Pediatrics CertifiedXiomara Garcia-Casal, MD

Xiomara Garcia, M.D., is an Associate Professor with tenure in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Cardiology and Pediatric Critical Care, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS)/Arkansas Children's Hospital (ACH) in Little Rock, AR. 

After graduating in 1987 from the Central University of Venezuela / Luis Razetti School of Medicine in Caracas, Dr. Garcia completed an internship in Pediatrics in the Central University's Department of Pediatrics at Hospital Miguel Perez Carreño. There she completed her pediatric residency in 1992 and Fellowship in pediatric intensive care in 1994. In 1999, Dr. Garcia joined the Baylor College of Medicine Department of Pediatrics at Texas Children's Hospital. While at Texas Children's she completed a Fellowship in Pediatric Critical Care in 2002, her pediatric residency in 2004, and in 2006 completed a second Fellowship in Cardiovascular Intensive Care. Dr. Garcia joined the faculty at UAMS/ACH in 2006. She currently works in the division of Pediatric Cardiology and Pediatric Critical Care as an intensivist in both the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU) and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). She developed and implemented the Cardiac Chronic Care team in 2008, which strives to reduce fragmentation of care in patients with prolonged hospitalizations in the CVICU. Dr. Garcia is an inpatient heart transplant physician. She cares for inpatient heart transplant patients at all phases of transplant, including waitlisted, operative, postoperative, and during acute illness post-transplant.  She is currently very involved in developing a multidisciplinary transport team for palliative critical care transports to home as an alternative for families of terminal and critically ill children.

Dr. Garcia is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Society of Critical Care Medicine, and the American Medical Association. She is certified with the American Board of Pediatrics and the Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Board. Dr. Garcia was the recipient of the Eighth Annual Ruth Olive Beall Award in 2014 from Arkansas Children's Hospital for the tireless effort and dedication to pediatric health care issues. Dr. Garcia's clinical research in the CVICU has led to publications on adrenal insufficiency and survival while awaiting heart transplantation, nutrition and critical care needs, chronic care patient models, and feeding strategies in single ventricle physiology. 

Medical Degree

• Universidad Central de Venezuela - 1988

Residency

• Baylor College of Medicine - 2004
• Hospital Miguel Perez Carrero - 1992

Fellowship

• Baylor College of Medicine - 2006
• Baylor College of Medicine - 2002
• Hospital Miguel Perez Carrero - 1994

Internship

• Hospital Miguel Perez Carrero - 1989