Growing up in a medical family strongly influenced my decision to pursue a medical career. My father was an obstetrician and gynecologist (OB/GYN), and my mother was a nurse who volunteered as a public health nurse in the community. As a child, I spent much time with my mother during her volunteer activities. In college, I participated in a community outreach course. While in medical school, I was involved in the Urban Health Project, placing students in community-based social service organizations. These collective experiences immersed me in the community and led to my interest in working with underserved populations.

In addition to my work as a faculty member at the University of Cincinnati Department of Pediatrics, I’m a general pediatrician at Cincinnati Children’s Fairfield Primary Care Center. I provide comprehensive healthcare for children, including those with different chronic health conditions, including mental and behavioral health issues. Many care disparities exist for the underserved patients and families served in my clinic and other similar safety net practices in our community.

My leadership roles have offered me opportunities to design and implement programs and initiatives to address disparities in care and outcomes for children and families living in poverty or experiencing barriers to care. The collective goal of my professional efforts is to ensure all youth have access to excellent and equitable healthcare so they can thrive!

My research activities have been integrated into my role as an operational leader and center around new models of care, redesigning health systems, and population and community health. My leadership roles have included projects and initiatives focused on:

• Developing family-centered models of care
• Fostering better connections to the medical home
• Improving access to preventive services to decrease rates of future morbidity
• Minimizing inappropriate healthcare utilization
• Preparing children to enter kindergarten
• Providing equitable access to quality healthcare
• Improving asthma outcomes at the population level
• Designing and implementing care coordination/care management models
• Reducing the cost of medical care through accountable care/value-based care models
• Developing, implementing and making recommendations for the institutional scale of a model for screening and responding to four domains of psychosocial health (social determinants, depression, suicide and substance use)
• Designing and implementing school-based health models of care

My current role as medical director of the Cincinnati Children’s Population School Health Program/Coordinated School Strategy allows me to align Cincinnati Children’s efforts in schools and expand Cincinnati Children’s clinical services into the community through school partnerships. By co-locating and integrating with schools, children and families can access healthcare services, improving health and educational outcomes and allowing children to achieve their fullest potential.