Wesley Medical Center hires pediatric surgeon

Wesley Medical Center has hired the area’s first permanent pediatric surgeon since the departure of Kimberly Molik in August 2013.

Mark Saxton practiced in Omaha for six years before practicing at Gundersen Health Systems in La Crosse, Wis., according to a news release. In Wisconsin, Saxton helped establish the pectus excavatum program to correct “sunken chest” deformities, and Saxton says he’d like to start a similar program at Wesley.

In 2012, Saxton also began practicing at Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo, Mich., and Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana, Ill.

He received a medical degree from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, where he also had his general surgery residency, according to the release. Saxton completed a fellowship in pediatric surgery at the University of Toronto School of Medicine’s Hospital for Sick Children. He is board certified in surgery and pediatric surgery through the American Board of Surgery.

Saxton also does pediatric surgery outreach in Nicaragua.

In 2013, Molik – who practiced in Wichita for eight years as part of Wichita Surgical Specialists – left for Mercy Hospital in St. Louis. According to the Medical Society of Sedgwick County, there are no other permanent pediatric surgeons in Wichita.

After Molik’s departure, Wesley opened a new Pediatric Surgery Clinic with temporary pediatric surgeons. Saxton started on a temporary basis with Wesley at the clinic last spring.

Hiring Saxton is part of Wesley’s effort to increase its services, particularly for its recently announced $28 children’s hospital. Construction on the hospital, which will be inside Wesley Medical Center, is expected to begin this summer and last 12 to 18 months.

The children’s hospital will be attached to the current building, with the hospital entrance at Hillside and Elm becoming the new entrance and lobby to the children’s hospital.

It will include 30 private rooms for pediatric patients and 15 private pediatric intensive care rooms. The hospital will be on the fifth floor of the building and will include renovation of the pediatric intensive care unit.

Wesley is recruiting for several physicians, including pediatric surgeons, pediatric intensivists, pediatric hospitalists and potentially specialists in hematology, pulmonology and urology.

The hospital has not yet been named.

The closest children’s hospitals are Children’s Mercy in Kansas City, Mo., and the Children’s Hospital at the University of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City.

This story was originally published February 17, 2015 at 4:45 PM with the headline "Wesley Medical Center hires pediatric surgeon."