Four Children’s National Hospital leaders named to APS

The American Pediatric Society (APS) has announced 55 new members, four of which are experts from Children’s National Hospital. Founded in 1888, the APS is the first and most prestigious academic pediatric organization in North America.

APS members are recognized child health leaders of extraordinary achievement who work together to shape the future of academic pediatrics. New members are nominated by current members through a process that recognizes individuals who have distinguished themselves as child health leaders, teachers, scholars, policymakers and/or clinicians.

“Our members represent the most distinguished and accomplished academic leaders in pediatrics whose outstanding work has advanced child health,” said APS President Steven Abman, M.D. “I am honored to welcome this exceptional group of individuals to the APS. The APS is especially looking forward to the active engagement of our membership with many exciting programs within the organization that are directed towards improvements in academic pediatric medicine, including more vigorous approaches to express our values of anti-racism, equity, diversity and inclusion.”

APS 2021 active new members from Children’s National are:

• Dewesh Agrawal, M.D., vice-chair for Medical Education at Children’s National. Agrawal’s career has been marked by academic honors and teaching awards at every stage of his training and faculty employment. He has relentlessly devoted his energy to improving the educational experience for students, residents and fellows at Children’s National.
• Andrew Dauber, M.D., M.M.Sc., chief of Endocrinology at Children’s National. Dr. Dauber’s leadership is reflected, nationally and internationally, in his ability to create research consortia, bringing together investigators to tackle complex questions. For example, he leads an NIH-funded consortium on the genetics of short statures, with multiple top children’s hospitals as partners. He also leads a large clinical trial testing a novel therapeutic agent for genetic short stature.
• Robert Freishtat, M.D., M.P.H., senior investigator in the Center for Genetic Medicine of the Children’s National Research Institute (CNRI). Dr. Freishtat has authored or co-authored more than 100 articles and book chapters in the fields of pediatric lung injury, asthma, obesity, exosomes and emergency medicine. His research has been continuously funded by the NIH since 2003.
• Vittorio Gallo, Ph.D., chief research officer at Children’s National and scientific director of CNRI. Dr. Gallo’s scientific success is attested to by over 130 peer-reviewed publications, many in very high-profile journals, as well as over 30 review articles and book chapters. He has received many national and international awards, including the NINDS Javits award in Neuroscience in 2018. Dr. Gallo has served on the editorial boards of many neuroscience journals, including Glia and the Annual Review in Neuroscience, and has been reviewing editor for the Journal of Neuroscience, all of which is a testament to the tremendous impact that his studies have had on the advancement of neurosciences.

“These new members represent multiple areas of Children’s National and have all leveraged the intersection of science, medicine and clinical education to make advances in their field of study,” said Stephen J. Teach, M.D., M.P.H., chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Children’s National. “Their work has, and will continue to, advance pediatric health care, and I congratulate them on their APS membership.”