Positions

Associate Professor of Surgery

Division of Pediatric Surgery
Baylor College of Medicine

Assistant Program Director, Resident Evaluation and Mentorship

General Surgery Residency
Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery

Education

Fellowship at The Hospital for Sick Children

Toronto, ON Canada

Residency at Duke University

Durham, United States

BA from Rice University

Houston, United States

MD from Harvard Medical School

Boston, Massachusetts United States

Certifications

American Board of Surgery

General Surgery, Pediatric Surgery

Honors & Awards

2021 Women of Excellence

Baylor College of Medicine

2023 Early Career Award for Excellence in Patient Care

Baylor College of Medicine

2023 TCH Excellence in Surgery Award

Professional Interests

• Vascular Anomalies
• Colorectal Surgery
• Graduate Medical Education

Professional Statement

Dr. Kristy Rialon is a board-certified pediatric surgeon that provides care in all aspects of neonatal and pediatric surgery. She spent four years in Houston as a student at Rice University, graduating magna cum laude with a degree in biochemistry while working in the lab of Nobel Laureate Richard Smalley. Her interest in pediatric surgery began as a student at Harvard Medical School. She completed her general surgery training at Duke University Hospital, and then a pediatric surgery fellowship at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, where she trained with Dr. Jacob Langer, a pioneer in the treatment of Hirschsprung disease. During her residency, she was awarded a competitive research grant (F32) from the National Institutes of Health to study pancreatic cancer. She also subsequently completed a clinical research fellowship in Vascular Anomalies at Boston Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Rialon is thrilled and grateful to be a part of the Pediatric Surgery Department at Texas Children’s Hospital/Baylor College of Medicine. She believes that family involvement is critical to the success of children’s postoperative care, and enjoys working with multidisciplinary teams to improve patient care and outcomes. Her clinical and research interests are in congenital colorectal disease (anorectal malformations, cloacal malformations, cloacal exstrophy, Hirschsprung disease, colonic dysmotiliy) and vascular anomalies (hemangioma, lymphatic malformations, venous malformation, combined vascular malformations, complicated lymphatic diseases).

She is heavily involved in the education of students and trainees, serving as the Embryology Thread Director, Site Director for the pediatric surgery rotation at TCH, Department Lead Elective Officer for the Department of Surgery, Assistant Program Director for the general surgery program at BCM, and the Associate Program Director for the pediatric surgery fellowship at TCH. She has previously served on the Surgery Review Committee and the Board of Directors at the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).

Websites

Selected Publications

• Rialon KL, Englum BR, Gulack BC, Bhattacharya SD, Talbot LJ, Guevara CJ, Shapiro ML, Adibe OO, Scarborough JE, Rice HE "Comparative effectiveness of treatment strategies for severe splenic trauma in the pediatric population." Am J Surg.;
• Ceppa EP, Burbridge RA, Rialon KL, Omotosho PA, Emick D, Jowell PS, Branch MS, Pappas TN "Endoscopic vs. surgical ampullectomy: an algorithm to treat disease of the ampulla of Vater." Ann Surg.;
• Rialon KL, Gulack BC, Englum BR, Routh J, Rice HE "Factors impacting survival in children with renal cell carcinoma." J Pediatr Surg.;
• Rialon KL, Murillo R, Fevurly RD, Kulungowski AM, Zurakowski D, Liang M, Kozakewich HPW, Alomari AI, Fishman SJ "Impact of screening for hepatic hemangiomas in patients with multiple cutaneous infantile hemangiomas." Pediatr Dermatol.;