Membership Opportunities
Advocacy
Advance the interests of PA children and families and the value of pediatric practice through ADVOCACY at the State Capitol. Register or log in to access PA AAP's new Advocacy Action Center!
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Education
Ensure the highest quality of patient care through EDUCATION of pediatricians, residents, and medical students.
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Leadership & Networking
Promote optimal physician well-being and career stamina through PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT and NETWORKING opportunities.
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2023 Pediatric Conference
"Addressing Challenges in Modern Pediatrics"
March 11 & 12, 2023
"Addressing Challenges in Modern Pediatrics"
March 11 & 12, 2023
The PA AAP 2023 Pediatric Conference will take place on March 11-12, 2023 at the Renaissance Allentown Hotel in Allentown, Pennsylvania!
We have an exciting agenda packed with timely and engaging sessions on physician burnout, psychopharmacology, pediatric clinical updates, adolescent health, and more!
Click here for more information and to register for the conference!
Click here to view our Call for Abstracts for Pediatric Trainees!
We have an exciting agenda packed with timely and engaging sessions on physician burnout, psychopharmacology, pediatric clinical updates, adolescent health, and more!
Click here for more information and to register for the conference!
Click here to view our Call for Abstracts for Pediatric Trainees!
President's Message, February 2023
Mary Ann Rigas, MD, FAAP
Dear Fellow PA AAP Member,
My book club recently read Perri Klass’ latest work of nonfiction, A Good Time to be Born, which has been renamed The Best Medicine: How Science and Public Health Gave Children a Future.[1] Dr. Klass is a pediatrician, journalist, novelist, and the National Medical Director of Reach Out and Read. In this narrative, she chronicles the transformation in childhood mortality rates that has occurred over the past century. We are reminded that one hundred years ago, parents rightly feared that at least some (and many times all) of their children would die. Even now, one needs only to stroll through a local cemetery to see tombstones of infants and children who preceded their parents in death in the last century. Now, parents expect their children to outlive them by many years; in fact, the death of a child today is considered to be an unacceptable occurrence.
Dr. Klass tells stories of real and literary children, rich and poor, Black and white, urban and rural, famous and anonymous, who died from infections including typhoid, cholera, scarlet fever, measles, diphtheria, tuberculosis, and whooping cough. She reminds us that it is only in the past one hundred years that scientists have come to understand concepts of bacteriology and virology and to develop strategies to combat infection such as hygiene, pasteurization, antibiotics, and vaccines. Dr. Klass notes that the first physicians to recognize the importance of interventions to support child health, including Dr. Sara Josephine Baker and Dr. Abraham Jacobi, had very few tools with which to prevent, diagnose, and treat childhood infections, including those of their own children. Parents were taught to restrict fluids in children with diarrhea, compounding the dehydration they were already experiencing. The first public health workers recognized that breastfed infants had a greater chance of survival than those who consumed cow’s milk, but they had no idea why.
My book club recently read Perri Klass’ latest work of nonfiction, A Good Time to be Born, which has been renamed The Best Medicine: How Science and Public Health Gave Children a Future.[1] Dr. Klass is a pediatrician, journalist, novelist, and the National Medical Director of Reach Out and Read. In this narrative, she chronicles the transformation in childhood mortality rates that has occurred over the past century. We are reminded that one hundred years ago, parents rightly feared that at least some (and many times all) of their children would die. Even now, one needs only to stroll through a local cemetery to see tombstones of infants and children who preceded their parents in death in the last century. Now, parents expect their children to outlive them by many years; in fact, the death of a child today is considered to be an unacceptable occurrence.
Dr. Klass tells stories of real and literary children, rich and poor, Black and white, urban and rural, famous and anonymous, who died from infections including typhoid, cholera, scarlet fever, measles, diphtheria, tuberculosis, and whooping cough. She reminds us that it is only in the past one hundred years that scientists have come to understand concepts of bacteriology and virology and to develop strategies to combat infection such as hygiene, pasteurization, antibiotics, and vaccines. Dr. Klass notes that the first physicians to recognize the importance of interventions to support child health, including Dr. Sara Josephine Baker and Dr. Abraham Jacobi, had very few tools with which to prevent, diagnose, and treat childhood infections, including those of their own children. Parents were taught to restrict fluids in children with diarrhea, compounding the dehydration they were already experiencing. The first public health workers recognized that breastfed infants had a greater chance of survival than those who consumed cow’s milk, but they had no idea why.
Become a member and help us to improve the health and well being of children in Pennsylvania
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Membership opportunities are available to pediatricians and allied health professionals. The Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics provides an array of benefits and services to keep you up-to-date and informed. The Chapter actively advocates on behalf of your patients, their families, and you. Together, we serve as one voice in fulfilling the needs of children and pediatricians in the state.
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PA AAP Newsroom
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