Perri Klass | |
---|---|
Born | 1958 (age 65–66) |
Nationality | American |
Occupations |
|
Academic background | |
Education | |
Academic work | |
Institutions | New York University |
Perri Klass (born 1958) [1] is an American pediatrician and writer who has published extensively about her medical training and pediatric practice. Among her subjects have been the issues of women in medicine,relationships between doctors and patients,and children and literacy. She is the author of both fiction and nonfiction novels,stories,essays,and journalism. Klass is Professor of Journalism and Pediatrics at New York University,and Medical Director of Reach Out and Read,a national childhood literacy program that works through doctors and nurses to encourage parents to read aloud to young children,and to give them the books they need to do it. She is a member of the National Advisory Council of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and has been nominated by the President of the United States to the Advisory Board of the National Institute For Literacy.
Klass was born in Tunapuna,Trinidad, [1] where her father,Morton Klass,was doing anthropological field work. She grew up in New York City and Leonia,New Jersey. [2] Her father was an anthropology professor at Barnard College,and her mother a novelist and professor of English at the City University of New York. Klass received her A.B. in Biology from Harvard University in 1979. Klass went on to earn her M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1986,and she completed her residency in pediatrics at Children's Hospital Boston and her fellowship in pediatric infectious diseases at Boston City Hospital.
During her years at Harvard Medical School,Klass began to chronicle her medical training. In 1984,as a third-year medical student,she wrote a series of columns,published in the New York Times in the series of "Hers Columns",describing,among other things,the uncertainty of drawing blood for the very first time,the peculiar locutions of hospital jargon,and the emotional subtext of crying in the hospital. She also wrote,in the New York Times Magazine ,about the experience of having a baby while in medical school. [3] She went on to write many articles and columns about her training,originally published in Discover Magazine,American Health,Massachusetts Medicine,and other magazines,and later collected in two books about medical training,A Not Entirely Benign Procedure:Four Years as a Medical Student and Baby Doctor:A Pediatrician's Training.
In addition to her accounts of medical training,her books include a memoir in two voices,Every Mother is a Daughter:the Neverending Quest for Success,Inner Peace,and a Really Clean Kitchen,coauthored with her mother,Sheila Solomon Klass;and Quirky Kids:Understanding and Helping Your Child Who Doesn't Fit In,coauthored with Eileen Costello,MD. Perri Klass’s novels include The Mystery of Breathing,Other Women’s Children (also made into a Lifetime TV movie),and Recombinations. She has also published two collections of short stories,I Am Having An Adventure and Love and Modern Medicine. Her short stories have won five O. Henry Awards. Klass’s most recent non-fiction book,Treatment Kind and Fair:Letters to a Young Doctor was published in 2007;her most recent novel The Mercy Rule,appeared in 2008. Her journalism has appeared in The New York Times Science Section, The New England Journal of Medicine , The Washington Post , Vogue , Gourmet ,and many other magazines and newspapers. She writes a regular column in Knitters Magazine,and her knitting essays have been collected in the book Two Sweaters for My Father.
Her 2020 book,A Good Time to Be Born:How Science and Public Health Gave Children a Future,was reviewed favourably by Christie Watson in The New York Times Book Review and Margaret Henderson in the Library Journal. [4]
Klass has combined her interest in medicine and literacy to help promote the importance of books to children,through her work with Reach Out and Read. She became involved with Reach Out and Read when it was a single program in a single hospital,and,through her leadership at the National Center,has helped it grow into a national program,now in more than 4,500 locations in all 50 states,distributing more than 6 million books every year to more than 3.8 million children. Klass has trained doctors and nurses around the United States and elsewhere,including Portugal and the Philippines,in strategies to incorporate books and literacy guidance into pediatric primary care.
While Klass was still a student at Harvard Medical School,her short stories won an O. Henry Award. [3] In 2006,she won the Women's National Book Association Award. In 2007,she received the American Academy of Pediatrics Education Award,which recognized her for educational contributions that have had a broad and positive impact on the health and well being of children. The Academy particularly cited her work with Reach Out and Read. Other awards have included:
Klass has been a member of the National Institute for Literacy Advisory Board and the National Advisory Council of National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
She lives in New York City with her husband,history professor Larry Wolff. She has been living and teaching in Florence,Italy,intermittently since about 2018. [5] They have three children.
She is the sister of screenwriter David Klass,with whom she wrote the young adult novel Second Impact,and Judy Klass,playwright and Truman Scholar and Senior Lecturer of Jewish Studies and English at Vanderbilt University. [6] She is the niece of Philip Klass,who wrote science fiction under the name William Tenn.
Pediatrics also spelled paediatrics,is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants,children,adolescents,and young adults. In the United Kingdom,pediatrics 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.
Antonia Coello Novello is a Puerto Rican physician and public health administrator. She was a vice admiral in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and served as 14th Surgeon General of the United States from 1990 to 1993. Novello was the first woman and first Hispanic to serve as Surgeon General. Novello also served as Commissioner of Health for the State of New York from 1999 to 2006. Novello has received numerous awards including more than fifty honorary degrees,was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2000,and has been inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. Her memoir,Duty Calls:Lessons Learned from an Unexpected Life of Service,was published in 2024.
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.
Mary Ellen Avery,also known as Mel,was an American pediatrician. In the 1950s,Avery's pioneering research efforts helped lead to the discovery of the main cause of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) in premature babies:her identification of surfactant led to the development of replacement therapy for premature infants and has been credited with saving over 830,000 lives. Her childhood,mentors,drive,and education inspired Avery to be the visionary that she was. In 1991 President George H.W. Bush conferred the National Medal of Science on Avery for her work on RDS.
