Lara Shekerdemian was born in London, England, and is of Armenian Heritage. Her grandparents were survivors of the Armenian Diaspora, and her parents grew up in Cyprus. During her childhood, her family spent many summer vacations in Cyprus and Greece. When she was growing up, Lara loved music and played the piano and clarinet, but from an early age, she knew she wanted to be a doctor. After graduating high school, she attended medical school in Birmingham, UK, and subsequently trained in pediatrics, pediatric cardiology, and intensive care in London and Toronto.

Lara took her first faculty position at Great Ormond Street Hospital, London. In 2002, she moved to Melbourne, Australia, where she became the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Chief at The Royal Children’s Hospital, and in 2010 was recruited to Houston to be the Chief of Critical Care at Baylor College of Medicine / Texas Children’s Hospital. Last year, she was named the Chair of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and Pediatrician in-chief at Texas Children’s.

When she first visited Houston and Texas Children’s, Lara ‘knew’ that this was where she was meant to be and has never been happier in her career. In 2014, Lara’s son Max was born. Max is a kind and energetic boy who enjoys all that life brings to him. He is naturally inquisitive and loves people. When she decided where to send Max to school, one of her closest friends recommended Annunciation Orthodox School (AOS). On her first visit to the school, Lara knew that AOS was ‘the one.’ The culture bowled her over, the spiritual emphasis, and given her heritage and childhood – she felt immediately drawn to the AOS community environment. She could not have been happier when Max was accepted and entered pre-K in 2019.

In 2021, Lara married Ralph Weber, and Max was the ring-bearer at their wedding in London. When she is not busy at work, Lara enjoys time with her family, with a calendar now increasingly ‘packed’ with after-school activities! In their free time, they love to explore the US and travel overseas. This summer, Lara, Ralph, and Max traveled to the UK and Armenia (the first time for Lara) with her parents and then spent a week in Cyprus. This was a very special vacation. She connected with her heritage and was excited to show Ralph and Max her family’s roots and the island of Cyprus, where his grandparents grew up.