Top Pediatric Doctor At Boston Hospital Dies

Dr. Michael Shannon, an internationally known specialist at Children's Hospital Boston, has died.

Hospital executives said in an e-mail to staff that Shannon died unexpectedly Tuesday in New York while returning from a trip to Argentina with his wife. He was 55.

The cause of death is under investigation.

Dr. Gary Fleisher, the hospital's chairman of medicine, says Shannon was one of the premier pediatric toxicologists in the world, studying and treating the affects of poisons on children.

Shannon was also known as the "Dancing Doctor" because he once danced professionally and continued dancing in Boston area productions.