Lance Chilton, MD, (pictured right, receiving award from David Tayloe, MD) is a pediatrician with a long-standing passion for helping American Indian and Alaska Native children. He is one of the foremost advocates for Indian children in the United States, and led the AAP Committee on Native American Child Health (CONACH) to become one of the most active committees within the Academy.

As an intern, Dr Chilton participated actively in a physician group that formed one of the first urban Indian centers at the Kinatechatapi clinic in Seattle. After completion of his internship in 1970, Dr Chilton moved to Gallup, NM, where he served as a pediatrician at the Gallup Indian Medical Center. He later relocated to Albuquerque, NM, started a medical practice, and has remained active in Indian health affairs.

Working together with Native American families of special needs children, Dr Chilton pulled together a coalition that received a Healthy Tomorrows grant to form the "Helping Indian Children of Albuquerque" organization. This group continues to be active in advocating for the needs of this vulnerable group of children.

Dr Chilton has been at the forefront of many national efforts to raise the quality of care for children within the Indian Health Service (IHS). As a member of the first AAP Indian child project advisory committee of the AAP, he was an advocate for Indian child welfare and assisted Indian tribes in addressing child health concerns. Dr Chilton has helped IHS pediatricians improve the quality of care they provide to their patients in Billings, MT, Talequah, OK, and the Mohawk reservation in New York. Dr Chilton has also been active in Washington, DC, advocating for Native American child health issues and programs.