Peter Talbot, MD, (pictured above) was nominated for the Native American Child Health Advocacy Award by the Seattle Indian Health Board (SIHB) and the Portland Area Indian Health Services for his "career long dedication to the health care of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) children, and his extraordinary impact on students of the various health care professions in this regard. After serving for several years as a general physician at an IHS facility in Ketchikan, Alaska, he entered pediatric residency at Children's Hospital/University of Washington, and became Board Certified in Pediatrics in 1976. He has worked for the SIHB ever since, assigned there by the Portland Area IHS as a Commissioned Officer in the U.S. Public Health Service.

Not only has he headed pediatrics for SIHB, but he has continued through the present to also serve as its Medical Director for many years. Perhaps more importantly with respect to this nomination, he has been extremely active as a preceptor and clinical instructor, imparting a wealth of wisdom and experience in treating AI/AN children and in planning for their future health. This has included teaching of physician assistant students, family nurse practitioner students, medical students, and residents. He has been named "Teacher of the Year" by the Providence Medical Center Family Practice Program. One of his most notable achievements in educating providers has involved an innovative and still unique residency, SIHB's own American Indian/Alaska Native Family Practice Residency Program, which has been graduating two residents every year since 1997. While he was instrumental in assisting with the creation of this one of a kind residency, he also proved to be one of its most popular clinical instructors, receiving from its first graduates in 1997 a new recurring teaching award they decided to name the "Peter Talbot Teaching Award". He received this namesake award again himself in 1999.

While a pediatrician, Dr. Talbot has notable family practice skills as well, and even performs obstetrical deliveries. He is now, in fact, delivering some 3rd generation Indian babies, a notable achievement in its own right. Both within and outside of the SIHB organization, he brings a long career of Native American child health involvement to the forefront. This includes stints on the Children's Hospital Executive Committee, Chair of the Division of Pediatrics at Providence Medical Center, King County Infant Mortality Task Force, and his own facility's Maternal and Infant Steering Committee. He has been an active and effective provider, teacher, and leader, and is universally respected and appreciated by his colleagues, his patients, and his students.