Neonatology Pioneer at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford and Stanford Children’s Health Honored With Major National Award
Physician-scientist and outstanding role model has dedicated his
career to improving the lives of the smallest and sickest babies
STANFORD, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–David
K. Stevenson, MD, renowned neonatology leader at Lucile
Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford and professor of pediatrics at
the Stanford University School of Medicine, has been named recipient of
the 2016 Joseph W. St. Geme Jr. Leadership Award by The Federation of
Pediatric Organizations.
Stevenson will be presented the award on April 30 at the Pediatric
Academic Societies Meeting in Baltimore.
This prestigious award was created in the memory of St. Geme, who was a
leader in addressing issues concerning the future of pediatric education
and research. It recognizes a pediatrician who is an outstanding role
model as a clinician, educator and/or investigator. Recipients have a
record of broad and sustained contributions to pediatrics that have had
or will have a major impact on child health. Most importantly, the award
recognizes those individuals who have “created a future” within the
field.
Nominating Stevenson were pulmonologist Hugh
O’Brodovich MD, the Adalyn Jay Physician-in-Chief at Packard
Children’s and professor of pediatrics at the Stanford
University School of Medicine, and Donna
Ferriero, MD, MS, professor of pediatrics and of neurology, chair of
pediatrics, and physician-in-chief at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital
San Francisco.
“Dr. Stevenson is an outstanding role model who has made remarkable
contributions in clinical care, education and research,” said
O’Brodovich. “During Dr. Stevenson’s long and remarkable career, he has
greatly advanced the care of premature infants, been an influential
leader in education, and worked tirelessly toward discovering the causes
of premature birth in conjunction with the March of Dimes.” As principal
investigator of the March
of Dimes Prematurity Research Center at Stanford University,
Stevenson leads the center’s work to understand preterm birth.
Stevenson, who has dedicated his career to improving the lives of the
smallest and sickest babies, said he is honored and humbled to be the
beneficiary of the award, especially knowing that St. Geme received his
undergraduate and medical degrees from Stanford University.
“We were both beneficiaries of Stanford’s environment, which creates
opportunities for students where they can take intellectual risks and
not be afraid to fail,” he said. “It’s a culture that is conducive to
innovation and discovery, and I wouldn’t be the leader I am today
without my relationships with the students and the faculty members I
have worked with. This award reflects their success as much as my own.”
Few could match Stevenson’s long and storied career as a leader in care,
research and education. He received a B.A. in philosophy from Stanford,
earned his M.D. and completed pediatric residency training at the
University of Washington School Of Medicine, and then returned to
Stanford for a fellowship in neonatal-perinatal medicine. In 1979, he
joined Stanford’s faculty and became professor of pediatrics by 1990.
Stevenson, who has held several leadership positions at Stanford, now
serves as director of the Charles B. and Ann L. Johnson Center for
Pregnancy and Newborn Services at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital
Stanford and Stanford Children’s Health, senior associate dean for
maternal & child health at the School of Medicine, and co-director of
the university’s Child Health Research Institute.
His seminal studies on neonatal jaundice, bilirubin production and heme
oxygenase have changed practice in neonatal intensive care units and
have set the stage for future approaches for the management of newborn
jaundice. His work has appeared in more than 600 publications and led to
new technologies, including helping to pioneer the first optical imaging
of structure and function in living mammals using time-of-flight
absorbance imaging.
His list of honors and achievements includes the Virginia Apgar Award,
the highest award in Perinatal Pediatrics in 2006. He has also received
the Maureen Andrew Mentor Award from the Society for Pediatric Research,
and the Jonas Salk Award for Leadership in Prematurity Prevention from
the March of Dimes Foundation. In 2012, he was elected to the Institute
of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.
He is a member and has served in leadership positions in numerous
professional societies, including president of the American Pediatric
Society. Stevenson was co-founder of the California Association of
Neonatologists in 1994, and served as president from 1999-2000. He also
co-founded in 1997 the California Perinatal Quality Care Collaborative,
a statewide perinatal data and quality improvement system. He has also
been the chair of the sub-board of the American Board of Pediatrics and
served on the latter’s Long Range Planning Committee.
Stevenson also has served on numerous pediatric editorial boards and as
editor for many national and international neonatal and perinatal
medicine publications.
Discover more about the work of Dr. Stevenson here.
About The Federation of Pediatric Organizations
FOPO is composed of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Academic
Pediatric Association, American Pediatric Society, American Board of
Pediatrics, Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairs,
Association of Pediatric Program Directors, and Society for Pediatric
Research. The purpose of FOPO is to promote optimal health for children
by building on the efforts and expertise of the member organizations,
and on the relationships between the member organizations to accomplish
shared goals. More here.
About Stanford Children’s Health and Lucile
Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford
Stanford Children’s Health, with Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at
its core, is the largest Bay Area health care enterprise exclusively
dedicated to children and expectant mothers. Long recognized by U.S.
News & World Report as one of America’s best, we are a leader in
world-class, nurturing care and extraordinary outcomes in every
pediatric and obstetric specialty, with care ranging from the routine to
rare, regardless of a family’s ability to pay. Together with our Stanford
Medicine physicians, nurses, and staff, we can be accessed through
partnerships, collaborations, outreach, specialty clinics and primary
care practices at more than 60 locations in Northern California and 100
locations in the U.S. western region. As a non-profit, we are committed
to supporting our community – from caring for uninsured or underinsured
kids, homeless teens and pregnant moms, to helping re-establish school
nurse positions in local schools. Learn more at stanfordchildrens.org
and on our Healthier,
Happy Lives blog. You can also discover how we are Building
the Hospital of the Future. Join us on Facebook,
Twitter,
LinkedIn
and YouTube.
Contacts
Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford
Robert Dicks,
650-497-8364
rdicks@stanfordchildrens.org
