J. Austin Hamm, M.D.

Dr. Hamm is personable, so knowledgeable it does not dismiss any questions or concerns

I like how Dr Hamm explains everything in detail

Dr. Hamm is very personable and thorough. My granddaughter really likes him. The ladies in the office are very nice and sweet to my granddaughter.

Exelente

Meeting Dr. Hamm was what our family needed in answering questions about the diagnosis of our child. Though, he did come in "hot" or defensive for the first 15ish minutes and another printout that I had already read months previous due to the counselor not knowing about the syndrome. We felt he was angry or annoyed with the email sent in October and dismissive about my questions at the beginning. Even when he handed me a document and said this will answer general information about PURA Syndrome, was defensive and/or dismissive. But after 15 minutes into our appointment, Dr. Hamm seemed to back off and he was able to confirm or clarify my remaining questions. Every person processes information differently. I personally am a very factual person and need to know everything about how something works to fully understand why this happened. From there, I then dig into how this is impacting my daughter, what the outlook is and how I need to tackle our future and what the outlook is. Other parents deal with information differently. Sadly, since it took so long to get to this appointment, I had already spent several months of not sleeping and reading every medical research paper there was on this syndrome, as well as refreshing myself on biology, DNA, genes, etc. Even the printout that Dr. Hamm handed me at the beginning of our appointment, I had already read. This would have been great information to receive on the first appointment, when first learning about our daughter's syndrome than months later. We were told going to all of the specialists was overboard, including going to endocrinology, but I have learned that nothing is overboard when it comes to your child. We were told that our daughter has simply delays and will catch up, now we have a significant syndrome, which more than likely will need life-long resources and full-time care as an adult. Also, studying about this syndrome, people with it either have early onset (around age 5) or very delayed puberty (in their 20s). They also have issues with absorbing nutrients like Vitamin D and have early onset osteoporosis. So no, going to endocrinology is not going overboard.After all these bumps, Dr. Hamm was very knowledgeable and able to answer very important questions on if either my husband or I passed this along to our daughter. Gave me confirmation on things I had previously researched and answered the few remaining questions. Also discussed the repercussions of gene therapy if it ever comes out for this syndrome. I very much wish that this appointment was much sooner in learning of my daughter's diagnosis to not send me into a path of spiraling and no sleep. He was great the remainer of our appointment, which is why this survey reflects high rating. He is invaluable to ETCH and families, but I do encourage that he be the point to see families and remember that each family absorbs information differently. I am sure all doctors at Children's got to where they are for the love of children and heling them and families.I encourage that when a family receives a new diagnosis, that Dr. Hamm meets with the family the first time instead of the counselor, who walked into our original apportionment and said she did not know anything about PURA Syndrome and handed us a printout of PURA Syndrome Foundation website. I also encourage offering a follow up appointment much sooner after an initial appointment than a year out for families who might need additional questions answered. Some families might take that information, continue to read, and study about a particular diagnosis, and then have more questions. Waiting a full year is extremely hard for any parent learning about life changing impacts for their child.