Section on Epidemiology

2003 Winner of the Outstanding Achievement Award in the Application
of Epidemiologic Information to Child Health Advocacy

Congratulations to Myron (Mike) J. Adams Jr., MD, winner of the AAP Sections on Community Pediatrics and Epidemiology Second Annual Outstanding Achievement Award. This award was established to recognize pediatricians who have made outstanding contributions toward advocating for children and child health in the community through the effective use of epidemiologic information.

Dr. Adams was nominated by Jose Cordero, MD, MPH, assistant surgeon general and director of the National Center of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, for his leadership in initiating many of the prevention research and intervention activity related to child health development, specifically his efforts to create a more efficient and comprehensive early hearing detection and intervention (EHDI) program.

After seeing epidemiologic data on the discrepancy between actual age of diagnosis of congenital hearing and the ideal age, Dr. Adams recognized the potential role of public health systems to ameliorate this shortcoming. He created a coordinated multi-agency response to hearing loss that did not end with the newborn hearing screen but continued to follow children through the diagnostic and intervention process, thus ensuring that hearing and screening and intervention services were timely and effective.

The striking disparity between the ideal and actual situations was a key motivator that Dr. Adams used to advocate for interagency work toward the common goal of improved language development of children with hearing loss. He acted as liaison between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), other federal health agencies, and various special interest groups, including March of Dimes and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. These partnerships established lines of communication and facilitated discussion with representatives from various agencies and organizations to help define and coordinate the roles of each party and form the bridge from newborn hearing screening through intervention.

Dr. Adams is the associate director for program development in the Division of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities at the CDC National Center for Environmental Health. He is a member of the AAP Section on Epidemiology and the Task Force on Newborn Hearing Screening. He is active in the Georgia AAP Chapter Education and Public Health Committees and Emory Department of Pediatrics, and currently provides consultation services in medical epidemiology.