2020 District X Candidates

Dr. Cosgrove has a longstanding history of leadership positions in health care, government and clinical research.

Medical society elected positions include AAP District X chair and vice chair; AAP Chapter Forum Management Committee member; board member and subspecialty society representative to the Florida Medical Association; president and board member of the AAP Florida Chapter (FCAAP); and president and board member of the Brevard County Medical Society.

She led the Florida Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act Medical Home Project for five years.

Dr. Cosgrove is bilingual. Her National Committee for Quality Assurance enrolled practice participates in the AAP Pediatric Research in Office Settings network and several Quality Improvement Innovation Networks committee projects.

She has practiced medicine in the Caribbean, Mexico and Ecuador and is a member of the AAP Section on International Medical Graduates. Dr. Cosgrove is an integral part of the Space Coast of Florida community where her 24-year practice is located and where she raised her children. She is the proud mother of three young men, two daughters-in-law and two grandsons, some of whom live in Ecuador.

Dr. Cosgrove volunteers as director of the Home At Last Adoption Agency, which offers adoption services in Central Florida and internationally.

Position statement

When I was young, I had a vision of working with kids. My dream was fulfilled when I became a pediatric intensive care nurse and subsequently a pediatrician.

One of the reasons I became involved with the FCAAP and AAP is to make a difference in children’s lives. Every small accomplishment means I have changed a wrong in the lives of the most vulnerable. My motto is "Children First."

As FCAAP president, I became a seasoned spokesperson representing chapter membership in two lawsuits. The first was a class-action lawsuit initiated by the Florida Chapter, the Florida Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and the parents of children under Medicaid in 2005. The case settled in 2016. The second was state legislation on gun safety, which became known as “Docs v. Glocks.” A federal appeals court recently cleared the way for Florida doctors to talk to their patients about gun safety, overturning a 2011 law that pitted medical providers against the state’s powerful gun lobby.

I have enjoyed serving as district chair and getting to know chapters during your annual meetings. I believe I have given you good information on what is going on at the national level. I would like to serve this last term. I will give 100% to support the AAP’s goals and vision and endeavor to give all children access to quality health care and good lives. I will continue fights similar to the ones mentioned above and will be a spokesperson for children's rights every chance I get.

Dr. Joseph is a professor of emergency medicine and pediatrics at the University of Florida College of Medicine, Jacksonville. She is the associate dean for inclusion and equity, assistant chair for pediatric emergency quality improvement, division chief and medical director of the UF Health Pediatric Weight Management Center.

She completed her pediatric residency and pediatric emergency medicine fellowship training at the University of Florida and the Children’s Hospital of Birmingham in Alabama, respectively.

Dr. Joseph has served in leadership positions on numerous national committees and sections at the AAP and the American College of Emergency Physicians. She has won several awards for her work to improve emergency care for children. She also served as one of the main authors on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines on the assessment and management of mild traumatic brain injury in children. Recently, she has been appointed as the implementation scientist for the new AAP clinical practice guidelines for childhood obesity.

Dr. Joseph is immediate past president of the AAP Florida Chapter and is involved in numerous advocacy and quality initiatives to improve health care for children in Florida. She is a proud wife and mother of three young adult children.

Position statement

There are many challenges threatening the health care and well-being of children and the practice of pediatricians and subspecialists in our nation. The AAP responds and prepares for such challenges in a progressive and strategic way. As president of the AAP Florida Chapter, I led with the core principle of “doing the right thing for children and pediatricians who care for them.”

I also had the opportunity to interact with AAP leadership to achieve many advocacy and legislative successes in Florida. This included increased payments for pediatricians and subspecialists caring for children on Medicaid, increased HPV vaccination rates and funding to develop workshops to support pediatricians as they responded to the mental health needs of children following the Parkland school shooting.

As a practicing pediatric emergency medicine physician for over 25 years and caring for children with severe obesity in a clinic setting, I have the unique understanding of the spectrum of care. My longstanding journey of leading and serving on pediatric committees and sections at the AAP and other national organizations has taught me the strength in collaboration to achieve high-quality health care for all children. As the district chair, I would bring the same talents to establish common goals and initiatives among District X state chapters.

I am honored to have the opportunity to dedicate my time and energy to serve as the chairperson of District X, and I look forward to contributing as an AAP board member to achieve a brighter future for our children.

