Transcription:
Dr. Holder BioPod

Christen Holder: My name is Christen Holder, and I am the Director of Pediatric Neuropsychology at Lebonheur Children's Hospital.

So, I actually was going to be a teacher and I've always enjoyed working with kids. Student teaching didn't go as I thought it would. But I was still really interested in working with kids and particularly in helping kids who had mental health issues. And so, that's how I wound up in a PhD program for psychology. And then once I was in the program, I went to the University of Texas in Austin. Dell Children's Hospital was kind of getting started and kicking off at that time, and so I had the opportunity to work in the hospital setting there. And that's when I really knew that I wanted to stay in medicine and working in a pediatric hospital.

Before I went back to graduate school, after I had finished my undergrad degree, I worked for Children's Protective Services in Texas. I was working there obviously with a lot of kids who had trauma and that's what really steered me towards mental health. And then, when I was working in children's hospitals during my training and then when I went on to my internship and fellowship, I was really drawn specifically to neurology and to epilepsy. And so, I wound up here at Lebonheur because of the fantastic epilepsy program that we have.

And so, epilepsy is definitely my area of specialty. But since I've been here, I've expanded some just to meet the needs of the patients in the hospital here. And in particular, I love working with babies when I can. Babies are wonderful. I think we can all agree. We certainly see them in neurology, but I also started working with our cardiology group and our critical care group, helping take care of their kids who had congenital issues or really early medical issues. And then, through that work in cardiology, I've also expanded to work with the heart transplant program since it's grown up during my time here. And so now, our service does our evaluations with the heart transplant kids as well.

As far as our day-to-day here, we have two services. We do an inpatient service. And so, kids who are in the hospital, either awaiting a surgery or have an illness that's keeping them here, we can do some evaluations while they're in the hospital to help with their treatment planning. And then in our outpatient clinic, we see kids who are referred. Generally, they have needs for help in school or better understanding the way that the kids think or reason through things and, you know, helping their families and their caregivers work with them and help them succeed as best they can in life. So, I see my role as mostly helping the families better understand their kids and how to help them succeed.

So when we get referrals from the physicians here, you know, they may have questions about the kids to help with their treatment planning. And certainly, we answer those. But we are working really specifically with parents who may have questions about "How can I get the school to help us educate my kid in the best way possible?" Or "I don't understand why they seem to have trouble focusing. Can you help us understand that?" And so, the goal is always to figure out what are a child's strengths and weaknesses, so that we know how to help them achieve as much as they can.

I have a toddler. I have a three-year-old little boy. I used to have hobbies, but I think now it's just running after a toddler and two large dogs. We have two adopted dogs that we also spend a lot of time running after. Neither my husband and I are from this area, so we travel, but it's usually just to see family, because we like to see our families as much as possible. Then, we spend lots of time going to the zoo and the park and that kind of thing. And then, when I have some time to myself, I like to read or play the guitar.

I have been here for about eight years now. I didn't really know much about Memphis before we moved here. And so, we moved here because I got the job at Lebonheur. And I have really loved being at Lebonheur. There is something really special about this hospital and what it does for the community. Ever since I started, you know, anywhere I am, I say I work for Lebonheur. Everyone has a story about what Lebonheur did for their family at some point, and it's always positive. And you really feel that when you're here, how much people care about the kids they work with. And I've done some work in adult hospitals and not that of course they don't care for their patients, but the level of attachment I think is just really special in a children's hospital.

Then, we've been really pleasantly surprised with how much we've enjoyed living in Memphis. There's so much to do in the community, always events going on. And I mean the Grizzlies and the zoo and theater here, it's just really, I think, an underrated city in a lot of ways. And we have really enjoyed our time here.

Caitlin Whyte: Learn more about Lebonheur Children's at lebonheur.org.