Cincinnati Children’s National Academy of Medicine Contributions Change the Outcome

Post Date: December 4, 2024 | Publish Date:

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The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine—commonly referred to as the National Academies—serve as a trusted global source of research-based expert guidance to policymakers addressing many important and complex societal issues.

Since an initial Congressional charter in 1863, the National Academies have served as private, nonprofit institutions that work outside of government to provide objective advice on matters of science, technology and health.

Leaders at Cincinnati Children’s have been involved with the academies since 1951, when the renowned polio vaccine inventor Albert Sabin, MD, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). The academies added the Institute of Medicine in 1970, which is now known as the National Academy of Medicine (NAM).

The NAM has significant impacts on public health. Examples include reports “To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System” (2000) and “Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century” (2001), which prompted the national quality and safety movement. In 2003, the report, “Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Healthcare,” placed national focus on health equity.

Several leaders at Cincinnati Children’s are elected NAM members, including:

“Cincinnati Children’s has a long history of improving child health throughout the world,” says Tina Cheng, who is the health system’s chief medical officer, chair of Pediatrics and director of the Cincinnati Children’s Research Foundation. “By collaborating with colleagues across the United States, we’re combining our expertise to ensure we have the best evidence and the best outcomes.”

Cheng herself recently co-chaired a committee on Improving the Health and Wellbeing of Children and Youth through Health Care System Transformation Committee, which developed the 2024 report, “Launching Lifelong Health by Improving Health Care for Children, Youth, And Families.” See the highlights and 500-plus page report that reviews the evidence and need to increase investment in the health of children, youth and families for a healthy America. She also is a member of the Forum for Children’s Well-Being: Promoting Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Health for Children and Youth.

Boat, a former director of the Cincinnati Children’s Research Foundation, pediatrics chair and physician-in-chief, served as one of three reviewers of “The State of Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Health of Children and Youth in the United States” workshop proceedings publication (2020). He also chaired the 2009 report, “Preventing Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Disorders Among Young People: Progress and Possibilities,” as well as its 2019 follow-up, “Fostering Healthy Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Development among Children and Youth.” Boat also has served as dean of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and now directs the CF WELL program at Cincinnati Children’s.

Additionally, Boat co-authored a report recently published in Pediatrics with Carole Lannon, MD, MPH, Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence, that summarizes recommendations from a National Academies panel for supporting the well-being of children and youth with special health care needs and their families.

Several Cincinnati Children’s faculty contribute to other NAM efforts.

Alexandra Power-Hays, MD, Division of Hematology, serves on the Sickle Cell Disease in Social Security Disability Evaluations Committee.

Leah Kottyan, PhD, Center for Autoimmune Genomics and Etiology, serves on the Strategies to Enhance Pediatric Health Research Funded by NIH Committee.

Hitesh Deshmukh, MD, PhD, Amy Sanghavi Shah, MD, MS, and Sonya Tang Girdwood, MD, PhD, were selected for the 2024 National Academy of Medicine’s Emerging Leaders in Health and Medicine Forum (ELHM). This invitation-only forum gathers early- to mid-career professionals to facilitate mentorship, collaboration and innovation.

The active involvement of Cincinnati Children’s faculty in National Academies initiatives underscores the health system’s deep commitment to advancing child health on a national and global scale.

“By contributing their expertise to these prestigious committees and reports, these experts are helping shape policies and practices that address some of the most pressing challenges in healthcare today,” Cheng says.