Saul joins WVU Children's Hospital in executive role

J. Philip Saul, M.D., has been named executive vice president of WVU Children’s Hospital and executive director for children’s health, West Virginia United Health System.

Dr. Saul, who begins his duties in October, will also serve as a professor in the WVU Department of Pediatrics.

Saul joins WVU from The Ohio State University, where he was chair of pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, and associate dean for children’s and transitional health at The Ohio State University.

He earned his bachelor’s and medical degrees from Duke University and completed his residency in pediatrics, as well as clinical and research fellowships in pediatric cardiology, at Children’s Hospital, Boston.

“We are looking forward to having Dr. Saul as a member of the organization’s leadership team,” said WVU Medicine President and CEO Albert Wright. “He will help us strengthen and grow our programs focused on women and children.”

Saul is credited with performing the first radiofrequency catheter ablation for Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome in a child (1990), and the first catheter cryoablation procedure in a child in the U.S. (2003). He has continued to pioneer new techniques for the minimally invasive treatment of arrhythmias in children and adults with congenital heart disease. In recent years, his interests have included preventive cardiology to address the epidemic of childhood obesity, sudden unexpected death in the young and the role of genetics in the new era of “personalized medicine.”

He has published more than 270 articles, chapters and books, and holds eight patents. Saul has lectured extensively throughout the world, directed and organized numerous conferences, and has been the recipient of numerous awards, honors and grants.