Dr. Daniel von Allmen

Dr. Daniel von Allmen graduated from medical school at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. He completed his general surgery residency at the University of Cincinnati and then completed his pediatric surgery fellowship at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. He completed his ECMO training fellowship at Cincinnati Children’s under the direction of pediatric transplant surgeon Fred Ryckman, MD. His clinical and research work centers around the treatment of neuroblastoma and complex esophageal disorders.

He has participated in the Children’s Oncology Group — a National Institutes of Health-funded consortium of hospitals across the country devoted to pediatric cancers.

He knew very early in life that he wanted to go to medical school. Though no one in his family was a physician, he was confident that medicine was the career for him. He even imagined himself in private practice but, during his first surgery rotation as a medical student in Vermont, he fell in love with the operating room. He later came to realize that pediatric surgery, specifically, was where he needed to chart his course.

In 2011, he developed the Esophageal Center at Cincinnati Children’s. With team members from across a range of specialties — including ENT, general surgery, pulmonology, GI and genetics — this center epitomizes the spirit of collaboration at their institution.

As surgeon-in-chief at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, he oversees 100 surgeons across nine divisions with the Department of Surgery. He is also responsible for operations of the perioperative area of the hospital. The surgeon-in-chief role at Cincinnati Children’s is unique compared to other children’s hospitals. Here, the surgeon-in-chief serves as an institutional leader, participating at the executive leadership level of our organization.

In addition to his role as a practicing surgeon and surgery leader, he has a strong interest in program growth and development. Because of this, he was asked to lead business development for the hospital.

On a national level, he has served as treasurer of the American Pediatric Surgical Association — a group representing 90% of pediatric surgeons across the country. He has also served as an oral examiner for the American Board of Pediatric Surgery.

His long-standing fascination with innovation and robotics led him — in conjunction with Ben Gurion University engineering professor Hugo Guterman — to develop an ultrasound-guided robotic needle delivery system. The technology, called Fast Intelligent Needle Delivery (FIND), formed the foundation of Xact Medical LLC, a company co-founded in 2018 by Cincinnati Children’s and Ben Gurion.

He has been fortunate in his career to have learned from many incredible mentors. Two in particular have guided him as a physician and leader.

Former surgeon-in-chief at Cincinnati Children’s, Mory Ziegler, MD, was very academic, but he was just as likely to ask him about his family as he was about his charting. Dr. Ziegler showed him how important it was as a leader to make people a priority.

He completed my ECMO training fellowship at Cincinnati Children’s under the direction of pediatric transplant surgeon Fred Ryckman, MD. Dr. Ryckman taught him so much about the technical aspects of surgery, and also about the responsibility pediatric surgeons have to their patients and families.

Dr. Ryckman would frequently say that parents bring you (the surgeon) their very most prized possession. That responsibility is huge and so is the reward. But when it doesn’t go well, the accountability is painful.

The sense of being entrusted by people to care for their most prized possession — their children — is awesome.

The mentorship he received spurred his own interest in teaching. After returning to Cincinnati Children’s in 2009 to lead the pediatric general and thoracic surgery division, he was named program director for that division’s fellowship program. He became secretary/treasurer and then president of the national Association of Pediatric Surgery Training Program Directors (APSTPD) group.

For his clinical, research and teaching work, he has been recognized with several honors and awards. He is most proud of the University of North Carolina (UNC) Resident Advocate Award he received in 2006, and the Anthony A. Meyer Resident Mentor Award presented to him in 2007.

He considers it a privilege to care for children and families at Cincinnati Children’s. And he is proud of the elite training environment they've created for the next generation of pediatric surgeons. He knows that the work they do can impact lives for many years to come.