about us
Aspire's Medical Advisory Council
The Aspire Medical Advisory Council is made up of dedicated physicians helping people with developmental disabilities reach their dreams. These physicians draw from years of educational and hands-on medical experiences to answer your questions on developmental disabilities. The Council consults with Aspire’s professional team, providing information on evolving trends and practice strategies. Their input helps Aspire to employ state of the art clinical practices and ensure the highest quality of services.
Our Medical Advisory Council members are:
- Dr. Mary Keen
- Alan I. Rosenblatt, M.D.
- Christine Hudicourt Sajous, M.D.
- Dr. Melissa Sigler
- Jerold Stirling, M.D. FAAP
- Dr. Lisa Thornton
Dr. Mary Keen
Dr. Keen is medical director of Pediatric Rehabilitation at Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital. She is a clinical associate professor at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine and an attending physician in the Departments of Pediatrics and Orthopedic Surgery Section of Rehabilitation Medicine.
She is a founding board member and medical director of Coach House (formerly known as Respite House) in Naperville. She is also an assistant attending physician at Rush Medical College in Chicago. Dr. Keen was named a Top Doctor by Chicago Magazine in 2001, 2006, and 2008, and has been named one of the Best Doctors in America® by Best Doctors, Inc., every year from 1998 to 2008.
Dr. Keen is board certified in four specialty areas: physical medicine and rehabilitation; pediatrics; physical medicine and rehabilitation--pediatrics; and pediatrics--neurodevelopmental disabilities.
Dr. Keen is dedicated to serving pediatric patients in the community. She consults regularly at:
- Loyola University Medical Center, in conjunction with the pediatric neuroscience program
- Aspire Children’s Services in Westchester
Alan I. Rosenblatt, M.D.
Specialist in Neurodevelopmental Pediatrics
Dr. Rosenblatt is Board Certified in both Pediatrics and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities by the American Board of Pediatrics and the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Dr. Rosenblatt was accepted into the B.A.-M.D. program at Lehigh University and the Medical College of Pennsylvania at the age of 18 and graduated with highest honors. Following the completion of his pediatric residency at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC, Dr. Rosenblatt did his fellowship training in Neurodevelopmental Pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Throughout his career, Dr. Rosenblatt has managed to combine both clinical care and teaching across a wide variety of medical settings. He has been on the faculty of four different medical schools in the Washington, DC – Baltimore area, teaching medical students, residents and physicians. He has used his skills in other parts of the world, including stints in Israel (he is fluent in Hebrew) and Ethiopia. While in private practice in Bethesda, Maryland, Dr. Rosenblatt was listed among the region’s outstanding pediatricians in Washingtonian Magazine.
Dr. Rosenblatt has held professional leadership positions at the local, state and national levels on hospital committees, in pediatric societies and with the American Academy of Pediatrics. He has advocated on behalf of children with special needs by testifying before state legislative bodies. He has also served on professional advisory boards to governmental committees and nonprofit organizations and has volunteered his services in the community and at summer camps.
Family considerations prompted Dr. Rosenblatt’s decision to relocate with his wife and two daughters to the Chicago area in the fall of 2003. This new venture enabled him to open his current practice, devoted to the vast needs of families with children who have developmental challenges. As a participant in the multidisciplinary process—working together with parents, physicians, teachers, therapists and other involved professionals—Dr. Rosenblatt welcomes the opportunity to provide his expertise and services to his new community.
Duringhis first year in Chicago, Dr. Rosenblatt received an academic appointment to the faculty of the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, and has assumed an active rolein the teachingof pediatric residents at Children's Memorial Hospital ever since.
Christine Hudicourt Sajous, M.D.
Neonatology
Dr. Christine Sajous completed her residency training in Pediatrics and fellowship training in Neonatology at Loyola University Medical Center, and joined the institution’s staff in 1979. Since 1985, she has been an Attending Neonatologist both in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Loyola and in the special care nurseries at several community hospitals.
Dr. Sajous has been the director of Loyola’s Follow-Up Clinic for over 15 years. This clinic has a very active home care program – an interest Dr. Sajous developed in the early 1990’s as a member of the Quality Improvement Committee and as Director of the Follow-Up Clinic. She noted that many of our infants sent home on oxygen and/or monitors were very often readmitted. In 1995, we developed an Innovative Integrated Home Care program that has been in existence since then.
Dr. Sajous is a native of Haiti and is fluent in French, Creole, English and Spanish. In addition to the Aspire Medical Advisory Council, she currently serves on the Medical Advisory Boards of DuPage Easter Seals and CoACH Care Center.
Dr. Melissa Sigler
Dr. Melissa Sigler, O.D. is an optometrist in private practice as well as a faculty member at The Illinois College of Optometry/ICO in Chicago. Dr. Sigler has been conducting quarterly Vision Clinics at Aspire Children’s Services for over ten years. She completed her residency in Pediatrics & Binocular Vision at ICO. She received her fellowship in Pediatrics & Binocular Vision in 2007 from the American Academy of Optometry.
Throughout Dr. Sigler’s academic and private practice careers she has especially enjoyed providing vision care for infants and children. Dr. Sigler is an Assistant Professor in the Pediatrics/Binocular Vision Department at the Illinois Eye Institute, providing clinical instruction to optometry students. She also volunteers as the Clinical Director for the Special Olympics Lions Club International Opening Eyes Vision Program as well as provides vision screenings in the Chicago Public School system.
Dr. Sigler has experience in evaluation, diagnosis and treatment of strabismus, amblyopia, accommodative dysfunctions and vergence dysfuntions. She also provides developmental testing, diagnosis and therapy for visual perceptual deficits and oculomotor disorders.
Any child receiving services at Aspire Children’s Services is eligible to be seen by Dr. Sigler in her quarterly clinic her at Aspire. Please call our office at 708.236-0979 for more information.
Jerold Stirling, M.D. FAAP
Dr. Stirling is Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics and Professor of Pediatric at the Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine. He joined the faculty in 1992 after completing his pediatric residency training at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia. Prior to attending medical school, Dr. Stirling worked as Occupational Therapist caring for children with developmental disabilities. He currently is working on two grant funded projects. One grant is focusing on screening children for children for developmental delay in primary care offices. Another grant is to improve pediatric resident trainees’ abilities in providing guidance in child development. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and serves on the executive committee of the Illinois Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Dr. Lisa Thornton
Dr. Thornton has more than 15 years of hands-on medical experience with a practice dedicated to the care and treatment of children with disabilities. Currently, she is the medical director of Pediatric and Adolescent Rehabilitation for Kids Rehab and is assistant professor of Pediatrics and Rehabilitation at the University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Medicine. Dr. Thornton hosts the program, "Health Corner" on Lifetime Television and has appeared on ABC’s "Good Morning America" as a medical correspondent. She received her undergraduate degree at Fisk University, her medical degree from the University of Michigan, and completed pediatric specialty training at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