Fe Villanueva del Mundo,,was a Filipino pediatrician. She founded the first pediatric hospital in the Philippines and is known for shaping the modern child healthcare system in the Philippines. Her pioneering work in pediatrics in the Philippines while in active medical practice spanned eight decades. She gained international recognition,including the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service in 1977. In 1980,she was conferred the rank and title of National Scientist of the Philippines,and in 2010,she was conferred the Order of Lakandula. She was the first female president of the Philippine Pediatric Society and the first woman to be named National Scientist of the Philippines in 1980. She was also the founder and the first president of the Philippine Pediatric Society,the first Asian to be elected president of the Philippine Medical Association in its 65-years existence,and the first Asian to be voted president of the Medical Woman's International Association.
Reach Out and Read,Inc. (ROR) is a US nonprofit organization that promotes reading.
Barry S. Zuckerman is Professor and Chair Emeritus of the Department of Pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine/Boston Medical Center. He started the Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at the Boston University School of Medicine and Boston City Hospital and was one of 12 founders of the Society of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. He was appointed chair of Pediatrics in 1993 and was asked to be First Medical Director of Boston Medical Center when Boston City Hospital merged with University Hospital. He is a co-founder of Reach Out and Read,a national childhood literacy program in the United States,founder of Medical-Legal Partnership,and co-founder of Health Leads,Healthy Steps,and the Nutrition &Fitness for Life pediatric obesity program,all of which have transformed pediatric care for low-income families. Most recently,along with colleagues,he developed a free app for pediatric primary care called "Small Moments,Big Impact" to promote the mother-infant relationship and emotional well-being for low-income mothers from birth through the first six months of their baby's life.
Jane Aronson,D.O. is an osteopathic physician,with expertise in pediatric infectious diseases and adoption medicine.
Catherine D. DeAngelis is the first woman and the first pediatrician to become editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). She has also edited several additional medical journals. Before assuming the editor's position at JAMA in 2000,DeAngelis was a professor and Vice Dean of Faculty at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She is the 2015 recipient of the John Howland Award,the most prestigious award given by the American Pediatric Society (APS).
Agnes Binagwaho is a Rwandan Politician,pediatrician,co-founder and the former vice chancellor of the University of Global Health Equity (2017-2022). In 1996,she returned to Rwanda where she provided clinical care in the public sector as well as held many positions including the position of Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Health of Rwanda from October 2008 until May 2011 and Minister of Health from May 2011 until July 2016. She has been a professor of global health delivery practice since 2016 and a professor of pediatrics since 2017 at the University of Global Health Equity. She has served the health sector in various high-level government positions. She resides in Kigali.
Marilyn Hughes Gaston is a physician and researcher. She was the first black woman to direct the Bureau of Primary Health Care in the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration. She is most famous for her work studying sickle cell disease (SCD).
Clarice D. Reid is an American pediatrician born in Birmingham,Alabama,who led the National Sickle Cell Disease Program at the U.S. National Heart,Lung,and Blood Institute (NHLBI) at the National Institutes of Health. She went on to become the Director of Division of Blood Diseases and Resources at NHLBI. Reid was a member of the 1985-1986 Taskforce on Black and Minority Health. She has also served as President Emeritus on the American Bridge Association's Education and Charitable Foundation,and has scored a rare perfect bridge score.
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.
Terri H. Finkel is an American pediatric rheumatologist and immunologist who is the Children's Foundation of Memphis Endowed Chair and tenured professor of pediatrics at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Previously,she was the pediatrician-in-chief,chair of pediatrics and chief scientific officer at Nemours Children's Hospital. She is known for her research into autoimmunity,AIDS,juvenile rheumatoid arthritis,lupus,and cancer. Her work has been recognized in more than 200 publications,10 U.S. patents,and 4 licensed technologies. Finkel has been placed in the top one percent of American pediatric rheumatologists by U.S. News &World Report. Her numerous honors include being named among America's Top Doctors by Castle Connolly every year since 2011 and induction into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1996.
Benjy Frances Brooks was an American pediatric surgeon affiliated with several hospitals in Houston. She was the first woman in the surgery department at Harvard Medical School and the first woman to become a pediatric surgeon in the state of Texas. She founded the pediatric surgery division at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Brooks actively conducted research throughout her career in addition to working as a pediatric surgeon.
Prasanna Nair is an Indian-born doctor working in the United States. She works in primary health care with a specialty in pediatric endocrinology.
Eliana Perrin is an American pediatrician,researcher,and Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Primary Care with joint appointments with tenure in the Department of Pediatrics in the School of Medicine and in the School of Nursing at Johns Hopkins University. She was elected a member of the American Pediatric Society in 2021.
Adele Hofmann was an American pediatrician. She was a leader in the field of adolescent medicine,co-authoring the field’s authoritative textbook and co-founding two of its leading professional organizations.
Ruth L. Collins-Nakai is a retired Canadian cardiologist,educator,researcher,physician leader,healthcare advisor,and public health advocate.
Mary Goretti Boland,MSN,RN,FAAN is a Pediatric Nurse and Doctor of Public Health,and a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. She is nationally known for her work developing innovative healthcare programs for underserved children with HIV/AIDS and other chronic diseases. In 1978,Boland staffed an innovative mobile health screening van for the Ironbound Community Health Project in Newark,New Jersey. She became director of the AIDS program at Children's Hospital of New Jersey and served as the coordinator for the Children's AIDS program (CHAP) at United Hospitals Medical Center in Newark. She served on the AIDS Advisory Committee in New Jersey and the National AIDS Advisory Committee. The United States Department of Health and Human Services gave her an award for her work in pediatric AIDS/HIV treatment.