Dell Children’s Medical Center is putting serious muscle behind its Comprehensive Fetal Care Center, shifting from a small part‑time operation to a larger, full‑time fetal surgery program with its own formal training track. Hospital leaders say the overhaul will bring more fetal surgeons and a fellow to Austin and set up a local fellowship that could begin in 2027. The aim is straightforward: let more families get advanced prenatal surgery and deliver in Austin instead of trekking out of town for care.
What's changing at Dell Children's
The hospital is doubling clinical coverage at the Comprehensive Fetal Care Center, moving from two part‑time physicians to four full‑time fetal surgeons plus a fellow. Leaders say two additional fetal surgeons have already been recruited and are slated to join the team in May. Alireza Shamshirsaz, who joined at the end of March, called the expansion “an incredible opportunity,” according to the Austin American‑Statesman.
New leadership and their track records
Shamshirsaz comes in with a long résumé in fetal therapy, including leadership roles at Texas Children’s Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital, and he will also serve as the inaugural chair of fetal medicine and therapy at Dell Medical School, according to Becker's Hospital Review. The center’s provider directory lists Shamshirsaz as director of the Comprehensive Fetal Care Center and describes his clinical role at Dell Children’s, as shown on the Partners in Care directory.
Kenneth Moise, who helped start the program and leads several national studies on fetal blood anomalies and monitoring, remains affiliated with Dell Med and the fetal program, according to Dell Medical School. In other words, the program is adding new leaders without losing the veteran voices who helped build it.
Training pipeline and new hires
The expansion includes a plan to launch Dell Med’s first fetal surgery fellowship in June 2027, designed to train fellows locally in both minimally invasive and open fetal procedures. The Austin American‑Statesman reports that the center has recruited Dr. Oluyinka Olutoye, a nationally recognized fetal surgeon who currently serves as surgeon‑in‑chief at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and that he is expected to join the Austin team in July.
If those hires and the fellowship move forward as described, hospital leaders say Dell Children’s is on track to turn Austin into a regional hub for both fetal care and advanced surgical training.
What it means for Austin families
The Comprehensive Fetal Care Center opened in May 2021 and, in its early years, expected to deliver more than 120 babies in its first year and over 200 in the next, giving families a path to deliver at a children’s hospital with immediate Level IV NICU access, according to UT Health Austin. Dell Children’s already runs a Specialized Delivery Unit next to its fetal clinic to coordinate high‑risk deliveries and neonatal care, as described by Ascension Seton.
Administrators say expanding the surgical team should cut down on travel and help keep care more seamless for Central Texas families who need complex fetal and neonatal services.
