As a young person growing up in Arizona, Jill G. Radack, M.D., was fairly certain she wanted a future life and career in caring for children. Her natural affection for youngsters made her a sought-after babysitter during her high school years. She remained in her home state for college and graduated with a degree in French and honors in biochemistry from the University of Arizona.

Dr. Radack focused on her studies on pre-medicine and research in neonatology labs at the University of Arizona. She also spent time as a researcher in the neonatal pulmonology and cardiology laboratory at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

Dr. Radack's trajectory then took her to a research position in both the clinical and laboratory settings at the Barbara Davis Diabetes Center while she attended medical school in Denver, Colorado. It was during her research studies in Denver that she developed a keen interest in pediatric endocrinology.

She completed her pediatric residency and pediatric endocrinology fellowship at the University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas. While in fellowship, Dr. Radack's concentration was childhood obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and metabolic syndrome, and their often times life-long devastating effects.

Practicing pediatric endocrinology at Cook Children's Medical Center since graduating in 2008, Dr. Radack cares for children and teens with diabetes and all types of endocrine disorders with a focus on precocious puberty and menstrual disorders.

For Dr. Radack, an important part of caring for her patients is taking the time to get to know them at a personal level. She really enjoys learning about their hobbies, favorite songs, what studies they like, and what they like to do for fun. And, as an animal lover, it is not unusual for her to know the names of all their pets. She especially likes to help her patients understand their changing bodies and feel empowered to take care of themselves as far as daily exercise and healthy eating.

Because of her genuine interest in their lives, it's not unusual for a patient or patient family her to invite her to a graduation, school play or even a wedding.

Always an outdoor enthusiast, during her first year of medical school Dr. Radack qualified for and ran the Boston Marathon. She also summited the Grand Teton, a 14,000 foot peak in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

These days, Dr. Radack enjoys working with programs that help children, getting outdoors with her husband and their two children and, especially, her husband's great cooking. As a family, they love animals (they have a cat and dog) and like spending time outside as much as possible. They often to travel to Wyoming to hike, mountain bike and snow ski. They can also be found attending their daughter's soccer games and son's performances (he's a vocalist and piano player.)