by Christina Echegaray
Shari Barkin, MD, MSHS, chief of the Division of Academic General Pediatrics at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, has been named Pediatrician of the Year by the Tennessee Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (TNAAP).
She was honored at the recent TNAAP Excellence in Pediatrics Annual Awards, which recognize pediatricians and community members who have made exceptional contributions to children’s health advocacy in Tennessee.
“There is no greater honor than having the respect of your peers. I am truly humbled and grateful. As pediatricians we have the unique perspective to see the whole child in the context of their family and their community, changing early trajectories away from disease and toward health,” said Barkin, the William K. Warren Foundation Professor of Medicine.
“I have the good fortune of leading a group of committed pediatricians. Working together we have increased our reach to serve underserved children, developed quality improvement projects to address issues from anemia to social determinants of health, focused on educating the next generation of pediatricians, advocated for patients to bring evidence to policymakers in a timely way, and conducted research understanding children in context — whether that was physiologic, pharmacologic or epidemiologic.”
The award adds to a long list of accomplishments for Barkin. She has served as president of the Society for Pediatric Research, as well as chair of the NIH’s Childhood Obesity Prevention and Treatment Research Consortium.
“We were delighted to learn of Dr. Barkin being named TNAAP Pediatrician of the Year,” said Steven Webber, MBChB, MRCP, chair of the Department of Pediatrics, pediatrician-in-chief of Children’s Hospital and James C. Overall Professor. “Dr. Barkin is a national leader in the area of general academic pediatrics and is most deserving of this award. Her work has local, regional and national impact, with special focus on health of the underserved. We cannot think of anyone more deserving of this award.”
Over the years, Barkin has become internationally known in the field of behavioral interventions, addressing two of the most critical problems facing children — youth violence and obesity.
For the past 10 years, Barkin, along with Metro Nashville’s Department of Parks and Recreation, has led a large academic-community partnership called the Nashville Collaborative, which serves as a learning lab to develop and test programs to improve the health of both parents and children, ideally amplifying health throughout families and into communities.
