Untangling the Thread of Racism: A Primer for Pediatric Health Professionals

Maria Trent, MD, MPH, FSAHM, FAAP is a Bloomberg Professor of American Health, Pediatrics, and Nursing at the Johns Hopkins University and the Senior Associate Dean of Diversity and Inclusive Excellence for Johns Hopkins Medicine. She also directs the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine and the Adolescent Health Research Training Program within the Department of Pediatrics. She is an independent scientist with a substantial publication record focused on addressing health disparities in youth and is the principal or key investigator of multiple research projects funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other funding agencies. Dr Trent currently serves on the board of directors for several non-profit organizations and the editorial board of JAMA Pediatrics. She is the past president of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine and former Chair of the Section on Adolescent Health for the American Academy of Pediatrics. In her service to the AAP, she was a lead author of the transformative policy statement "The Impact of Racism on Child and Adolescent Health." Dr Dooley is a general pediatrician at Children's National Hospital and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. She serves as the Medical Director of Community Affairs and Population Health in the Child Health Advocacy Institute at Children's National. She develops school partnerships to advance health and educational equity for children, and provides education on legislative advocacy for pediatric residents. Her work with the AAP includes serving as Chair of the National Nominating Committee and coauthoring the transformative policy statement, "The Impact of Racism on Child and Adolescent Health." Dr Dougé is a general pediatrician and public health practitioner. She has held numerous roles in the health sector, including practicing clinically and serving as Deputy Health Officer of the Frederick County Health Department and as the Child Health Bureau Director at the Howard County Health Department, both located in Maryland. Presently, she is an Assistant Professor of Public Health at Hood College's Department of Nursing. She has a deep passion for expanding healthcare access and addressing maternal and child health disparities. Her work has included implementing school-based telemedicine, school-based mental health services, and innovative school-based sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing and contraception programs to improve healthcare accessibility and address disparities. She has also served on the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Council on Community Pediatrics Prevention and Public Health Special Interest Group as co-chair, as a member of the Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion, a member of the AAP News Editorial Board, and as a co-author of the transformative policy statement, "The Impact of Racism on Child and Adolescent Health."