Colleen A. Kraft (born Colleen Anne McGrath, March 4, 1960) is an American pediatrician specialized in community pediatrics, child advocacy, and healthcare financing.
In 1965, Kraft graduated in the first class of the Head Start program. She completed a bachelor's degree at Virginia Tech. Kraft earned a M.D. at the VCU School of Medicine. She completed a pediatric residency at VCU. She completed a M.B.A. at the University of Cincinnati. [1]
Kraft worked in community pediatrics in Richmond, Virginia. In 2009, became the founding pediatric program director at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute. From 2014 to 2017, she was head of the pediatric accountable care program at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. From 2016 to 2017, Kraft served as the medical director of a health network and pediatric health initiative at the Children's Hospital Medical Center. [1]
Kraft was president of the Virginia chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) from 2006 to 2008. She was president of the AAP for a one-year term starting January 1, 2018. [1] As president, she advocated for humane treatment of children at the Mexico–United States border and elaborated on the harm of the zero tolerance of the Trump administration family separation policy. [2]
Kraft was principal investigator for the Children's Hospital Association's Health Care Innovation Award. Her clinical focuses includes community pediatrics, child advocacy, health care financing, and pediatric education. Her research interests include early brain and childhood development and children with special healthcare needs. [2]
Kraft is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. [1]
In April 1981 in Montgomery County, Virginia, she married Kenneth Allen Kraft (born 1956). They became the parents of three children. [3]
Pediatrics is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until the age of 18. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends people seek pediatric care through the age of 21, but some pediatric subspecialists continue to care for adults up to 25. Worldwide age limits of pediatrics have been trending upward year after year. A medical doctor who specializes in this area is known as a pediatrician, or paediatrician. The word pediatrics and its cognates mean "healer of children", derived from the two Greek words: παῖς and ἰατρός. Pediatricians work in clinics, research centers, universities, general hospitals and children's hospitals, including those who practice pediatric subspecialties.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is the largest professional association of pediatricians in the United States. It is headquartered in Itasca, Illinois, and maintains an office in Washington, D.C. The AAP has published hundreds of policy statements, ranging from advocacy issues to practice recommendations.
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) is an academic pediatric acute care children's hospital located in the Pill Hill neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. The hospital has 652 pediatric beds and is affiliated with the University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center. The hospital provides comprehensive pediatric specialties and subspecialties to pediatric patients aged 0–21 throughout southern Ohio and northern Kentucky, as well as patients from around the United States and the world. Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center also treats adults, including adults with congenital heart disease and young adults with blood disease or cancer. Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center also features a Level 1 Pediatric Trauma Center, 1 of 4 in the state. Cincinnati Children's is home to a large neonatology department that oversees newborn nurseries at local hospitals around Ohio. The hospital features an AAP verified 89-bed Level IV (highest possible) Newborn Intensive Care Unit.
Adolescent medicine, also known as adolescent and young adult medicine, is a medical subspecialty that focuses on care of patients who are in the adolescent period of development. This period begins at puberty and lasts until growth has stopped, at which time adulthood begins. Typically, patients in this age range will be in the last years of middle school up until college graduation. In developed nations, the psychosocial period of adolescence is extended both by an earlier start, as the onset of puberty begins earlier, and a later end, as patients require more years of education or training before they reach economic independence from their parents.
The University of Virginia (UVA) Health System is an academic health care center associated with the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. The health system includes a medical center, school of medicine, school of nursing, and health sciences library. The health system provides inpatient and outpatient care and patient education and conducts medical research and education.
Reach Out and Read, Inc. (ROR) is a US nonprofit organization that promotes reading.
Jane Aronson, D.O. is an osteopathic physician, with expertise in pediatric infectious diseases and adoption medicine.
The Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC) program is a US federal government health initiative. It is administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB). Its aim is to reduce child and youth disability and death due to severe illness or injury by increasing awareness among health professionals, provider and planners and the general public of the special needs of children receiving emergency medical care.
Dr. John Francis Sarwark is Martha Washington Foundation Professor of Pediatric Orthopedics at Lurie Children's Hospital; Former Head, Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery, Lurie Children's Hospital; and Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois.
The American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) is a socially conservative advocacy group of pediatricians and other healthcare professionals in the United States, founded in 2002. The group's primary focus is advocating against abortion rights and against rights for gay, queer, and transgender people. ACPeds promotes conversion therapy and purity culture. As of 2022, its membership has been reported at about 700 physicians.
Calvin C.J. Sia was a primary care pediatrician from Hawaii who developed innovative programs to improve the quality of medical care for children in the United States and Asia. Two particular programs have been implemented throughout America: the Medical Home concept for primary care that has been promoted by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the federal Emergency Medical Services for Children program administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau. His Medical Home model for pediatric care and early childhood development began to take root in several Asian countries in 2003.
Julie Story Byerley is an American physician who is known as a leader in the fields of medical education and pediatrics. Byerley has served as a clinical professor and Vice Dean for Education for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine. She currently serves as President and Dean of Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine as well as Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer for Geisinger Health System.
Mark W. Kline is an American pediatrician and infectious diseases specialist who currently serves as the Physician-in-Chief, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Children's Hospital New Orleans and Professor of Pediatrics at the Tulane University School of Medicine and LSU Health New Orleans. Kline is known for his life-long work in building programs for children with HIV/AIDS all over the world.
Sara H. Goza FAAP is an American general pediatrician in Fayetteville, Georgia. She graduated from Rhodes College and received her medical degree at the Medical College of Georgia. Goza's internship and residency were at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. She began a one-year term as President of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) on January 1, 2020. Goza is a managing partner in First Georgia Physicians Group and sits on the Community Physicians Advisory Board for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
Rhea W. Boyd is an American pediatrician and child and community health advocate. Boyd is a popular science communicator, making use of social media to amplify a diverse range of voices in an effort to improve the heath of communities of colour.
Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU (CHoR) is a nationally ranked pediatric acute care children's hospital located within VCU Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia. The hospital has 144 pediatric beds. It is affiliated with The Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, and is a member of VCU Health. The hospital provides comprehensive pediatric specialties and subspecialties to infants, children, teens, and young adults aged 0–21 throughout eastern Virginia. CHOR also has a helipad to transport critically ill pediatric patients. Children's Hospital of Richmond features the only pediatric Level 1 Trauma Center in the region and the state.
Timothy Brei is a professor of neurodevelopmental pediatrics at the University of Washington and a developmental pediatrician at Seattle Children's Hospital. He is also the medical director of the Spina Bifida Association of America. Brei's research has focused on healthcare outcomes for children with spina bifida and as an adult with spina bifida who is an uncommon leader, he has also served as an advocate.
Prasanna Nair is an Indian-born doctor working in the United States. She works in primary health care with a specialty in pediatric endocrinology
Ruth L. Collins-Nakai is a retired Canadian cardiologist, educator, researcher, physician leader, healthcare advisor, and public health advocate.
Doris Howell was an American physician who specialized in pediatric oncology. She became known as the "mother of hospice," for her pioneering work in palliative care.