Pediatric community mourns loss of devoted colleague, friend, mother

The pediatric community is mourning the loss of Katherine “Lindley” Spaht Dodson, M.D., FAAP, of Austin, Texas, who was taken hostage and fatally shot in her pediatric clinic on Jan. 26. Dr. Dodson, 43, leaves behind her husband, Drew, and three young children.

“The entire pediatric community is shocked and heartbroken over the tragic shooting,” AAP President Lee Savio Beers, M.D., FAAP, said in a statement. “There is no explanation for this kind of violence anywhere, and especially in a pediatric medical office, which should be a safe place focused on nurturing and healing.”

The Texas Pediatric Society (TPS) said it stands ready to support the entire Austin pediatric community and all affected.

“Our hearts go out to Dr. Dodson’s family, friends, colleagues and staff, and the children she dedicated her life to caring for. It is so hard to fathom how to fill the void left by her death. We have lost a caring and devoted mother, wife, colleague, and friend who will be forever missed,” TPS President Seth D. Kaplan, M.D., FAAP, and TPS Executive Director Tricia Hall, CAE, CMP, said in a statement.

Last year, Dr. Dodson became the owner of the Children’s Medical Group practice in Austin. She joined the practice in 2017 and served as an attending physician at Dell Children’s Hospital and faculty member at the Dell Medical School pediatrics department. She was recognized with faculty-of-the-year awards in 2012 and 2017.

A Baton Rouge, La., native, Dr. Dodson earned her medical degree from Louisiana State University School of Medicine, New Orleans in 2003. She completed her pediatric residency at Vanderbilt University, was an instructor at Harvard Medical School and urgent care physician at Boston Children’s Hospital before moving with her husband to Austin in 2007.

Memorial contributions to honor and continue Dr. Dodson’s passion and life’s work of caring for children can be made to the Dr. Lindley Dodson Endowment for Pediatric Care at Dell Children’s, https://supportdellchildrens.org/2021/01/remembering-dr-lindley-dodson/. Contributions also can be made to the Lindley Dodson Education Foundation fund for her children, Shaw, Tucker and Loretta, at https://dodsonfoundation.org.