2020 District V Candidates

Dr. Gaggino’s passion has been children’s mental health, adolescent health and suicide prevention.

She has been president and vice president of the AAP Michigan Chapter (MIAAP), has chaired the MIAAP Developmental Behavioral Health Committee and has served as National Nominating Committee chair.

She is a graduate of Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and completed her residency in Kalamazoo where she has practiced for the past 31 years. She holds a faculty position at the Zero Suicide Institute and has worked with the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to create a practical guide for youth suicide prevention in primary care.

She was a consultant to the University of Michigan Child Collaborative Care (MC3) initiative connecting primary care providers to child psychiatrists. She continues to work closely with MC3, serves on the state suicide prevention Youth Advisory Group and participates in work groups locally and at the state focused on children’s mental health issues, including psychiatric emergency care for children with autism and developmental delays. She spearheaded work on positive body image for girls and was a content expert for The American Girl The Caring and Keeping of You – The Body Book.

Position statement

Pediatricians advocate tirelessly on behalf of children in our practices, hospitals, universities and in public and private agencies by sharing our best research, best practices and best ideas. I am continually reminded of the amazing talent and compassion that pediatricians possess. We care about children and their families, always striving to make our communities stronger through the lens of doing right by children in all that we do.

Pediatricians are on the front line with patients and their families as their most-trusted child-advocacy resource. In today’s health care environment, many constraints are placed on pediatricians, and the stresses are even more demanding on the children we serve. The AAP is the voice for the work we do, and collectively we are stronger.

My greatest strength is collaborating with others across disciplines, and one of my greatest joys has been meeting pediatricians from around the country and the world. I want to use my experience to bring the perspective of District V chapters to the AAP board. Chapters move member ideas and initiatives upstream and at the same time bring national AAP work downstream back to the grassroots. District V subspecialists from AAP sections, councils and committees and pediatric trainees further inform, support and join primary care pediatricians creating a powerful synergy. These are the voices that need to be heard on the national level. Our passions have a place at the heart of the AAP. I would be proud to represent District V as your chair and ask for your vote.

Dr. Garner is a graduate of Swarthmore College (B.A. with distinction in psychobiology), the Medical Scientist Training Program (M.D., Ph.D. in neuroscience) at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) and the Pediatric Residency Training Program at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. A clinical professor of pediatrics at CWRU, he has practiced primary care pediatrics with University Hospitals Medical Practices since 2000.

At the local level, Dr. Garner has served on the Community Advisory Board for the Cuyahoga County Department of Child and Family Services and on the Board of Directors for a social service agency (OhioGuidestone). At the state level, Dr. Garner has served as president of the AAP Ohio Chapter. At the national level, he has participated in three AAP leadership workgroups (epigenetics, poverty, and early brain and child development). As a member of the AAP Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health, Dr. Garner co-authored the policy statement and technical report on childhood toxic stress. Dr. Garner also is co-author of the AAP-published book Thinking Developmentally: Nurturing Wellness in Childhood to Promote Lifelong Health.

Position statement

Is it just me or is it getting harder for pediatricians to do the right thing? That is what we have trained for years to do: the right thing to help our patients, their families and their communities. Due to inordinate numbers of prior authorizations, electronic medical records that prioritize documentation over patient care and a rising awareness of the importance of the social determinants of health, there are simply more barriers to providing comprehensive care. These barriers, in turn, lead to what some have inappropriately called “burnout.” Rather, these barriers lead to a “moral wounding” from an inability to do what we know is right for kids.

As hard as it is to be a pediatrician these days, it is even a harder time to be a kid. From family separations at the border, to poverty, to racism, to declining life expectancies and falling numbers of children with access to health care, the unassailable message is clear: We are failing our kids.

Now, perhaps more than ever, the Academy needs to be a powerful voice for the powerless and the voiceless. Investing in kids, their families and their communities is not only the right thing to do ethically or economically, it is the right thing to do developmentally and biologically.

If I am given the honor of being your District V chairperson, I will focus on making it just a little easier for pediatricians to raise their voice and to do the right thing for kids, their families and their communities.