Policy Participation
Stanford Pediatrics is well positioned to be a trailblazer in addressing child health equity given our 20 years of experience in policy deliberation and evaluation, community engagement through both programmatic support and direct service, and as one of the most productive, cross-disciplinary, equity-oriented research programs in the country.
We aim to unify the Department of Pediatrics around broad issues that align across both general pediatrics and pediatric subspecialties. We will use this unified voice to align with state and national initiatives. As we focus on drivers of inequities specific to pediatrics and pediatric subspecialty divisions, we will work to change California laws and regulations to reduce these disparities in partnership with LPCH Government Relations.
Starting in 2022, Annual Policy Grand Rounds will host thought leaders in this space, with invited elected officials to help inform new policy initiatives and encourage cross-disciplinary discourse.
We additionally aim to provide training to help all faculty and trainees become patient, community and government facing advocates, to continue to fight for all children. We will coordinate division level advocacy initiatives, leveraging the broad resources of the Office of Child Health Equity (OCHE), and harness successful models within leading divisions. As one example of the many divisions engaging in advocacy, click here to learn more about sub-specialty advocacy in Pediatric Gastroenterology.
Recent Publications
A review of racial, socioeconomic, and geographic disparities in pediatric liver transplantation Ebel NH, Lai JC, Bucuvalas JC, Wadhwani SI. Liver Transpl. 2022 Feb 21
#StanfordMedforRacialJustice #WhiteCoatsforBlackLives Rally
On June 4, 2020, our Stanford Pediatric Resident Advocacy Council led Stanford Medicine's Stanford Med for Racial Justice Rally to commemorate the lives of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery and demand for anti-racist change -- both in our country and in our institution.
#BelieveWomen
Pediatric residents and faculty joined Stanford medical students to demonstrate their solidarity with victims of sexual assault. (October 4, 2018)
Advocating for immigrant children and families at the border
Residents and faculty recently rallied together to advocate for protecting the rights of immigrant children and their parents to stay together after crossing the border. Wearing their white coats, they marched in solidarity with advocates from across the Bay Area at rallies in San Francisco, Redwood City, Mountain View and San Jose. Dr. Jaime Peterson (left) taking a stand for childrens' rights. (June 30, 2018)
Visit our Families at the Border page
Vo+er Registration
Stanford pediatricians support non-partisan civic engagement efforts spearheaded by Vo+er, encouraging patients to register to vote in clinic.”
Learn more about nationwide Vo+er efforts
Gun Violence Op-Ed
Stanford pediatricians Lisa Patel and Devika Bhusan wrote an Op-Ed for the Sacramento Bee about children and gun violence (July 2019).
Gun Violence
Residents, faculty, and medical staff gathered at Stanford to rally against gun violence. (September 17, 2018)
Learn more about advocacy group Scrubs Addressing Firearm Epidemic (SAFE)
Advocating to protect MediCaid funding
Residents and medical students at LPCH made posters and engaged in a social media campaign to save funding for children's health insurance. (June 2016)
Using social media as an advocacy tool
Residents at LPCH use time during morning report and noon conference to plan their advocacy strategies. Twitter campaigns have become the primary strategy for collective advocacy.