A boy's best friend during treatment.

The Kidney Center for Children
at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children

Combining care, compassion and cutting-edge treatment
for children and their families

When your child is sick with new or chronic kidney problems, life can seem very unfair. It’s easy to question how the problem could have been prevented, why it’s happening to someone who doesn’t “deserve” it, or how to deal with feelings of anger, denial, guilt or sadness. We understand those feelings here. But we also have lots of reasons to feel confident, optimistic and encouraging – and so can you.

Led by Medical Director Dr. Jonathan D. Heiliczer and Surgical Director Dr. Marshall Schwartz, the Kidney Center for Children at St. Christopher’s is a uniquely integrated program that brings together pediatric experts in nephrology, urology and transplant surgery to treat children from birth through adolescence with all kinds of kidney and urological issues – from acute to chronic disease, congenital problems to recent damage, dialysis to transplantation.

Some of the many ways we care for children and their families include:

• Treatment for high blood pressure, kidney diseases & disorders, bladder disorders & infections, incontinence, kidney stones, lupus, urinary tract infections, kidney failure
• Hemodialysis
• Peritoneal dialysis
• Home training
• Kidney transplantation
  

Our physicians, all faculty members at Drexel University College of Medicine, serve as a vital educational resource for pediatric and family physicians throughout the region. Our specialized nurses, nutritionists, social workers, psychiatrists and Child Life therapists become actively involved by responding to your child’s educational, social and emotional needs. Through an arrangement with the Children's Regional Hospital at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, New Jersey, our physicians are available for emergencies, phone consultations and inpatient visits at the hospital and at a satellite location in Moorestown.

Contact Us
Let us help you explore treatment options and give you hope for the future. For an appointment, call us at 215-427-5190, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Clinic hours:
Dr. Heiliczer: Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and the 2nd Friday of each month, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m., at St. Christopher’s; the 1st and 3rd Friday of each month, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m., in Camden; and the 4th Friday of each month, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m., in Moorestown
Dr. Conley: Mondays, 1 – 4 p.m., and Tuesdays, 4 – 6:30 p.m., at St. Christopher’s

STAFF

Jonathan D. Heiliczer, MD
Medical Director, Kidney Center
Chief, Section of Nephrology

In practice since 1977, Dr. Heiliczer came to St. Christopher’s from the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago. He has been instrumental in creating satellite clinics in southern New Jersey and was recently chosen by physicians as the top doctor they would recommend to a family member who needs a pediatric nephrologist. A graduate of the New Jersey Medical School at Newark, Dr. Heiliczer completed his internship and residency at University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore and his fellowship at Albert Einstein Medical Center in New York. He is an active member of the American Society of Pediatric Nephrology and is Board certified by the American Board of Pediatrics with a specialty in pediatric nephrology.

Marshall Schwartz, MD
Surgical Director, Pediatric Renal Transplantation
Interim Surgeon-in-Chief
Director, Pediatric Surgery Research Laboratory
Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics

Dr. Schwartz has been in practice since 1978. A University of Minnesota Medical School graduate, he completed his internship at New York Hospital’s Cornell Medical Center, his residency at Boston Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Boston and his fellowship at the University of Minnesota. Board certified in general surgery and pediatric surgery, he is a member of the American Pediatric Surgical Association, the American Society of Anesthesiologists and the American College of Surgeons. He is a professor of surgery and pediatrics at Drexel University College of Medicine and at Thomas Jefferson University, where he also serves as senior scholar in the Department of Health Policy. His special areas of interest include bowel diseases, neonatal/perinatal medicine and pediatric renal transplants.

Susan Conley, MD
Director, Dialysis Unit
Professor of Pediatrics

Dr. Conley is Board certified in pediatrics and specializes in pediatric nephrology. A graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School, she completed her internship, residency and fellowship at St. Louis University Hospital and has been in practice since 1977. She helped establish and support an e-mail listserv group and website ( operational) to give children with kidney disease and their families and caregivers a forum to share information and experiences.

Robert E. Steckler, MD

In practice since 1993, Dr. Steckler provides the Kidney Center with expertise in urology. A graduate of the Medical College of Albany, he completed his residency at New York Hospital’s Cornell Medical Center and his fellowship at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. A member of the Association of Anesthesiology Program Directors and the American Urological Association, he is Board certified in urology and specializes in pediatric urology and reconstructive surgery.