Medicine

Hershey Medical Center team caring for Kate Gosselin

Following are the physicians who make up the team caring for Kate Gosselin, who is pregnant with sextuplets:

John Joseph Botti

Dr. John Joseph Botti is chief of the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology (OB/GYN), Penn State College of Medicine, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. Botti joined the medical center in 1979, after completing his teaching and research fellowships at Magee-Women's Hospital, Pittsburgh.

Botti has been the lead in the care of Kate Gosselin since the fall of 2003.

Botti is a 1970 graduate of Notre Dame University, Indiana. He earned his M.D. at Albany Medical College of Union University, Albany, New York. Botti completed his OB/GYN residency at the University of Pittsburgh in 1977.

In 2003-2004, Botti was listed in Best Doctors in America. Best Doctors is a nationally recognized database that contains names and professional profiles of physicians chosen through an exhaustive peer-review survey in which thousands of physicians are asked to name the best clinical practitioners in their specialties.


John T. Repke

Dr. John T. Repke is the chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the Penn State College of Medicine, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. Repke joined the medical center in 2002.

Prior to joining the medical center, Repke served as chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and was the medical director of the department's maternal care program. From 1992-98, Repke was an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Harvard Medical School. Repke served on the faculty at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine from 1982-92.

Repke is a graduate of Georgetown University and New York Medical College. His post-doctoral training included six years as an intern, assistant resident, resident of gynecology and obstetrics, and maternal-fetal medicine fellow at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.

In 2003-2004, Repke was listed in Best Doctors in America. Best Doctors is a nationally recognized database that contains names and professional profiles of physicians chosen through an exhaustive peer-review survey in which thousands of physicians are asked to name the best clinical practitioners in their specialties.


Charles Palmer

Dr. Charles Palmer is chief of the Division of Newborn Medicine, professor of pediatrics in the Penn State College of Medicine, Penn State Children's Hospital, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. Palmer, a native of South Africa, earned his medical degree and completed his residency at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. He joined the medical center as a research fellow in perinatal brain metabolism in 1987. Palmer is a member of the Sub-board for Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine of the American Board of Pediatrics.

Palmer's clinical interests include neonatal respiratory problems, neonatal hypoxic-ischemia and brain injury. His research focuses on developing strategies for reducing brain injury in newborn infants and in developing devices for delivering oxygen to premature babies, and in particular, how to improve oxygen delivery to reduce the severity of retinopathy of prematurity, which can cause blindness and chronic lung disease.

Palmer is the founder of the Pediatric Innovation Program, a collaboration of Penn State Children's Hospital, Penn State University Engineers and industrial partners, which aims to maximize the potential for research and innovation by creating an environment where people from many disciplines and institutions can collaborate to develop technology that will enhance the care provided to infants and children and improve their long-term outlook. Current collaborative efforts involve medical device development and the innovation of novel integrated biosensor systems.


Dennis J. Mujsce

Dr. Dennis J. Mujsce is a professor of pediatrics in the Penn State College of Medicine and medical director for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Penn State Children's Hospital, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. Mujsce joined the medical center in 1985 to complete his fellowship in Neonatal/Perinatal Medicine in 1988.

Mujsce earned his bachelor's degree from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore and his M.D. from Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York. He completed his pediatric internship and his pediatric residency at Brookdale Hospital and Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Currently Mujsce is involved with several regional and national organizations that are working to optimize neonatal outcomes. Under his leadership, the neonatal intensive care unit at Penn State Children's Hospital collaborates in the multicenter quality improvement initiative of the Vermont-Oxford Neonatal Network. This pioneering project seeks to evaluate the most effective ways to foster quality improvement methodologies and evidence-based medicine to refine the management of critically ill neonates. Mujsce has also served in an advisory capacity for the Technical Advisory Committee on Newborn Screening for the Pennsylvania Department of Health, as well as the Committee for the Fetus and Newborn of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.


Thomas J. Long

Dr. Thomas J. Long is associate professor of anesthesiology and pediatrics in the Penn State College of Medicine, Penn State Children's Hospital and Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. Long earned his medical degree at the University of Washington, served residencies at the University of California, San Diego, and Harvard's Massachusetts General Hospital, and did fellowships in adolescent medicine at University of California, San Diego, and in pediatric anesthesia at University of Toronto, Hospital for Sick Children. Long, who also is chief of the Division of Pediatric Anesthesiology, joined Penn State Hershey Medical Center in 1996.

Long currently is involved in the development of an infant/neonatal simulator and is very active in medical student education in anesthesiology. He was honored with Penn State College of Medicine Excellence in Teaching Awards in both 1997 and 2000. In addition, Long is involved in providing volunteer surgical services and education in developing countries. He is active in many professional societies including the Society for Education in Anesthesia, the American Society of Anesthesiologists and the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia.

Last Updated March 20, 2009

Contacts