Dr. Alexander Alali, MD
I completed my Pediatric Cardiology training at Texas Children's Hospital and Pediatric Critical Care training at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and I am currently working in the Pediatric Cardiac ICU at Cook Children's Hospital. As junior faculty, I'm excited to keep getting better at what I do—and that's exactly what this podcast is about. We'll dive into the fundamentals and the gray zones of care, where evidence meets experience and practice often diverges. After training at two institutions and now working at a third, I've seen how the same problems get approached in very different ways. One of my favorite quotes is, "Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment"—a reminder that growth starts with uncertainty. If you're curious, open to new perspectives, and eager to learn, you're in the right place
Dr. Jillian Olsen, MD
I had the pleasure of learning from Marc and Alex, among many other experts, during my pediatric cardiology training at Texas Children’s Hospital. I followed this with pediatric critical care training at Boston Children’s Hospital, and am now a cardiac intensivist at the University of California San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospital. While I assume I was invited on this podcast primarily so that Marc and Alex would have someone to make them sound smarter, I am thrilled to help create something I wish I’d had as a trainee. Nothing excites me quite as much as a truly nerdy discussion about physiology. I’m ready to turn my solo perseverations and panicked late night phone calls for help into a resource, or at least a source of controversy and debate, for those who spend their time thinking about kids with heart disease.
Dr. Marc Anders, MD
My goal is to deliver evidence-informed, globally shaped care to critically ill children with congenital heart disease. I trained across Europe, Australia, the UK, and the U.S. in Anesthesia, Adult and Pediatric Critical Care. Research and Education are my passions. In my career, I published over 100 articles and posters, but more importantly, trained more than 200 junior doctors in research and clinical practice. I believe in humility, curiosity, and the power of self-awareness—and am a proud advocate of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
Our Story
It began the way so many stories in the CICU do: during a chaotic handover, a crashing patient, and two sets of eyes trying to make sense of it all. I was the attending, Alex was the fellow, and somewhere between epinephrine pushes and echo debates, we realized we shared the same obsession: making the care of complex cardiac patients just a bit clearer.
What started as late-night debriefs after tough shifts evolved into something more - a recurring, raw, and honest mentor-mentee dialogue rooted in the realities of pediatric cardiac intensive care. We weren’t quoting textbooks - we were translating them. And now, the conversation has evolved again.
With Jillian joining the team, we’ve gained a fresh voice - sharp, grounded, and unafraid to ask the hard questions. She brings the kind of clinical insight that only comes from wrestling with physiology in the middle of the night, and the kind of humor that makes even the hardest days a little lighter. She challenges us, clarifies us, and makes us better.
So we thought - why not pull up a few more chairs?
PCICU Pulse was born to bring you into that conversation. Whether you’re new to the unit or a seasoned pro, a nurse, fellow, APP, resident, or RT - we talk through the real stuff: bedside dilemmas, not just the guidelines. We challenge assumptions, unpack the physiology, and turn chaos into clinical clarity.
No bullshit. Just real talk from the heart of the unit.