Overview

Dr. Fortenberry first joined Childrens as an attending physician in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Childrens at Egleston in 1992. Prior to being named Chief Medical Officer in 2020, he served as Chief Physician Officer in 2019, Pediatrician in Chief/Chief of the Medicine Service Line from 2009-2018, and President of the Childrens Professional Staff 2005-2008. In his current role as CMO, Dr. Fortenberry provides physician and operational oversight to one of the largest pediatric healthcare systems in the country.

Dr. Fortenberry served previously as founding director of the Emory/Childrens Critical Care Fellowship training program, Medical Director of the Egleston PICU, and Medical Director of Pediatric Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO), prior to leading as Chief of Emory/Eglestons Division of Critical Care Medicine from 2003-2009,

Throughout his career, Dr. Fortenberry has participated in or led a variety of medical staff, research, education, administrative and quality improvement initiatives. He has served in many national leadership roles with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM). He has long been involved in national and international ECMO leadership and served as President of the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO), the worlds largest organization for care and research in extracorporeal support. He also served on the Critical Care Sub-Board of the American Board of Pediatrics from 2011-2018. including leading as Chair. Dr. Fortenberry has had a long career in critical care research, with a broad array of international lectures and over 100 publications on sepsis, novel therapeutic modalities and critical care. He has been named a Master of Critical Care Medicine (MCCM) by SCCM and received the Distinguished Career Award from the Section on Critical Care of the AAP. He remains an Associate Editor of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine.

A native of Atlanta, Dr. Fortenberry attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received his medical degree at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. Dr. Fortenberry completed a pediatric residency at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, N.C., followed by a fellowship in pediatric critical care at Texas Childrens Hospital in Houston, Texas. He and his wife Janet have three children and six grandchildren.

Focus of practice
Hospital administration/physician practice organization
Quality, operations, and professional staff leadership
Critical care medicine

Areas of interest
ECMO
Sepsis

Professional affiliations
Society of Critical Care Medicine
Extracorporeal Life Support Organization
American Academy of Pediatrics
American Pediatric Society
American Board of Pediatrics

Research interests:
Dr. Fortenberry has a long history of clinical and research interests and publications in neutrophil-mediated tissue injury, nitric oxide, acute lung injury, sepsis and extracorporeal support.

Academic Appointment

• Professor, Pediatric Critical Care, Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine

Education

Research