Bruzoni Takes Position as Chief of Pediatric Surgery for new Texas Children’s Hospital

Dr. Matias Bruzoni has accepted the position of Chief of Pediatric Surgery at Baylor University School of Medicine and Associate Chief Surgical Officer for Texas Children’s in Austin. Texas Children’s plans to open a new full children’s hospital in Austin in February 2024.

“What’s most appealing to me is the unique opportunity to help open a new full children’s hospital, recruit a full team, and be part of the decision-making progress since day one. The task is to build the pediatric surgery division from the ground up and also help build the other surgical service lines, operating room flows, quality improvement, outpatient clinics, Telehealth programs, along with other projects and make it the go to children’s hospital in Austin,” said Bruzoni. “Stanford has taught me so much and has put me in a place where I think I’ll be able to have a strong leadership impact and continue to advance the field.”

Texas Children’s is the biggest children’s hospital and is ranked #2 in the country by U.S. New and World Report in their annual Best Children’s Hospitals list.

“Matias has provided outstanding care to patients and mentoring to students and residents in the past 14 years,” said Stanford Chief of Pediatric Surgery Dr. James Dunn. “We will greatly miss him and look forward to his continued contribution to our field.”

Originally from Buenas Aires, Bruzoni came to Stanford as the first Pediatric Surgery Fellow in 2009, before joining the faculty. During his tenure at Stanford, Bruzoni received multiple Faculty Teaching Awards. He was both site director for the general surgery residents at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and Director of the Pediatric Surgery Fellowship Program since 2015.

“Matias has built an incredible career at Stanford, and we’re so proud of this next step in his career,” said Department of Surgery Chair Dr. Mary Hawn. “He is an amazing and inspiring mentor to trainees at all levels, his clinical contributions have been phenomenal.”

Bruzoni’s administrative appointments included being Director of Stanford’s Adolescent Bariatric Surgery Program, which is a leader in the field, and Director Hispanic Center for Pediatric Surgery, a clinic composed entirely of Spanish-speaking healthcare professionals.

“The Hispanic Center for Pediatric Surgery has brought me a lot of joy. The families loved it and our research showed that language concordant and patient centered care is the best strategy to improve flow of information and patient understanding of the disease processes,” said Bruzoni.

Outside the clinical setting, Bruzoni charmed audiences as the lead vocalist for Midnight Rounds. The “unofficial” cover band of Stanford Children’s Health performed externally as well as at many Stanford events including the 2019 Annual Meeting of the Halsted Society and Medicine & the Muse’s Stuck at Home Concert series.

“The Bay Area will not be the same without his vocals for Midnight Rounds!” exclaimed Hawn.

Despite the distance, Bruzoni says the band isn’t breaking up.

“We are trying to schedule a few shows a year in the Bay Area so we can all get together from time to time,” said Bruzoni. “I’m sure the band will continue to look for ways to keep Midnight Rounds going for a long time!”

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