Presenters:
Lindy McGee, MD
Rekha Lakshmanan, MHA
Jason Sabo
Overview:
Anti-vaccine rhetoric and the threat to routine childhood immunizations
Objectives:
To increase awareness and education for pediatric providers
Lindy McGee, MD is a general pediatrician who practices in Pasadena, TX. Dr. McGee completed her undergraduate education at Vanderbilt University, and her M.D. at Baylor College of Medicine where she also completed her residency in pediatrics. She is currently an assistant professor at Baylor College of Medicine and spends her clinical time teaching residents at a Harris Health county clinic in an underserved area. Dr. McGee is also a member of the Academic General Pediatrics division at Texas Children’s Hospital, where her research focuses on cancer prevention in the adolescent population. The interest in cancer prevention has led to projects on increasing HPV vaccination rates in teens and on e-cigarette education for healthcare providers and the public. Dr. McGee has served on the board of directors of The Immunization Partnership since 2009. Through her involvement on this board and with the executive legislative committee of Texas Pediatric Society, she has been an active vaccine advocate for the past several Texas legislative sessions.
Rekha Lakshmanan, M.H.A. is the Chief Strategy Officer for The Immunization Partnership, a non-profit organization in Texas. She is responsible for developing, monitoring, and supporting the execution of the organization’s strategic plan along with identifying and executing growth opportunities. Prior to this role, Rekha served as the Director of Advocacy and Policy for TIP. She worked four state legislative cycles and successfully advocated for the passage of legislation to improve immunization coverage rates in the state. Prior to joining The Immunization Partnership, Rekha spent over twelve years in the private sector helping health care organizations develop preventative and chronic care protocols to improve health outcomes. Rekha serves as a contributing expert to Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. She is frequently called up from state and national partners to advise on vaccine policy issues and legislative advocacy. She holds a master’s degree in health care administration from Texas Woman’s University- Houston Medical Center and a B.A. in government from The University of Texas in Austin and is a graduate of Harvard Kennedy School’s Leadership, Organizing and Action: Leading change program.
Jason Sabo is the Founder of Frontera Strategy and works as a political strategist, philanthropy advisor, and coalition builder in multiple states. He focuses his work on public health, education, human services, and foundation and nonprofit issues. Jason specializes in assisting organizations and philanthropists develop advocacy strategies for challenging fiscal and political circumstances. Prior to launching Frontera, Jason worked on local, state, and federal policy issues for twenty years as a policy analyst and lobbyist. Jason has developed and implemented complex multi-year advocacy efforts that have resulted in changes to law and policy impacting millions of children and families. His work also involves assisting foundations and other philanthropists to most strategically invest their dollars to achieve policy change. Jason has received numerous awards for his advocacy and public interest lobbying. Jason lives in Austin, Texas and received a Master’s degree in History from Indiana University.
Financial Disclosures:
Lindy McGee, MD has no financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose.
Rekha Lakshmanan, MHA has disclosed she was a consultant for Merck and Co., Inc. The relevant financial relationships noted for Dr. Lakshmanan have been mitigated.
Jason Sabo has no financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose.
The Pediatric Grand Rounds Planning Committee (Deepak Kamat, MD, PhD, Daniel Ranch, MD and Elizabeth Hanson, MD) has no financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. Planning Committee member Steven Seidner, MD has disclosed he receives funding from Draeger Medical for the Clinical Study to Evaluate the Safety and Effectiveness of the Infinity Acute Care System Workstation Neonatal Care Babylog VN500 Device in High-Frequency Oscillatory Ventilation (HFOV) Mode in Extremely Low Birth Weight (ELBW) Neonates for which he is a co-principal investigator.
Credits:
AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ (1.00 hour)
Non-Physician Participation Credit (1.00 hour)
MOC-2 credit (1.00 hour)
Target Audience:
Pediatric Doctors and Providers
Faculty, residents, health care providers; medical students and trainees.
Accreditation:
The UT Health Science Center San Antonio is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
Credit Designation:
The UT Health Science Center San Antonio designates this live activity up to a maximum of 1.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™.
Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Nurses and other healthcare professionals will receive a Certificate of Attendance. For information on applicability and acceptance, please consult your professional licensing board.