Letter from the Director

The mission of the Division of Academic General Pediatrics is to improve health outcomes in children by providing excellent clinical care that utilizes and tests best practice approaches; teaching learners of all disciplines; conducting research that advances knowledge, impacts practice and policy, and improves child health; and advocating for children and their families. We are a division of more than 40 faculty that strives to integrate all four missions of our academic medical center. 

Clinical Excellence

Our team is innovative and pragmatic, advancing academic general pediatrics. We serve as the medical home and direct the Newborn Nursery for a large number of patients from a wide variety of backgrounds and integrate quality improvement methods to advance process and outcomes.

Our clinical initiatives include:

• Quality improvement projects ranging from breastfeeding to food security
• Population Health
• Patient-centered medical home
• Clinic-based research
• Resident advocacy

Pediatric Integrated Behavioral Health in Primary Care

The Vanderbilt Children’s Primary Care clinic is committed to treating the whole child, including supporting behavioral health concerns within primary care. Integrated within our clinic is a team of behavioral health specialists including a medical social worker, resources specialists, and a pediatric psychologist who are onsite each day to support patient needs and questions related to:

• Child Behavior
• Parenting
• Child social/emotional development and concerns (e.g., anxiety, depression, etc.)
• Social/Community resource needs
• Learning/Academic challenges

Discovery Mission

With a multimillion-dollar research funding program, our faculty, residents, and students are involved in generating evidence to improve health outcomes for children and families. Our research includes behavioral interventions, a life course lens to identify sensitive periods for effective prevention and intervention of common conditions, pediatric pharmacogenomics to identify the right medication and dosage to maximize the intended effect and minimize unintended effects, attention to developmental transitions in a family-centered way, reduction of pediatric readmissions, assessing approaches to pediatric obesity prevention in clinical and community settings, developing approaches for ACES and food security screening, and more.

Leadership

Many division members are thought leaders and serve (or have served) in national leadership positions, such the President of the Council on Medical Student Education in Pediatrics (COMSEP), Director of the Academy for Excellence in Education, President of the Society for Pediatric Research (SPR), Chair of Association of Pediatric Program Directors-Leadership in Educational Academic Development (APPD LEAD), and the Report Review Committee for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Division members have been honored with major awards, including membership in the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, APA Research Award, APA Health Delivery Award, the Leon Goldberg Early Investigator Award, Tennessee Pediatrician of the Year, and more.

Education and Training

Education and training are integral to all aspects of our mission. This includes clinical training for residents and medical students, and research training and career development for faculty, fellows, and visiting medical students. Our faculty and trainees have obtained competitive training grant funding from the National Institutes of Health, private foundations, and the State of Tennessee.

Our student, fellow, and faculty alumni have achieved national prominence and leadership positions as Chairs of Pediatrics, in Departments of Health, and as the Director of Maternal and Child Health.

Advocacy

Keeping our patients healthy often requires we examine more closely the environments, policies, and systems that can negatively impact pediatric health. We believe as primary care health providers we can have meaningful impact on the lives and health of our patients through advocating for positive changes in these systems. Therefore, our advocacy efforts expand beyond the individual level to include partnership with local community organizations, larger national organizations, as well as state and federal government policy makers.

Advocacy efforts of our Division include, but are not limited to:

• DOT 8 Advocate: an advocacy newsletter with action items and legislative updates circulated regularly by email
• Clinic-based initiatives to meet the needs of our population, such as food insecurity and other social needs screenings
• Divisional Anti-Racism Taskforce
• Embedded community resource specialists within clinic
• Authoring and publishing editorials in local print media to share expert opinion
• Days of action, involving contact with our elected officials by phone, email, or letter
• In-person meetings with our elected officials, insurance representatives, and other policy makers

Read our recent op-ed piece in the Tennessean.

Visit the website for the Tennessee Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (TNAAP).

We invite you to learn more about the division through our website and contact us regarding opportunities for education, training, and collaborations.

Best,

Bill Heerman, MD, MPH
Associate Professor of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics
William K. Warren Foundation Chair in Medicine
Director, Division of Academic General Pediatrics
Co-Director, Epidemiology Track of MPH Program
Program Director, Academic General Pediatrics Fellowship
Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Contact Us

Division of Academic General Pediatrics
Vanderbilt Health One Hundred Oaks
719 Thompson Ln
Suite 30300
Nashville, TN 37204

For Patients and Families

Visit our patient care website or call (615) 936-2555 for more information or to schedule an appointment.