Welcome to General Academic Pediatrics
The Section of General Academic Pediatrics has a long and distinguished record in improving the lives of Colorado's children through clinical care,
community service, and advocacy activities.
The Department of Pediatrics’ four-pillar mission—clinical services, advocacy, research, and education—is wholly reflected in the work of the Section of General Academic Pediatrics. Children regionally and nationally have benefited from the innovative systems and care advances it has introduced. Of note:
- The Child Health Associates program, founded in 1968 by Henry Silver, MD, transformed pediatric care by training physician assistants to provide medical care for infants, children, and adolescents under the supervision of physicians.
- Ongoing legislative guidance at both the state and national level has resulted in policy changes that have improved access to care for pediatric patients as well as early learning opportunities.
- The Child Health Clinic provides a true medical home for underserved children in Aurora; the Special Care Clinic is the nation’s largest complex primary care clinic.
- The Children’s Outcomes Research program, later becoming part of the ACCORDS health outcomes research center, has become a national model. One of its major programs, Immunization delivery has been improved through research-based protocols funded by seven separate grants.
- Pediatric telephone triage services pioneered here have been adopted nationwide.
- Preventive dental care—a collaborative, research-based initiative of the Section, Denver Health, and ACCORDS—is garnering national provider attention.
Section faculty train 53 Pediatric residents, 16 Family Medicine residents, 22 Child Health Associates, and 10 medical students each year while providing longitudinal, comprehensive primary care in the Child Health Clinic at Children’s Hospital Colorado. Other training sites include clinics and inpatient units at Denver Health, Children’s Hospital Colorado, University of Colorado Hospital, and community practices.
The Section of General Academic Pediatrics provides primary care, inpatient care, and teaching at Children's Hospital Colorado and newborn care in the nursery at University of Colorado Hospital.
The faculty trains 53 pediatric residents, 16 family medicine residents, 22 child health associates and 18 medical students each year in the provision of longitudinal, comprehensive primary care in the Child Health Clinic at Children's Colorado.
In addition, the Section oversees the continuity clinic training of residents in other clinical settings at Denver Health and private pediatrics practices, and newborn care training for medical students, Child Health Associate students, and residents at University of Colorado Hospital.
The Section's educational activities include experiences for fellows, pediatric and family medicine residents (first-, second-, and third-year), physician assistant interns, and medical students (first-, second-, third-, and fourth-year). Training occurs in the form of supervised clinical care, formal and informal lectures, and thorough use of electronic training media.
Fellow activities include precepting medical students, physician assistants, and residents in Child Health Clinic, Same-Day Sick, and Pediatric Group Practice. For further information, please visit our Fellowship Web page.
Resident educational activities include patient care responsibilities in Child Health Clinic, Same-Day Sick, and Special Care Clinic, a clinic for children with special health care needs, as well as in the newborn nursery at University of Colorado Hospital. In addition, residents participate in a Cleft Lip/Cleft Palate Clinic with a General Academic Pediatrics attending.
Physician assistant interns and medical students have clinical educational experiences in Child Health Clinic, Same-Day Sick, and in the newborn nursery at University of Colorado Hospital. In addition to clinical experiences, trainees also participate in a seminar and lecture series.
Elective rotations in general pediatric care are available to a limited number of students. Please contact Maya Bunik, MD (maya.bunik@childrenscolorado.org) if you are interested in learning more about clinical educational opportunities.
The General Academic Pediatrics Section continues to expand its research enterprise, with the addition of new research faculty and an increase in federal funding. Immunization delivery research has been a major focus for the last ten years, involving Drs. Stephen Berman, Robert Brayden, Simon Hambidge, and Allison Kempe; and our Section is a recognized leader in this area nationally. Over the past three years we have received seven federal grants in the area of immunization delivery, examining attitudes of physicians nationally regarding vaccine policy issues, adolescent vaccine delivery, and school-based delivery of both influenza and adolescent vaccines. One of these was a prestigious Challenge grant from the NIH.
Preventive dental care for children has been a growing area of focus, involving Drs. Patricia Braun, Allison Kempe, and Elaine Morrato and there have been three grants funded in this area. Health care for children with special needs is also an area of growing interest, involving Drs. Stille, Kelminson, and Fox. Dr. Fox has submitted an AHRQ Career Development award in the area of shared decision-making for such children.
Our research in quality improvement also continues to grow - in the areas of asthma management (Drs. Maya Bunik and Allison Kempe) in collaboration with the Pulmonology Section, and in mental health care within the pediatric setting (Drs. Maya Bunik and Allison Kempe) in collaboration with the Department of Psychiatry - have received grant funding support. Telephone care and self-triage over the internet continue to be a focus for several faculty (Drs. Barton Schmitt, Maya Bunik, and Allison Kempe). Our new focus in obesity prevention (Drs. Maya Bunik, Christina Suh, and Allison Kempe) has resulted in the completion of several projects and the submission of two new grants.