Got Your Shots Immunization Conference announcement

Presenter Bios

On this page:
Ari Brown, MD, FAAP
Kristine Sheedy, PhD
Lynn Bahta, RN, PHN
Wendy Sue Swanson, MDH, MBE, FAAP
Michael Reiff, MD

Ari Brown, MD, FAAP

Dr. Brown is a pediatrician, author, child health advocate, and a mom. She completed her pediatric residency and developmental pediatrics fellowship at Harvard Medical School/Boston Children's Hospital. She practices full-time in Austin, TX.

Her passion to educate families about children’s health led her to co-author the best-selling "411" parenting book series including Expecting 411: Clear Answers and Smart Advice for your Pregnancy, Baby 411, and Toddler 411. She is a trusted voice for children’s health. Dr. Brown is a medical advisor for Parents Magazine and a spokeswoman for the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Kristine Sheedy, PhD

Dr. Sheedy is Associate Director of Communication Science for the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She earned her Masters degree in Communication from the University of Arkansas and her Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Georgia. She has applied her knowledge of health communication and social marketing, risk and crisis communication, and media relations to several important communication activities at CDC related to public health genomics, vaccines and immunization safety, emergency preparedness and response, and seasonal and pandemic influenza. In her current role at CDC, Dr. Sheedy serves as a principal advisor to NCIRD’s Director on communication and marketing science, research, and practice. She provides senior health marketing and communication leadership and oversight to all health communication projects and activities taking place in NCIRD's Office of Health Communication Science. During the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, Dr. Sheedy served as lead for CDC’s Vaccine Task Force Communication Team.

Lynn Bahta, RN, PHN

Immunization clinical consultant for the Immunization Program at the Minnesota Department of Health; providing programmatic and technical consultation for activities including the MN Vaccines for Children program, vaccine safety, outbreak immunization recommendations, registry algorithms, and new vaccine implementation. She also functions as the clinical editor for the “Got Your Shots” newsletter fax.

Wendy Sue Swanson, MD, MBE, FAAP

Dr. Wendy Sue Swanson is a general pediatrician interested in the intersection of media and medicine and its impact on the physician-patient relationship. She writes Seattle Mama Doc (Attention: Non-MDH link) for Seattle Children’s Hospital, the first pediatrician-authored blog for a major children's hospital. Dr. Swanson is an official spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics and sits on the board for the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media. She speaks nationally on physician use of social media and its role in advocacy and is active in sharing her perspectives on pediatric health issues via social media. Dr. Swanson believes physicians have an obligation to share opinions online. Her objective is to illustrate how we can marry social media tools to that of traditional media to inform parents and caregivers, engage pediatricians, and decrease the divide that may exist between patients and their physicians. She believes that a growing community of online physicians can empower patients to make informed decisions founded in science.

Dr. Swanson graduated with Honors in Psychology from Kenyon College. After college, she taught bilingual, middle school science for 2 years through Teach for America in Oakland, CA. She earned an M.D. and MBE (Master's in Bioethics) at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and then completed her residency at Seattle Children’s Hospital. In addition to her blog, you follow her on Twitter. Attention: Non-MDH link

Michael Reiff, MD

Dr. Michael I. Reiff is a board certified Developmental Behavioral Pediatrician, and Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Clinical Neuroscience. He received his BA from Brandeis University, and his MD from the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He completed a Pediatric Residency at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York. He has served on the faculty in the UCLA Pediatrics Department, and was most recently the director of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at Minneapolis Children's Hospital where he was active as a clinician and teacher. He has been a member of the Pediatrics faculty of the University of Minnesota since 1990, and been involved in the Pediatric Residency training program in Behavioral Pediatrics since that time. He joined the Division of Pediatric Clinical Neuroscience in April of 2003 and is the medical director of the Autistic Spectrum Disorder Clinic.

Dr. Reiff is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a member of the Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, where he served as the Child Advocacy Committee Chairperson. He is presently on the Executive Committee of the Developmental Behavioral Section of the American Academy of Pediatrics. He is the editor-in-chief of the book ADHD: A Complete and Authoritative Guide, published by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2003.

Updated Tuesday, 20-Sep-2011 11:52:00 CDT