Dr. Cheryl De Pinto to serve as Senior Vice President, Primary Care and Subspecialty Pediatrics; Dr. Xavier Sevilla to serve as Senior Vice President, Quality
ITASCA, IL -- Cheryl De Pinto, MD, MPH, FAAP and Xavier Sevilla, MD, MBA, CPHQ, CPPS, FAAP have been hired by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) as part of its senior leadership team to provide strategic guidance for population health initiatives.
Dr. De Pinto and Dr. Sevilla will be part of the leadership team responsible for advancing AAP pediatric population health initiatives. As Senior Vice President of Primary Care and Subspecialty Pediatrics, Dr. De Pinto will be leading initiatives related to pediatric practice, subspecialty pediatrics, physician payment, child health financing, and health policy specific to children’s health insurance status and the changing structure of practice-based operations. As Senior Vice President of Quality, Dr Sevilla will be leading quality and health information technology initiatives, including the development, implementation, and evaluation of the AAP CHILD Registry, as well as overseeing elements of Maintenance of Certification related activities, data analytics, and quality improvement implementation.
“We are incredibly pleased to be bringing two such excellent pediatrician leaders to help the Academy achieve its goals in child health,” said Mark Del Monte, JD, CEO/Executive Vice President of the AAP. “Dr. De Pinto brings decades of experience that includes leadership roles in subspecialty pediatrics, health care systems and school health that will be critical in leading the academy forward in this area. Dr. Sevilla has led multiple quality-improvement initiatives at a national scale, and he will help us advance significant new initiatives that are important to the quality of pediatric practice. We look forward to having both these pediatricians join our leadership team.”
Dr. De Pinto comes to the AAP after more than two decades with the Maryland Department of Health, including her most recent role as Director of the Office of Population Health Improvement, where she has been responsible for leading overall policy, planning, and health care delivery initiatives involving a wide array of interdisciplinary public and private health systems across the state. She has influenced Maryland policy in the areas of children with special health care needs, asthma, lead poisoning prevention, obesity prevention, school health services, and school chronic disease management. Dr. De Pinto has also been serving in the Maryland Incident Command System for COVID-19 response, and she earned a Leadership Award from AAP for her work to develop and implement state policy addressing the needs of children and schools. Dr. De Pinto has been a member of the AAP Council on School Health since 2013 and has served as chair since 2019.
Dr. De Pinto received a B.A. in biochemistry from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., and her medical degree from University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. She completed her residency in pediatrics from Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC, and her fellowship in adolescent medicine from University of Maryland Hospital for Children. Dr. De Pinto received an MPH from John’s Hopkins Bloomberg School of Hygiene and Public Health and is board certified in general pediatrics.
“I am excited to join the AAP as part of the Academy’s expanding focus on pediatric population health. During this extraordinarily challenging time, the AAP has worked tirelessly to support pediatric practices, children, families and communities. I am inspired by the Academy’s commitment to promote and advocate for investments in health care delivery system innovations to promote whole child approaches to clinical care and public health and to support health care providers. These types of innovation are critical to addressing the previous, current and future needs of children and pediatricians,” said Dr. De Pinto.
Dr. Sevilla is a primary care pediatrician in Manatee County, Fla., and currently serves as Medical Director Manager for Optum, part of United Health Group. He has a passion for caring for medically underserved children, quality improvement, patient safety and practice transformation. Previously Dr. Sevilla served as Chief of Pediatrics, Chief Quality Officer, and Vice President, Population Health Management at MCR Health and National Vice President of Clinical Quality for Catholic Health Initiatives. His passion and commitment have been nationally recognized, including by the Award for Excellence in Health Care Improvement from the Florida Children’s Quality Improvement Initiative for his work on improving care for children in medically under-resourced communities. Dr. Sevilla has represented the AAP with various national quality organizations including the National Committee of Quality Assurance, and he served as Chair of the AAP Steering Committee of Quality Improvement and Management.
Dr. Sevilla received an MBA from the University of Massachusetts and his medical degree from King’s College London School of Medicine, University of London. He completed his residency in pediatrics from University of South Florida and All Children’s Hospital. Dr. Sevilla is certified as a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety.
“I am thrilled to join the American Academy of Pediatrics as a Senior Vice President of Quality. My professional journey has taken me through different areas of the health care industry including accountable care organizations, federally qualified health centers, major health plans and integrated health systems. This experience has convinced me that the key to improving the health of all the people in the United States lies with improving child health. This opportunity would allow me to work together with 67,000 pediatricians to achieve this goal and show the incredible value of pediatrics and its crucial role in population health,” said Dr. Sevilla.
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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults. For more information, visit www.aap.org or follow us on Twitter @AmerAcadPeds.