News Releases: 2022
Congratulations!
USC Faculty Promotions December 2022
Ashley Bennett, MD—Promoted to Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Liza Mackintosh, MD—Promoted to Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Michelle Thompson, MD—Promoted to Clinical Professor of Pediatrics
Awarded Grant- December 2022
Congratulations to Dr. Cecily Betz who received a $5,000 grant from Working for the Inclusive and Transformative Healthcare (WITH) Foundation. The amount awarded will be used for interpretation services for an upcoming virtual Transition Summit II event that is tentatively planned for the beginning of May 2023. Congratulations, Dr. Betz!
UCEDD Mental Health Clinic Holiday Toy Distribution
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Rosby Lamm and Christian Halverson, from CHLA’s Volunteer Services, for continuing to provide our clinic with toys, including the last three years of this global pandemic. Our socially distanced appointment-based toy distribution was held on Thursday, December 8th and Friday, December 9th from 12:30pm-4:00pm in the Education & Training Center on the 6th floor. Special thanks to Angela Lam for coordinating this event for our UCEDD clinicians at 3250 Wilshire and to Sandra Briones, who assisted with the set-up. We are grateful for the opportunity to have been able to help make this holiday season a little more joyous for the families served by our Mental Health Clinic, especially during these challenging times.
Journal Announcement- November 2022
Congratulations to Dr. Cecily Betz for serving as the first Editor of a new open-access journal published by Elsevier entitled Health Care Transition. This journal will be international and interdisciplinary in focus. The first issue will be published in December 2023 and manuscripts are now being accepted for review.
Dr. Betz was also the Founder and Editor in Chief for the Journal of Pediatric Nursing (JPN), an international journal that receives 1000+ submissions from authors worldwide and it is ranked in the top third of nursing journals. Congratulations, Dr. Betz!
Psychology Training Program Wellness Day
The Graduate Psychology Education (GPE) grant received funds from HRSA to provide training and programming focused on resilience capacity building and wellness. They sponsored a Psychology Supervisor Wellness Day in July 2022, and had a mirrored event for Psychology Trainees on November 11th, 2022. The event included a keynote address by Dr. Hanna Song, our SVP and Chief DEI Officer as well as Dr. Jeffrey Ring, a Health Psychologist specialized in supporting health care teams. Trainees participated in wellness activities which included guided yoga sessions, a narrative medicine workshop, painting classes, and mindfulness sessions that provided opportunities to build wellness skills to help manage the challenges of training, as well as help build a social support network. Please see group photo below of our interns, fellows, and Psychology Training Director, Dr. Sara Sherer, gathered at the event.
November 11, 2022
Congratulations to Colleen Kraft, MD, MBA for selection in the American Pediatric Society. Great recognition for all the work she has done and her ongoing advocacy for children everywhere! Congrats Dr. Kraft!
October 31, 2022
Congratulations to Dr. Reyna Rodriguez & Dr. Taylor Cosanella who transitioned from UCEDD Psychology Training Program Trainees to UCEDD Licensed Psychologists. Congratulations on their new roles!
October 21, 2022
Congratulations to Alexis Deavenport-Saman, DrPH, MPH, Juan Espinoza, MD, FAAP, and Olga Solomon, PhD who were elected to the Society of Pediatric Research! Great recognition for the work they are doing to improve child health!
October 20, 2022
Today, Governor Newsom appointed a new member to the Council. Congratulations to Julie Gaona, USC UCEDD CAC member, on being appointed to the State Council on Developmental Disabilities! Julie Gaona was an Advocate at the Community Access Center from 2001 to 2010. She is a member of the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, Los Angeles Regional Office Regional Advisory Committee; the Statewide Self-Advocacy Network; the University of Southern California Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Community Advisory Committee; and Communities Actively Living Independent and Free.
October 19, 2022
Joyce Javier is the recipient of the 2021 Robert Wood Johnson Fellowship Health Equity Award! Dr. Javier’s award recognizes her commitment to systems change and her efforts to ensure everyone has a fair and just opportunity for well-being. Congratulations!
October 15, 2022
Congratulations to Payal Shah and Dr. Juan Espinoza for having their manuscript entitled "Modified E-Delphi Process for Selection of Patient Reported Outcome Measures for Children and Families with Type-1 Diabetes using Continuous Glucose Monitors" accepted for publication in JMIR! The preprint version is available on Pubmed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36265838/
October 5, 2022
Dr. Sajjad Yacoob was awarded the 2021-2022 award in recognition of outstanding teaching in the Keck SOM Pediatrics Clerkship. Another outstanding recognition of Dr. Yacoob’s contribution to the education of the next generation of physicians. Congratulations!
September 7, 2022
Congratulations to Guadalupe Lorena Eaton, Dr. Juan Espinoza, Dr. Christina Jung, Dr. Micah Orliss, and Dr. Olga Solomon on being nominated for the 49th Annual Morris and Mary Press Humanism Awards! Also, a special shout-out to the Department of Pediatrics Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Consortium, which includes many of our faculty, on their nomination for the department/work group category. These nominations are a reflection of the amazing work being done by our fellow colleagues and we couldn’t be more proud of their contributions.
September 1, 2022
Congratulations to Dr. Kimberly Lo for her promotion to Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences and Pediatrics.
August 5, 2022
The Barbara Korsch Ward Foundation will support Marwa Moustafa, MD, and Michelle Thompson, MD, in continuing Dr. Korsch’s work of recording resident clinical encounters and giving feedback, which improves health outcomes through more effective and holistic communication with patients and families in primary care.
August 1, 2022
The FY 2022 University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research and Service (UCEDD), HHS-2022-ACL-AoD-DDUC-0032 application was approved for funding! Children's Hospital Los Angeles, USC UCEDD scored in the top 5!
July 26, 2022
Today we celebrate the 32nd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)! This historic civil rights law protects the rights of people with disabilities and prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public. The ADA works to ensure all people with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else. To learn more: https://adata.org/learn-about-ada.
March 30, 2022
Wesley Witherspoon, has been reappointed to the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, where he has served since 2018. Witherspoon has been a Consumer Advocate at the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, USC UCEDD since 2006. He is an active member of the Community Emergency Response Team.
Governor Newsom Announces Appointments 3.30.22 | California Governor