PICU Faculty

Sandra D. Buttram, MD
Dr. Buttram was a faculty member with the fellowship from the beginning, having come to Phoenix Children’s immediately upon completing her fellowship in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. She attended medical school at Wayne State University and completed her residency in Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh. She is board certified in Neurocritical Care through the United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties. She has conducted research and published articles in the areas of ECLS and traumatic brain injury. She is the Section Chief of the PICU.

Teik-Ee Cheah, MD
Dr. Cheah earned his medical degree from the University of Malaya Medical Faculty in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He completed residencies in Pediatrics at both the University Hospital in Kuala Lumpur and at the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. He completed his fellowship in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine at the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles in Los Angeles, California. He is leading the effort to bring ultrasound to the bedside in the PICU.

Robert H. Graham, MD
Dr. Graham earned a master’s degree in Physiology as well as his medical degree from Georgetown University. He completed his Pediatric residency at Georgetown and his Pediatric Critical Care Medicine fellowship at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona. He serves as the medical director for Respiratory Therapy, assisting with hospital practices, purchasing respiratory equipment, developing clinical pathways, and setting goals for the therapists.

Vishal Gunnala, MD
Dr. Gunnala received his medical degree from Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine-Pediatrics residency at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Illinois. He completed his fellowship in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago (Lurie Children’s) and Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. His fellowship research project, which he continues to work on, is entitled “Glucocorticoid Receptor Regulation in Children Post-Cardiopulmonary Bypass.” He has returned as an attending physician to his native Phoenix.

Heather A. Hanley, MD
Dr. Hanley attended medical school, completed a residency in Pediatrics, and completed a Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Fellowship all at Loma Linda University in Loma Linda, California. Before joining Phoenix Children’s, she was the Medical Director of the PICU at Tucson Medical Center.

Andres Herrera-Camino, MD
Dr. Herrera-Camino completed his undergraduate training in Lima, Peru, and his pediatric residency at Indiana University/Riley Hospital for Children, where he was selected as a scholar in the Morris Green Physician Scientist Development Program. The primary goal of this program is to provide support to residents and fellows who are committed to research and who want to pursue a career in academic medicine. He received dual training in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine and Pulmonary Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis.

With expertise in respiratory and critical care medicine, Dr. Herrera-Camino strives to provide high-quality, comprehensive care for patients with complex needs. His clinical and research interests focus on understanding the long-term effects that critical illness has on the physical, mental, and cognitive domains among ICU survivors. He is particularly interested in characterizing the long-term pulmonary sequelae that affect children with severe acute respiratory failure and in implementing programs to mitigate some of these morbidities.

Erin M. Kreml, MD
Dr. Kreml received her medical degree from the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine. She completed her residency in Pediatrics at the Oklahoma University Health Science Center. She completed her fellowship in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine at Phoenix Children’s Hospital.

In fellowship, she completed a research study entitled "Evaluating advancement of respiratory support in hematopoietic stem cell transplant patients in the PICU: a retrospective, case-control study." She continues to be involved in BMT research.

Michele M. Munkwitz, MD
Dr. Munkwitz received her medical degree from the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson, Arizona. She completed her residency in Pediatrics at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. She completed her fellowship in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. She is the chair of the Bioethics Committee at Phoenix Children’s.

Paul P. Tafoya, MD
Dr. Tafoya earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Sociology and Anthropology at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. After a year-long study abroad program in South America, he attended the Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus, Ohio, where he received his medical degree. He graduated from the Phoenix Children’s Hospital combined Internal Medicine/Pediatrics residency program with Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona. He completed a fellowship in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. While in Los Angeles, he also participated in the first fellowship program involving a Leadership and Professionalism curriculum.

Patricia A. Teaford, MD
Dr. Teaford has worked in Critical Care in Phoenix for more than 30 years. She received her medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, Georgia. She completed her residency in Pediatrics at the Children's Hospital and Medical Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. She completed a fellowship in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine at LeBonheur Children's Medical Center in Memphis, Tennessee. In 2011 she completed a Fellowship in Integrative Medicine from the University of Arizona School of Medicine.

David W. Tellez, MD
Dr. Tellez received his medical degree from the University of California, San Diego. He completed his residency in Pediatrics at Phoenix Children’s Hospital and his fellowship in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.

Dr. Tellez serves as the major liaison to the Pediatric Acute Lung Injury and Sepsis Network. He functions as the hospital's primary investigator for the Calfactant Study in Bone Marrow Transplant patients and the Influenza epidemiologic and genomics study. He is the Principal Investigator for the Phoenix Children's site for the National Emergency Airway Registry for Children (NEAR4KIDS), a multi-center, prospective registry for advanced airway management in pediatric intensive care units.

Dr. Tellez serves as the Critical Care liaison to the Trauma Service and lectures frequently on Critical Care and Emergency Medicine topics such as drowning, airway management, emergency stabilization, and transport. He serves as the pediatric transport medical director, providing consultation and evaluation for Air Evac, a medical evacuation operator serving Arizona.

Elizabeth A. Zorn, MD
Dr. Zorn received her medical degree from the University of South Dakota School of Medicine in Vermilion, South Dakota. She completed a combined Internal Medicine/Pediatrics residency program at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona and completed her fellowship in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine at LeBonheur Children’s Medical Center in Memphis, Tennessee.

Dr. Zorn is a past president of the Phoenix Children's medical staff, current Peer Review lead, and chair of the Clinical Effectiveness Committee. She is heavily involved in new safety initiatives related to early identification and treatment of sepsis and shock through Phoenix Children's. She is the Surviving Sepsis lead at Phoenix Children's and is also the hospital representative to the Donor Network of Arizona. She oversees all fellow Quality Improvement project and works with the Scholarly Activity Forum and Exchange to ensure that all fellows complete a Quality Improvement project.