can talk a screaming two-year-old down to cooperate with you.

What do you most enjoy about your job?
There was a study that looked at children's recovery after surgery, and one of the things that affected recovery was parental anxiety. So that's one thing I really do enjoy: getting families to work well together and helping parents how to cope with their emotions.

How has having kids affected your career?
Having children yourself gives you such a perspective on what parents are going through. I can be so objective and calm when I deal with other people's children, but when I deal with my own, I'm just as crazy as every other parent.

What do you like about practicing in the city?
It's such a diverse environment. This morning I had a patient with two mothers, and I have a family who flew in from the Dominican Republic because they wanted to have the surgery here in New York. I have families from Brooklyn, Queens, the Upper West Side [and] Staten Island.

What are some challenges ahead for medicine?
One of the biggest challenges is continuing to attract really smart, motivated, bright people to medicine. It costs $175,000 to go to medical school now, and the reimbursement for being a physician continues to fall while malpractice premiums continue to rise. Someone will have gone through four years of college, four years of medical school, and, in some cases, seven years of post-graduate training, and come out and make a very small salary and have a huge debt. Really smart people are going to say, "I'm going to go work for a hedge fund." And that's really unfortunate because our health is the most important thing we have.

In addition to her Manhattan office, Dr. Jones practices in both Greenwich, CT and Brooklyn, NY.

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Dr. Walter J. Molofsky, Beth Israel Medical Center

By Briehn Trumbauer

Dr. Walter J. Molofsky, a pediatric neurologist who at one point was seeing patients in 18 different hospitals, has had an impressive career. But most notable is his dedication to helping children with neurological illnesses.

Tell us about your patients.
I see patients with headaches and various types of neurobehavioral and pain syndromes. We see them prenatal up until 21 years old. We're often asked to consult on the potential genetic or structural abnormalities that get picked up on an ultrasound. Also, we see vascular abnormalities now prenatally, and we get mothers that are transported in from all over the world with a prenatal diagnosis of a condition that we will then treat after the babies are born. I've [also] been privileged to keep patients for over 30 years… A lot of us hold onto the families and the children that we see.

How has your family impacted your career?
My older daughter is going into medicine, and so is her husband, carrying on a large family tradition… I always joke that we give CME (Continuing Medical Education) credit for our Passover Seders. There are so many physicians in the family… I'm proud of both of my daughters and my whole family.

What's the best advice you've received as a parent?
We had a rule in our house when my girls were growing up... It was a very simple rule: No toys with batteries. We had Scrabble and Monopoly and chess.

What challenges do you see ahead for your field?
The rigor of going through neurology training is not something that appeals to everybody. As a consequence, there's actually a shortage of pediatric neurologists around the country, even though in New York there are many. But if you look statistically, there's a waiting list even in our own clinics to see children and their families. One of the challenges is to try to introduce the field to medical students and residents, and I do that; I host students from all over the world.

Is there one career highlight that stands out in your mind or one family with which you've grown close?
I had a family whose child just passed away last week. He was significantly ill with seizures and developmental problems, and we managed him over four years. I went to the funeral, and it was gratifying to see that what I had thought challenged me actually met the family's needs because they were very grateful. They knew this child was not going to walk or talk normally, but the support that myself and my colleagues were able to provide was really warm and deeply felt. In lieu of flowers, they suggested that people donate to a fund that we set up to help families here at the hospital, and I was very moved by that.

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Dr. Scott Sicherer, Mount Sinai Medical Center

By Nancy Ryerson

Dr. Scott Sicherer is a busy guy—not only is he Professor of Pediatrics and a Food Allergy Researcher at Mount Sinai, but he's also a father of five, including two sets of twins! What keeps him going? His passion for helping the city's youth.

What drew you to medicine, and what do you like about working with children?
I was the child who knew he wanted to be a pediatrician since nursery school. I have always enjoyed educating and entertaining children as they are so receptive—seeing the positive influence is gratifying. 

How did you choose food allergies as your specialty?
My interest in the immune system and asthma lead me to train in pediatric allergy and immunology. During training, I fielded a call from the FDA where an official asked me a series of allergy questions about peanuts and tree nuts. I learned how common and impactful these allergies are and set [out] on a career to try to understand and hopefully cure them.

What is a typical day like for you?
Most of my time is devoted to research, teaching and clinical care. The Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at Mount Sinai is a world leader in food allergy research and so my colleagues and I are seeing patients sent from all over the U.S. and even internationally.

Do you have children? If so, what effect have they had on your career?
We have five wonderful children including two sets of twins and they, especially my wife, help to keep me grounded.

