Generational Giving in Pediatric Healthcare: Breakthroughs Across Time

Big Hearts Spark Brilliant Minds

Historic breakthroughs in pediatric medicine rarely come from a single moment of discovery or a single person. They emerge when people at every level step forward together: patient families who have faith that the next big breakthrough is on the horizon; physicians who advance the ideas and teams they lead; departments that commit to expert care because they believe deeply in their mission; and donors whose generosity keeps progress moving forward.

At Children’s Hospital Colorado, innovation is powered as much by compassion as it is by science. As a nonprofit pediatric healthcare system, our culture of selflessness and shared purpose fuels advances that change—and save—young lives.

Some families give to honor physicians whose discoveries shaped medicine. Others build new legacies through philanthropy and fundraising. Physicians invest in the people and ideas they trust to carry their work forward. And entire care teams unite around shared belief, demonstrating that progress is a collective commitment.

Together, these philosophies reveal a simple truth: big hearts spark brilliant minds—and create a healthier future for children everywhere. This is how generational giving in pediatric healthcare fuels lasting innovation.

Building on the Work of an Early Childhood Development Innovator

In every era of pediatrics, breakthroughs happened when someone believed that prevention is as powerful as cure. Few people embodied that belief more than William K. Frankenburg, MD, MS, a pioneer whose work transformed childhood developmental screening into a global standard.

Dr. Frankenburg recognized that early identification of developmental delays could change the trajectory of kids’ lives. This conviction led him to create the Denver Developmental Screening Test, revolutionizing pediatrics by giving clinicians tools to assess developmental progress. His work reshaped practice, influenced generations of providers and is embedded in pediatric care across continents. It represents a model of generational giving in pediatric healthcare that bridges science and philanthropy.

Thanks to Dr. Frankenburg, developmental screening is now a routine part of pediatric care worldwide — a simple check-in during well child visits that examines how a child is growing, moving, learning and communicating. It helps clinicians and families notice early signs that a child might benefit from additional support long before delays become harder to address.

An Idea that Changed Pediatric Care

Decades later, his mission continues, not only through the clinicians trained in his methods, but through his own family.

This year, a transformative commitment was made by the next generation of Dr. Frankenburg’s family to Children’s Colorado to establish the William K. Frankenburg Endowed Chair in Pediatrics. This gift ensures permanent support for early childhood development research in primary care, extending Dr. Frankenburg’s life’s work into perpetuity. Its purpose is not simply to remember the past, but to carry forward a vision that continues to shape the field. This commitment reflects the enduring impact of generational giving in healthcare.

From Early Screening to Lasting Support for Language Development

The inaugural chairholder, Gretchen Domek, MD, MPhil, embodies that forward momentum. For more than a decade, she has developed innovative, low-cost approaches to strengthen early brain and language development by empowering parents and caregivers. Her PUPPETalk program uses simple finger puppets to spark language-rich interactions between caregivers and infants an approach shown to improve early language development, cognitive stimulation and maternal mental health. Programs like this demonstrate how generational giving in pediatric healthcare advances both research and real-world outcomes.

With support from the endowed chair, Dr. Domek will expand this work and pursue new research, building on ideas first championed by Dr. Frankenburg. Her longtime mentor, Bonnie Camp, MD, PhD, worked closely with Dr. Frankenburg, making the continuity behind this work both professional and deeply personal.

Play with Purpose

Thanks to a generous gift from The Toy Foundation — which unites the collective philanthropy of the toy industry to benefit children worldwide — Dr. Domek’s program is receiving funding to provide finger and hand puppets to families. These tools help caregivers engage babies in early communication and ensure children are supported developmentally from the very beginning.

Carrying Forward the Work of a Chemotherapy Trailblazer

Decades earlier, the same forward-looking spirit led another physician, Joseph H. Burchenal, MD, to imagine a radically different future for children facing devastating cancer diagnoses, planting seeds that would change medicine forever.

Born in 1912, Dr. Burchenal became one of the pioneers of chemotherapy at a time when cancer was considered largely untreatable. His life’s work was shaped early by personal loss: the death of his mother from osteogenic sarcoma while he was an undergraduate. Determined to change outcomes for patients like her, he devoted his career to the idea that cancer could be treated, not merely endured.

Beginning in the 1930s, Dr. Burchenal turned his attention to childhood leukemia. Inspired by the success of antibiotics in combating infectious disease, he wondered whether chemistry could be harnessed to fight cancer.

In the late 1940s, working alongside other pioneers, Dr. Burchenal helped develop 6-Mercaptopurine, the first chemotherapy drug shown to produce long-term remission in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. In 1953, he and his colleagues published results demonstrating unprecedented survival outcomes.

The drug soon received FDA approval, marking the beginning of a new era in pediatric cancer care. Today 6-MP is still used to treat pediatric leukemia patients at Children’s Colorado and around the world.

But Dr. Burchenal’s influence extended far beyond leukemia. He contributed to treatments for Burkitt’s lymphoma, collaborated internationally and played a formative role in what became the national “War on Cancer,” culminating in the 1971 National Cancer Act.

This progress continues today through generational giving in pediatric healthcare. Inspired by his life’s work, his daughter, Jody Nycum, and her husband Scott chose to honor him by establishing the Dr. Joseph Burchenal Endowed Fund for the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children’s Colorado.

Care Shaped by Generosity

Together, these stories highlight the power of generational giving in pediatric healthcare to transform lives.