Overview
The tenets of advocacy have been intentionally woven into my work in all domains from clinical service to education to scholarship. Defined broadly by Earnest, et.al., advocacy is “activity that promotes the social, economic, educational, and political changes that ameliorate threats to human health and advance the well-being of people”. Under that umbrella, the foci that I have pursued through the years have been varied, ranging from childhood obesity prevention to teen parenting to universal newborn home visiting. Currently, my area of focus is in supporting early relational health and social emotional development. Throughout each endeavor, I have focused on lifting the voices of those in marginalized populations and intentionally partnering with the community to provide holistic approaches to meet both medical and psychosocial needs of individuals.
Current Appointments & Affiliations
Recent Publications
Addressing food insecurity: a paediatric academic advocacy collaborative quality initiative.
Journal Article BMJ Open Qual · May 13, 2025 OBJECTIVE: This quality improvement (QI) initiative aimed to address food insecurity (FI) by improving FI identification and referral to food assistance programmes for the families served by the eight paediatric academic institutions in North and South Car ... Full text Open Access Link to item CiteThe Academic Pediatrician-Advocate: A View from Government Relations Officials of United States Freestanding Children's Hospitals.
Journal Article J Pediatr · March 2025 Full text Link to item CitePediatric advocacy: Advancement in academic institutions.
Journal Article Pediatr Res · May 2024 Children are facing many threats to their health today that require system change at a sweeping level to have real-world impact. Pediatricians are positioned as natural leaders to advocate for these critical community and policy changes. Academic medical c ... Full text Open Access Link to item CiteRecent Grants
Targeting Infant Development through Early Screening and Referral (TIDES)
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Duke Endowment · 2025 - 2026NC PAL Expansion
Public ServicePhysician · Awarded by NC DHHS · 2022 - 2026Community Prevention of Child Maltreatment
ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development · 2023 - 2026View All Grants