If you could change anything about your job, what would it be?
I would like to see improved treatments, or better, a cure, for food allergy. The two obstacles that take up too much of my time are trying to obtain funding for these studies and, once funded, finding families that will participate so that the study can be completed. Our studies are very safe—I would never run a study that I would not let my own children participate in—but it is often challenging to find families who are willing to devote the time needed given our busy lives.

Are there any career highlights that stand out in your mind?
I performed a series of studies evaluating the impact and problems of food labeling with regard to allergies. These studies were the only scientific evidence that changes needed to be made, and were crucial in improving the labeling laws in the U.S. There are still more improvements to make, but I know that the safety of the food supply for people with food allergies is significantly improved thanks to this work.

Curious about Dr. Sicherer's work? Check out his book, Understanding and Managing Your Child's Food Allergies.

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Dr. Ileana Vargas-Rodriguez, NewYork Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center – Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center

By Briehn Trumbauer

Dr. Ileana Vargas-Rodriguez, who specializes in pediatric endocrinology, says the most rewarding part of her job is when families "get it." Although juvenile diabetes is on the rise, it's when parents successfully learn how to help their child with insulin intakes and carbohydrate counts this Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics knows that she has done her job.

Why did you choose pediatric endocrinology as your specialty?
I originally wanted to become a surgeon, but after doing my last clinical rotation in pediatrics, I changed my mind. Taking care of all the sick children, seeing them get better and their parents being so grateful—I was hooked. This was in 1986 during the epidemic of "border babies" in New York City, where mothers addicted to crack cocaine abandoned their babies in the hospital. We all took turns coddling and playing with them, even buying them clothes. I have a strong family history of both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, and that was my attraction to the specialty of endocrinology, especially working with children with diabetes.

What effect have your children had on your career?
My first son, Nicolas, is now 23, and I had him while I was a resident in pediatrics. I don't recommend that to anyone; you are working for long hours and are exhausted all the time. I had my daughter, Raquel, 20 now, while doing my fellowship in pediatric endocrinology. It was easier then as the hours were not as long. Early in my career, I realized that I could not be a great mom, wife, clinician and also researcher. It takes maturity to understand that you can't do it all, so you have to make choices.

As a doctor, what's the best advice you've been given?
Your family comes first. Having a stable, happy home gives you the strength, courage and motivation to help others.

Are there any career highlights that stand out in your mind?
I recently saw a patient who is now 21. She had just graduated college and gotten her first job. Her diabetes was in excellent control. She had spent a semester abroad, had worked in a diabetes camp in Quito and has such great self-esteem. Having Type 1 diabetes since age 7 didn't stop her. Those are the moments that matter and that is why I work so hard, so that patients can achieve self-care and do everything that they desire to do just like someone who does not have diabetes.

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Dr. Steven Wolf, Beth Israel Medical Center

By Christine Wei

Dynamic duo Dr. Steven Wolf—Director of Pediatric Epilepsy at Beth Israel Medical Center—and Nurse Practitioner Patty McGoldrick tackle epilepsy, headaches and developmental delays with boldness and a bright-yellow attitude. Believing that two brains are better than one, the twosome teamed up to provide greater perspective for all their patients. Here's what Dr. Wolf had to say.

How did you choose your specialty?
When I was a kid, my mom, sister and I all got headaches, so I always wondered why people got them. When I went into medicine, some of my mentors who were pediatric neurologists were just so optimistic, and I loved the positive outlook that they had. Not only did I get sucked into neurology and epilepsy, headaches also became an important part because I’ve been there and suffered as well.

What does a typical day look like for you?
We’re taking care of kids from all over the country and even all over the world, from as far as Russia, South America and Pakistan. In NYC we’re at Beth Israel Medical Center and St. Lukes Roosevelt. A typical day is showing up in our epilepsy unit at Beth Israel…where we round on the patients, read their brainwaves, meet with families and make decisions on treatment plans. Then we run off to one of our offices and start seeing patients there. At the end of the day we run back to see how the patients at the hospital are doing, then go home and answer calls and emails that the patients sent during the day.

How has having kids of your own affected your practice?
My oldest son was knocked unconscious off a cliff and had a major concussion while skiing. [Unlike] my smart wife who took off her skis and slid down on her butt to him, I jumped in with my skis on, fell, and broke my back. Here I am, a trained professional…and common sense went out the window. I injured myself so badly that I had to have surgery and make a huge recovery, and I realized that when it’s your kid, no matter how smart you are, whether you’re a doctor or not, you lose perspective.

What would you do for a career if you weren’t a doctor?
I would probably still do something in science or engineering. I’m a nuts and bolts kind of guy. I’m the kind of guy who if there’s something broken in the house, I’ll take it apart—probably break it more—but I like to think that I can fix things. It’s being that inquisitor, being that doubter, and not accepting that you can’t fix something. There are times I can’t fix things, but Patty and I always tell our patients that we’re not giving up.