Karen Sheehan, MD, MPH Associate Chair, Advocacy

Our goal in the Department of Pediatrics is to improve the health of children and adolescents.  Most of our faculty do this by providing care to patients.  Others work in the lab, through clinical trials or community-based interventions to generate new knowledge to prevent, diagnose and treat diseases.

Physician advocacy translates this new knowledge into action.  Physician advocacy goes beyond providing excellent clinical care to the individual.  It requires partnerships at local, state, national and/or international levels to address determinants of health and inequalities of health care delivery that children and adolescents may experience.