Trauma-Informed Care Champions

“Hayes” Bakken is a general pediatrician and board-certified lactation consultant who provides primary care for children from birth through adolescence. She has worked to build interdisciplinary teams to support integrated behavior health in primary care in a variety of settings. She is passionate about prevention and ensuring trauma informed transformation also meets the needs of children 0-5 years old and their parents.

Deborah Buccino is a pediatrician at a small FQHC in rural northwestern Connecticut. After doing primary care for 25 years, she is now focusing on developmental behavioral pediatrics in a primary care setting. In addition to her interest in trauma-informed care, she has led community initiatives to increase collaboration between pediatric providers and schools. She is part of the REACH Institute, a national nonprofit which provides intensive, sustained and effective training to improve assessment and treatment of behavioral health conditions. At REACH, she is currently working on courses to optimize pediatric providers' collaboration with schools and care of youth with autism​.

“Katy” Carlsen is a board certified general pediatrician who has worked in primary care pediatrics as well as a medical consultant for California Childrens Services program for 20 years. She is an Associate Clinical Professor for Pediatrics at UC Davis as a Volunteer clinical faculty during this time as well. She grew very interested in managing health care needs within the dysfunctional system of care, specifically for children and youth in foster care. Katy is a passionate child advocate, especially in the field of foster care and integrated health to include medical and mental health care in a setting. This setting includes intensive care coordination and family navigation services to help build upon existing strengths and increase resilience within the children and youth and their families. Over past 10 years, she worked to establish this integrated care model in partnership with UC Davis Pediatrics and Sacramento County Health Center to where the CIRCLE clinic opened in 2020.

Heather Champney is a board certified pediatrician and obesity medicine specialist who spent the first 16 years of her career serving her community as an Emergency Medicine physician in a busy tertiary care center. She is now Professor of Pediatrics and Director of Community Newborn Nurseries at East Tennessee State University, where she works with the region's perinatal centers to bring a cohesive approach to newborn medicine. She has long had a passion for helping her patients develop a more thorough understanding of their health and nutrition, which led her to pursue board certification in Obesity Medicine.  Heather has a deep interest in the way trauma impacts our health and well-being and uses the skills she obtained and continues to cultivate alongside her colleagues in the AAP Trauma Informed Care Champion Network. In her spare time, she enjoys gardening, exercising, and spending time on her farm with her husband and four children.

Salimah Dhanani is a pediatrician and an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Albany Medical Center. Her many roles include Director of Outpatient Lactation Services and Medical Director of an all-girls boarding school. She is also the Chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee for AAP NY Chapter1. Salimah has been involved in DEI initiatives in the capital district and is one of the trainers for Advancing Equity in Pediatrics training. Her passion is surrounding stigmatizing language in health care and in recognizing and teaching health literacy.

Zia Gajary is a pediatrician who completed her medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania and went on to complete her residency at Johns Hopkins Children's Hospital. She is an attending physician at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and an Associate Professor at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Zia practices at a large Primary Care teaching practice in West Philadelphia, where she has served as the office's mental health champion.

Rachel Gilgoff is a board-certified general pediatrician, child abuse pediatrician, and integrative medicine specialist, who brings a multidisciplinary approach to ACEs, toxic stress, healing, and well-being. Over the course of her career, she has been the Medical Director of the Clinical Innovations and Research Team within Center for Youth Wellness, and co-founder of the National Committee on Asthma and Toxic Stress. She is currently a clinician at StressWell clinic in San Francisco, and Adjunct Clinical Professor at Stanford University Medical Center. Rachel is dedicated to addressing health issues resulting from child abuse and toxic stress. 

“Bird” Gilmartin is a general pediatrician and an Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics with a dual appointment in general pediatrics at the Kempe Center. She served as the Founding Medical Director for the new Children’s Hospital Colorado specialty primary care clinic in affiliation with the Kempe Center, the Kids In Care Settings (KICS) clinic. Prior to Colorado, she worked at Evanston Regional Hospital in Evanston, Wyoming where she served as the Medical Director of Pediatrics and Chief of Medical Staff.  She currently serve as a Co-Investigator for the Pediatric Integrated Post-trauma Services SAMHSA grant working to disseminate the pediatric traumatic stress care process model and to develop enhanced implementation strategies for trauma screening and treatment referral in rural settings and adaptations for the unique needs of children in foster care. She served on the executive committee for the AAP Council on Child Abuse and Neglect (COCAN) from 2018 - 2024. In 2019, Bird was the recipient of the AAP COCAN award for Outstanding Service to Maltreated Children. Her professional areas of interest are foster care health, health disparities, cross sector collaboration, systems level innovations, infants prenatally substance exposed, and trauma informed care.

