Eileen Crespo, M.D., FAAP, of Minneapolis, received the Oral Health Service Award from the Section on Oral Health at the AAP National Conference & Exhibition. The award is given to individuals who have a deep commitment to improving the oral health of children through involvement with the AAP.
Dr. Crespo, a pediatrician at Hennepin Health Pediatric Clinic, is past president of the Minnesota Chapter. Since 2017, she has served as vice president of medical services at Delta Dental of Minnesota, where she works to promote the understanding that oral health and overall health are interconnected.
Matthew M. Davis, M.D., FAAP, of Chicago, was appointed executive vice president, enterprise physician-in-chief and chief scientific officer of Nemours Children’s Health, where he will oversee clinical and research activities across the organization.
Dr. Davis previously served as chair of the Department of Pediatrics and executive vice president and chief of community health transformation at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
Karen J. Farst, M.D., M.P.H., FAAP, of Little Rock, Ark., was named senior vice president and chief medical officer at Arkansas Children’s Hospital.
Dr. Farst currently serves as chief of the medical staff at Arkansas Children’s Hospital and leads its child maltreatment program. She was the first physician board certified in child abuse pediatrics in Arkansas. Dr. Farst also is a professor of pediatrics and section chief of children at risk in the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Medicine.
Catherine M. Gordon, M.D., M.S., FAAP, of Houston, was appointed clinical director at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, part of the National Institutes of Health. She will lead the institute’s intramural clinical research program to improve understanding of the biological, medical, reproductive and behavioral aspects of typical and atypical human development.
Dr. Gordon served as a professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. She also has held leadership roles at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Rebecca E. Hook, M.D., FAAP, of Baton Rouge, La., was appointed the first director of medical services in the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services’ Child Welfare Division. She will work with caseworkers and staff responding to cases of child abuse and neglect, and develop medical standards and health care guidelines for children and youth in child welfare.
Dr. Hook served as a pediatric emergency department physician at Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System’s Our Lady of the Lake Hospital (OLOL) since 2015 and has served at OLOL Children’s Hospital since it opened in 2019.
Lara W. Johnson, M.D., FAAP, of Lubbock, Texas, was named chief medical officer of Covenant Health Lubbock Service Area, which includes Covenant Medical Center, Covenant Children’s, Covenant Specialty Hospital and Covenant Health Grace Surgical Hospital.
Dr. Johnson joined the Covenant medical staff as a physician in 2007 and served as chief of staff at Covenant Children’s Hospital from 2020-’22. She has been a faculty member in the Department of Pediatrics at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) for more than 16 years. She will remain with TTUHSC as fellowship director.
Michael K. Kuduk, M.D., FAAP, of Winchester, Ky., was installed as the 173rd president of the Kentucky Medical Association (KMA), which represents nearly 7,000 physicians, physician residents and medical students across the state.
Dr. Kuduk is an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Kentucky Children’s Hospital. He previously served as KMA board chair and vice president, as well as chair of the Kentucky Physicians Political Action Committee.
William C. Pederson, M.D., FACS, FAAP, of Houston, was named chief of the Division of Plastic Surgery at Texas Children’s Hospital and chief of the Division of Plastic Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine.
Dr. Pederson joined Texas Children's Hospital in 2016 as an attending surgeon in plastic and orthopedic surgery, where he specializes in hand reconstruction, hand trauma, brachial plexus repair and lower limb reconstruction. He serves on the international editorial board of the Journal of Reconstructive Microsurgeryand served on the scientific editorial board of the Journal of Hand Surgery (American).
Shubho Sarkar, M.D., FAAP, of New Orleans, was named to the inaugural class of 40 Under 40 Awards by Healthcare Innovation for leading several projects in his hospital, including converting the medical team from pagers to Vocera and facilitating new curriculum and content creation.
Dr. Sarkar is an assistant professor of clinical pediatrics and associate chief medical information officer at the Louisiana State University Department of Pediatrics/Children’s Hospital New Orleans.
Adiaha Spinks-Franklin, M.D., M.P.H., FAAP, of Houston, was named the first Black president of The Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics.
Dr. Spinks-Franklin is an assistant professor of pediatrics-developmental at Baylor College of Medicine.