Helping Children Heal Faster at Children's National Hospital

Diego Preciado, MD, PhD, has always understood that being a physician was “less of a job and more a way of life,” he says. His father, an ear, nose and throat doctor in private practice, inspired Dr. Preciado’s career in medicine. He has taken it a step further into research and academic medicine. His work improves care for children all over the world.

“I love new ideas and big challenges,” he says. “The whole game of having an idea and trying to get a grant, it keeps you young in a sense, as you travel through the valleys and the peaks, though there are often more valleys than peaks.”

Dr. Preciado has developed medications that reduce the need for surgery in children with chronic ear disease. He also helped advance non-invasive systems to deliver ear medication without anesthesia. He’s developing an app that will help families manage critical care for their hearing-impaired children after cochlear implantation to keep up with language development. He also conducts clinical research in pediatric airway reconstructions.

Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at Children's National Hospital, gives Dr. Preciado what he calls a “surgical home” where he can do both research and care for patients every day.  “At Children’s National,” he says, “the future is all about helping children get better faster.”