Episode Details
Back to Episodes#463 - 🗳️ Meet the Neonatologist Running for AAP President - A Conversation with Dr. Wanda Barfield
Description
Disclosure: Dr. Wanda Barfield appeared on this episode in her personal capacity. The views she expresses are her own and do not represent the official positions of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Health and Human Services, or the United States government.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has never had a neonatologist as president. This September, that could change. In this special episode, Ben sits down with Dr. Wanda Barfield, neonatologist, retired Rear Admiral and Assistant Surgeon General in the US Public Health Service, and longtime director of the CDC's Division of Reproductive Health, to hear what she would bring to the role. She lays out her three priorities, supporting pediatricians, protecting access, and leading with science and equity, and addresses the questions our field is wrestling with right now: training, staffing, the erosion of trust in science, and whether neonatology should go it alone. Her answer is that we are stronger together, and that having a neonatologist at the helm of the AAP would give our specialty a voice it has never had. Voting is open to AAP members through September 16. Meet the candidate, then go vote.
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