Emily Hogeland is a pediatric hospitalist in the Division of Hospital Medicine at Connecticut Children’s and a Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at UConn School of Medicine. She attended Harvard College for undergraduate studies, and spent a year in Bolivia learning about healthcare delivery for indigenous populations. She attended medical school at University of California - San Francisco and completed her pediatrics residency at the University of Washington/Seattle Children’s - Alaska Track. After residency, she worked as a pediatric hospitalist at Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage for 6 years, where she had the privilege of caring for Alaska Native children and their families. She transitioned to Connecticut Children’s in 2022, where she is now involved in both graduate medical education as Associate Program Director for the UConn Pediatric Residency, as well as undergraduate medical education as Assistant Clerkship Director of the UConn inpatient pediatrics clerkship. She is passionate about advocacy, healthcare for underserved populations, trauma-informed care, and cultural humility.

Dena Hubbard is a neonatologist and Director of NICU Quality Improvement at Cottage Children’s Medical Center in Santa Barbara, CA. She completed her Doctor of Medicine and Residency in Child Health at the University of Missouri-Columbia and her fellowship in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at Children's Mercy and University of Missouri-Kansas City. In addition to her clinical practice, her passions include advocacy and child health policy, leadership development, physician and healthcare professional health and wellness, and medical education.  Dena is a fierce activist for system changes to decrease waste and increase joy in medicine through trauma-informed care, lean processes, and continuous quality improvement.

Marie Ilarraza-Lugo is an early career pediatrician in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She completed medical school in Ponce Health and Science University in 2017. She then completed her pediatric residency in Saint Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Ponce, Puerto Rico in 2020. Marie currently works as an attending physician in the San Juan City Hospital, caring for admitted pediatric patients. She is also a part of the faculty of the pediatric residency in that same hospital, working with residents and medical students.

COL (ret) Kimball-Eayrs is a pediatrician who started her military career at the Uniformed Services University School of Medicine and graduated in 1999. She did her pediatric training in San Antonio as part of the San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium and transitioned to her first assignment at Darnall Army Community Hospital in Ft. Hood, TX where she served as a general pediatrician and resident rotation coordinator. In 2004, she joined the pediatrics team at Madigan Army Medical Center where she served in various roles culminating as the General Pediatrics Clinic Chief. During her time at Madigan, she deployed with the 4/25 Airborne Infantry Brigade. She spent 14 months at FOB Kalsu, Iraq serving as the Battalion Surgeon for the Brigade Support Battalion and the Officer in Charge of the FOB level II clinic, and again in 2015 with the 3/4 Armored Infantry Brigade as a Battalion Surgeon in Camp Buehring, Kuwait. Upon her return, she took on the role of Deputy Director for Medical Services at WRNMMC. In June 2019, she took on the role of Commandant for the School of Medicine at USU and was selected as the Army General Pediatrics Consultant to OTSG and served in both of these roles until her retirement from the Army in 2022. In parallel, she worked with the AAP as a member of the Executive Committee for the Section on Uniformed Services to better the lives of military connected children and provide support to those who care for them. She currently serves as volunteer civilian faculty at USU while maintaining her clinical skills in the civilian urgent care realm.

Avi Kopstick is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and pediatric intensivist at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso. His work focuses on advancing TIC principles in pediatric critical care and medical education, promoting resilience, and equipping providers with tools to improve patient outcomes through personalized and compassionate evidence-based practice.

Rosemary Martoma is an academic pediatrician at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, assistant professor at Ohio State University, and President of KidsMates Inc., a national nonprofit focused on advancing childhood equity. Rosemary completed medical school at Auckland University in New Zealand and residency at Tufts Children’s Hospital in Boston. She is a nationally recognized expert in trauma-informed care, a peer-reviewed author, and a pioneer of health equity advocacy for children of incarcerated parents. Her research interests center around a range of health equity issues. Rosemary is a recipient of the AAP Community Access to Child Health, a contributor to the AAP’s official parenting website, and an inaugural member of the AAP’s Child Welfare Learning Collaborative. 

Kayce Morton is a community pediatric hospitalist who earned her Bachelor of Arts degree at Drury University. She attended Kansas City University of Biosciences and Osteopathic Medicine and completed her residency at University of Missouri-Columbia(Mizzou) in 2008. She joined a community hospital CoxHealth, in her hometown, and was the section director for 6 years. Kayce stepped down from that position to work in a hybrid model as a Pediatric Hospitalist and Pediatric Medical Director of Jordan Valley Community Health Center. She is the site leader for QI projects and an assistant professor for Mizzou. Kayce is very involved in multiple ways in the above organizations. She has been an active member of SHM, initially on the executive committee, and as a representative was on the planning committees for PHM and is currently participating in the pediatric special interest group on the education subcommittee. 

