Welcome from the Department Chair
Welcome to the Department of Pediatrics at Morehouse School of Medicine. We are proud of who we are and of the services we provide. In a world where toxic stressors are a part of everyday life for our children and their families, it is more important than ever for pediatricians to understand and appropriately respond to the growing demand for parental guidance and support. A comprehensive understanding of the social constructs that build the framework for poverty and adverse childhood experiences is essential to the development of assessments and plans that prevent and/or mitigate the often resultant suboptimal educational, behavioral, mental, and social consequences for our children.
Our faculty hold specialty training and or certification in Adolescent Medicine, Allergy/Immunology, Developmental/Behavioral Pediatrics, General Pediatrics, Hematology/Oncology, Infectious Diseases, Lactation Consultation, and Pediatric Hospitalist Medicine. Our research initiatives involve COVID vaccine trials and Sickle Cell Disease mechanisms and management. Each member of our faculty and staff makes significant efforts for professional development to enhance and improve their skills and resultant service to the department and community.
We have a single clinical goal; to provide outstanding, comprehensive, effective patient care to all children with a special emphasis on the needs of underserved and marginalized communities. Integration into our community, and not simply working in it, is essential to accomplishing this goal. In addition to clinical care provision, members of our department are active in other community organizations with focus areas that include (but are not limited to) tutoring, childhood enrichment, lactation, reading, parenting, childhood grief counseling, homelessness, and sex trafficking.
Our primary academic mission is to educate the next generation of medical students and residents with innovative educational methods. Our third-year pediatrics clerkship has been nominated on two occasions by the Ambulatory Pediatrics Association as an outstanding teaching program. Our students have robust general pediatrics and subspecialty exposures during their rotation with us. We also offer pediatrics experiences at our new Columbus Georgia site. Our residency program is fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The residents have robust clinical experience opportunities general pediatrics and pediatrics subspecialties.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge and extend gratitude to my predecessors as Chairs of the Department of Pediatrics here at Morehouse school of Medicine, Dr. Frances Dunston, and Dr. Yasmin Tyler-Hill. They laid the foundation and built the framework from which we work today and paved the way that enables us to look and move forward towards tomorrow.
No matter your reason for exploring our website, we hope you get a sense of who we are, what we value and why we serve. On behalf of the Department of Pediatrics, welcome.
Lynn Gardner, MD, MBA, FAAP
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Director, Pediatric Residency Training Program
Interim Chair, Department of Pediatrics
Morehouse School of Medicine