NEW ORLEANS / AGILITYPR.NEWS / August 03, 2026 / Manning Family Children's is proud to welcome Michael Evers, M.D., to its expert neonatology team where he will serve as the state’s first and only fellowship-trained infant complex care pediatrician. A Louisiana native, Dr. Evers brings advanced training and a passion for caring for premature and medically complex infants.

As a neonatologist and infant complex care pediatrician, Dr. Evers specializes in caring for premature newborns and infants with serious or complex medical conditions who require coordinated, long-term medical management. His work includes providing advanced care in the NICU, coordinating treatment plans with multidisciplinary specialists, and helping families navigate the complex transition from hospital to home.

“Dr. Evers provides dedicated long-term follow-up care to monitor children's growth, development and overall health long after they leave the NICU,” said Dr. Christy Mumphrey, Service Line Chief for Neonatology at Manning Family Children’s. “For many babies with complex NICU journeys, this means years of follow-up with multidisciplinary care teams, and we now have an added layer of expertise to help support optimal outcomes for our most complex NICU babies and their families”.

Dr. Evers joins the hospital during a period of continued growth for its nationally recognized neonatology program. Earlier this year, Manning Family Children's announced the construction of a new flagship 60-bed Level IV NICU, a transformational expansion that will increase access to the highest level of specialized neonatal care for families throughout Louisiana and the Gulf South. The expanded unit is expected to open next year and will further strengthen the hospital's role as the region's leading destination for specialized neonatal care.

Louisiana continues to have one of the highest preterm birth rates in the country, making access to advanced neonatal care more important than ever. Manning Family Children's remains committed to ensuring families can receive expert, coordinated care close to home from birth through childhood.

"Offering the highest level of neonatal care in the Gulf South, our team proudly cares for the region's most critically ill newborns," said Manning Family Children’s President and CEO Lucio A. Fragoso. "With the addition of Dr. Evers as Louisiana’s only infant complex care specialist, we are adding a critical continuum of care for families facing the most intricate medical journeys. Our families now have access to an added layer of expertise in the months and years that follow a complex NICU journey, and we're proud to be leading the way."

For Dr. Evers, returning to Manning Family Children's was both a professional and personal decision. He earned his medical degree and completed his pediatric residency at LSU Health New Orleans, and went on to complete a highly specialized fellowship in Infant Complex Care at Duke University before returning home to complete his neonatology fellowship. In addition to caring for patients at Manning Family Children’s, he serves as an Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at LSU Health New Orleans in the Division of Neonatology and Complex Care, where he helps educate and mentor the next generation of pediatric providers.

"Manning Family Children's has always felt like home," said Dr. Evers. "I completed most of my medical training here, and it's where I grew tremendously as a physician. I wanted to stay because I believe in the care this hospital provides and because I wanted to give back to the families and community that helped shape my career."

For more than 70 years, Manning Family Children’s has proudly served as Louisiana’s only, freestanding, comprehensive children’s hospital with more than 600 pediatric-trained providers and 3,000 employees solely dedicated to the care of kids. In addition to comprehensive services offered at its main campus in New Orleans, Children’s operates a robust network of more than 30 satellite locations, pediatric affiliations across Louisiana and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and robust and long-community programs designed to meet the health needs of the diverse communities it serves. At the heart of its mission, Manning Family Children’s is committed to delivering expert care for every child, every time – regardless of the family’s ability to pay.

Learn more about Manning Family Children’s new NICU at manningchildrens.org.