Dr. Ramsey is a private pediatrician and managing partner at Dothan Pediatric Healthcare Network in Dothan, Ala. He serves as District X Chapter Forum Management Committee representative and chairperson of the Alabama Pediatric Council. Dr. Ramsey is past president (2013-’15) of the AAP Alabama Chapter.

Dr. Ramsey was an adviser to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama’s Medical Home Demonstration Pilot, during which he led his practice’s transformation to become the first Alabama practice recognized by the National Committee for Quality Assurance as a patient-centered medical home. He was a member of the AAP Accountable Care Organizations workgroup and has been tapped by AAP News for his expertise on the medical home. He was honored to serve on Gov. Robert Bentley’s Medicaid Advisory Commission and the Medicaid Pharmacy Advisory Commission.

Dr. Ramsey was honored in 2009 when he received the Children’s of Alabama’s Master Pediatrician Award. He also received the AAP 2017 Council on Community Pediatrics Local Hero Award and the 2017 Marsha Raulerson Advocacy Award for his advocacy work on Medicaid funding in recent years.

Dr. Ramsey and his wife, Cindi, have three children: Rebecca, Wilson and Sara Beth.

Born in Pittsburgh, Dr. Wiskind grew up in Akron, Ohio, and attended college at Dartmouth. He went to Atlanta for medical school at Emory and stayed, completing residency at Emory and spending his career at Peachtree Park Pediatrics, where he is managing partner of a seven-physician practice.

His wife, Anne, is a urogynecologist. They have two children in their 20s. In 2017, he ran unsuccessfully for a Georgia state Senate seat.

His involvement in the AAP Georgia Chapter began on the Breastfeeding Committee and culminated in a term as president from 2012-’14. He later served as District X representative to the Chapter Forum Management Committee through four Annual Leadership Forums and spent three years as a member of the AAP Insurance Trust.

In Atlanta, he served four-and-a-half years as the inaugural board chair for The Children’s Care Network, a clinically integrated network composed of over 1,200 primary care and specialty pediatricians throughout the city. In addition, he has been a longtime board member of Kids Health First, an independent practice association representing 40 Atlanta primary care practices.

These leadership positions have helped him understand the needs and challenges primary care and specialty pediatricians face in a variety of practice settings.

Dr. Allen is in private group practice in Florence, Ala. He attained his medical degree from the University of Alabama School of Medicine and completed his residency at the University of Louisville.

Over the past 17 years, Dr. Allen has served in numerous positions on the AAP Alabama Chapter (AL-AAP) Executive Board and committees, including president from 2011-’13. He has played lead roles in the chapter’s oral health project, young pediatrician and resident initiatives, and worked with business leaders. He served as American Medical Association representative to the American Dental Association Council on Access, Prevention and Interprofessional Relations, as well as medical director of a regional Alabama Medicaid accountable care network.

He is founder of his practice’s Reach Out and Read program, for which he has raised thousands of dollars for early literacy. In 2014, he founded and chaired Reach Out and Read-Alabama’s Grand Pediatric Pentathlon, a fundraising race activity for families at the AL-AAP annual meeting.

Dr. Allen has participated in and led practice and state quality improvement projects in asthma, oral health, immunizations, literacy, and most recently Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes/behavioral health.

Dr. Allen, his wife Brandi, and children Drew, Lucy and Ruth enjoy traveling and hiking.

A graduate of Yale University School of Medicine and a primary care pediatrician since 1982, Dr. Piovanetti has been involved in various community projects as a child advocate.

Her longstanding relationship with the AAP started soon after residency. She started as a member in 1982 and advanced to secretary, treasurer, vice president and president of the Puerto Rico Chapter for two terms. She has been involved in programs and grants with the national AAP, including First Ride Safe Ride coordinator, executive committee member of the Committee on Community Health Services, Community Access to Child Health coordinator, chapter breastfeeding coordinator, immunization champion and recipient of a Healthy Tomorrows Health Resources and Services Administration grant as well as early child care advocate. In collaboration with the Puerto Rico Department of Health, mother-child support networks were formed that helped develop initiatives in breastfeeding support and legislation.

A clinical professor in pediatrics at the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine since 2001, Dr. Piovanetti teaches medical students and pediatric residents.

Since 2017 after witnessing the disasters caused by Hurricane Maria, she has worked with Save the Children to organize training workshops including multidisciplinary teams to help prioritize efforts to promote safe infant feeding, specifically breastfeeding during disasters.