Rita Nathawad is a social pediatrician and an Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Community and Societal Pediatrics at the University of Florida, College of Medicine-Jacksonville. She completed her Pediatric residency training and Pediatric Infectious Disease fellowship training at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY. She currently serves as the medical director for the Bower Lyman Center for the Medically Complex Child and the Jacksonville Health and Transition Services (JaxHATS) programs. Her clinical area of focus is in caring for youth and young adults with special health care needs with a specific focus on the transition from pediatric to adult based care. Rita is also an Associate Program Director for the Pediatric Residency Program, and is responsible for curriculum development and training in Advocacy, Community and Societal Pediatrics and Global Health. Having completed a fellowship in Community and Societal Pediatrics at UF, and Master’s degree in Global Health Policy at the University of London, School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, she possesses a unique background and skill set relevant to training in these areas. Her clinical, education, research and advocacy work are all grounded in the principles of child rights, health equity and social justice and she has given multiple workshops, presentations and developed curricula on these topics. 

Gretchen Pianka is a pediatrician who received her Doctor of Medicine from the University of Vermont and her Master of Public Health from the University of New England. She completed her pediatric residency at the University of Virginia and has worked in pediatrics for over 20 years. Gretchen developed Resilience University to foster resilience in primary care using evidence-informed strategies to support positive childhood experiences. She is passionate about equitable access to proven protective factors that support child and family health. Her book, Coaching Families for Resilience: How Pediatricians Can Support Caregivers and Prevent Burnout, was recently published by the AAP. 

Alicia Pointer is a general pediatrician and the former Health Commissioner for the Orange County NY Department of Health. She created and continues to be involved with the Orange County Family Center, a community space for families and children aged 0-5. She was previously Chief of Pediatrics at Cornerstone Family Healthcare, an FQHC. There, she founded and directed the STAR program, a pediatric medical home for children in foster care. She serves on the Advisory Board of the Adoptive and Foster Family Coalition of NY, the Orange County Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Coalition, and the Parenting Coalition.

"Pratima Shanbhag is a board-certified pediatrician in both General Pediatrics and Child Abuse Pediatrics. She graduated from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine with a Doctor of Medicine, and completed her General Pediatrics training at the Orlando Health Pediatric Residency Program at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children. She completed a fellowship in Child Abuse Pediatrics at the Mayerson Center for Safe and Healthy Children at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, where she now practices as an attending physician with an appointment as an Assistant Professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. She obtained a Master of Public Health in Health Education and Promotion from the University of Cincinnati, with a capstone in Trauma-Informed Care. Pratima is passionate about translating trauma-informed care into clinical practice in the healthcare setting. 
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Amy Shoptaugh is board certified a board-certified pediatrician and graduated from University of Colorado School of Medicine, and continued to complete residency at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. She founded All About Kids Pediatrics in 1998 and practiced there until joining Phoenix Children's in 2020. Amy believes it's important to address the whole person - mind, body, and spirit -along with the social, environmental, and biological factors that affect health and well-being. Her specialty areas include adverse childhood experiences, integrative health, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Shannon Thompson is a board-certified pediatrician and child abuse subspecialist, licensed in Indiana. She is an Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at Indiana University, School of Medicine, Riley Hospital for Children and Division Chief of the Child Protection Program in Indianapolis. Shannon received her Bachelor of Arts in pre-medicine from Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY and her Doctor of Medicine from The Ohio State University School of Medicine and Public Health in Columbus, Ohio. She completed her pediatric residency training at Georgetown School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. Prior to her current position, she practiced general pediatrics in Kokomo, Indiana for 3 years. She later practiced as a pediatric hospitalist for 8 years and served as Medical Director of the Child Protection Team at Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at St. Vincent in Indianapolis, IN for 5 years. In her current position, she also serves as Medical Director of the Child Protection physical abuse clinic and the Foster Care Bridge Clinic. Shannon is committed to providing trauma-informed care to children and their caregivers in effort to help promote and build resilience.

"Liza" Wikle received her medical degree from the University of Iowa where she is currently a general pediatrician and Assistant professor of pediatrics. Her favorite part of being a pediatrician is partnering with families and communities to promote healthcare for all children. ​

Regan Williams is a pediatric surgeon who completed her medical degree and her general surgical residency at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and a fellowship in Pediatric Surgery at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital. Soon after, she served as an Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. At Le Bonheur Children's Hospital, Regan is the Medical Director of Trauma and the Associate Chief of Staff. She has completed a Master's of Science degree in Epidemiology and her research efforts are focused on developing evidence-based guidelines for the treatment of pediatric trauma and surgical disease. She is board certified in general and pediatric surgery and has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles. She is Chair of the Senior Leadership Council, Chair of the Peer Review Oversight Committee, and on the Board of Directors for the Children’s Emergency Care Alliance. She is a Course Director and instructor for ATLS, as well. In her role as Trauma Medical Director, Regan remains active in her efforts to improve trauma care at a state and national level. She is deeply involved in the Stop the Bleed campaign, as well as local community outreach events, such as Community Walks Against Gun Violence. Her goal is to decrease gun related injuries in children. She dedicates her time and resources to ensure optimal care for children across the state of Tennessee.