A child or adolescent with a neurodevelopment disorder is often seen by a small army of specialists, from developmental pediatricians, child psychiatrists and psychologists, to speech language pathologists, behavioral therapists, or occupational and physical therapists.

Currently in Wichita, there’s often little coordination between those specialists, who may also be spread around the city. But in a few years, a different care model will be available with the opening of Heartspring’s center for pediatric neurodevelopment in downtown Wichita.

The center won’t officially be part of the Wichita Biomedical Campus, which is slated to open next year, but Heartspring, KU School of Medicine-Wichita and Wichita State University will collaborate extensively in the care of young patients from around the region on an outpatient basis. 

The arrangement will also allow KU School of Medicine-Wichita and other partners on the Wichita Biomedical Campus to train medical and healthcare professionals while advancing research. Heartspring’s center is projected to open in 2030.

“Our hope is to expand the outpatient services that are offered and also create new programs and clinics that don’t currently exist,” said Cassie Karlsson, M.D., a psychiatrist and associate professor in KU Wichita’s Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences. “This is an opportunity to provide a much higher quality of care that’s coordinated amongst multiple specialists.”

Karlsson’s dual role is indicative of the partnership between Heartspring and KU Wichita. She serves as Heartspring’s chief medical officer and is program director of KU Wichita’s Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship program in addition to her duties as a clinical associate professor. That fellowship was created to help address the shortage of mental health care for children and adolescents in Kansas. The first three fellows in the two-year program graduated in June 2025, and there are currently four fellows training in the program.

“Across our region, the need for interdisciplinary pediatric neurodevelopment care is outpacing systems that were never designed to meet this level of complexity,” said Dan Soliday, president and CEO of Heartspring. “For families, that often means navigating fragmented care — even going out of state — when they need clarity and support the most. We believe there is a better way to do this and a responsibility to build it.”

Heartspring, whose main campus is in east Wichita, bought property in 2024 at the northwest corner of Topeka and English streets, a short stroll from the Wichita Biomedical Campus in an area that’s being called Wichita’s healthcare corridor.

In March, Heartspring unveiled an architectural rendering of the center, showing a sleek four-story building with floor-to-ceiling windows and an outdoor, fourth-story terrace at one end. The design is by Helix Architecture + Design, one of two architectural firms that collaborated on the Wichita Biomedical Campus.

The stand-alone, multiclinic outpatient center will be the first of its kind in Kansas devoted solely to youth with neurodevelopmental disorders, disabilities and complex conditions, according to Heartspring. The preliminary cost estimate is $25 million.

Karlsson joined Heartspring as its chief consulting psychiatrist about three years ago and has been helping plan the center, where students and faculty from Wichita State University’s College of Health Professions will also train and work. Besides saving parents of young patients from having to drive to multiple locations for all the different types of care needed, the center will change the way those patients are treated.

“Even though KU Wichita has pediatrics, and we have child psychiatrists and psychologists, we don’t practice in shared clinical space (currently),” Karlsson said. “This is a way for those of us that focus on this patient population to be working together and participate in interdisciplinary clinics.”

As planners did with the Wichita Biomedical Campus, Heartspring staff are visiting other pediatric neurodevelopment centers around the country to see what’s worked and what’s needed improvement. The goal is a layout that’s “safe and friendly for this pediatric population” while incorporating state-of-the-art technology, Karlsson said.

Currently, Heartspring evaluates and/or treats about 500 patients per year at its outpatient clinic in east Wichita. The new center will triple that capacity, adding 60 to 70 jobs in the process.

“Kansas families need integrated neurodevelopment care now, not years from now,” said Heather Hogan, Heartspring’s chief advancement and strategy officer and legacy foundation president. “Meeting that need requires more than expansion alone. It requires building capacity, workforce and partnerships that make access sustainable over time. This work is about ensuring families can rely on a system that is designed to support them today and into the future.”

A rise in autism cases, in which Kansas mirrors the rest of the country, has driven much of the demand for care.

“There’s a huge need for specialized care and there are long waitlists in our state to get an evaluation for autism, but also long waitlists for services,” Karlsson said. “We hope to fill a need for everything from diagnostic services to treatment in one space.”

Heartspring’s therapeutic residential and day school will remain in east Wichita, along with a pediatric outpatient clinic to serve those students. KU Wichita medical students, pediatric residents, psychiatry residents, and child and adolescent psychiatry fellows will continue to do rotations there.

The opening of Heartspring’s new center in 2030 will increase opportunities for that training.

“As the fellowship program director, I see this as a really exciting opportunity,” Karlsson said. “I think it will help us attract physicians who want to do their training here.”

“Ultimately, we’ll be graduating child psychiatrists who have strong backgrounds in treating children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders.”

Above, left: Cassie Karlsson, M.D.