Iowa Chapter AAP 2020 Elections

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Iowa Chapter AAP Slate of Officers and Election Information

The Iowa Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics is conducting elections for one open position on their Board of Directors to serve a two-year term, 2020-2022. Voting is open from May 15, 2020 to June 1, 2020. Members will receive an email with a link to the ballot.

The below candidates are slated by the Iowa Chapter AAP Nominating Committee and reviewed by the IA AAP Board of Directors.  The position of Vice President is selected by the Board of Directors and open for member comment.  The full proposed slate for the IA AAP Board of Directors for the 2020-2022 year, is as follows:

President: Daniel Wright, DO, FAAP
Immediate Past President: Amy Kimball, DO, FAAP
VP: Marianka Pille, MD. FAAP
Secretary/Treasurer: Meredith Fishbane-Gordon, MD, FAAP
Trustee: Amy Shriver, MD, FAAP
Trustee: Julie Stecher, MD, FAAP
Trustee: Stacy Wagner, DO, FAAP
Trustee: Ashlesha Kaushik, MD, FAAP

Election Candidate Bios:

Vice President – Marianka Pille, MD, FAAP

Blank Children’s Pediatric Clinic – John R. Grubb-Variety Club

I am a general pediatrician practicing half-time in a large group in Des Moines.  The other half of my professional time is spent teaching medical students as an associate professor at Des Moines University. I grew up in Texas where I completed medical school and residency, both at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. I have been in Iowa since 2006, when I moved here with my husband to be near his family in Des Moines.

I have been involved with the Iowa Chapter of the AAP as a board member since 2012.  There are many joys to being active with the AAP:  I have gotten to know colleagues from around the state, I have had the opportunity to advocate for children at the Iowa state house, and I have met with AAP leaders from across the United States and Canada to work on various issues over the years.  There is enormous satisfaction in working systemically to improve the lives of children; I believe that being an advocate is an essential skill for pediatricians, whether that means direct work with patients or meeting with members of the state congressional delegation in Washington DC.  When pediatricians speak together on issues like vaccine hesitancy and reimbursement, we have the power to shape our own paths and those of the children and families we care for.  There is so much energy to be shared when we work together--this has been especially important over the past few months with the changes we have seen due to COVID 19.

Outside of my roles as a pediatrician, I am mom to two teens, one of whom is graduating from high school this year.  I am a volunteer “Cookie Mom” with my daughter’s Girl Scout troop and I have been on the Polk County Early Childhood Iowa board since 2017.

I am excited to continue to work with the rest of the Iowa AAP Chapter Board on projects related to access to health insurance, children’s mental health, practice sustainability, and vaccine advocacy.  I am very proud of the Board’s ability to address challenges as they arise and I am looking forward to continuing to collaborate with pediatricians around the state.

 

Trustee – Ashlesha Kaushik, MD, FAAP

UnityPoint Clinic Sergeant Bluff Pediatric Infectious Diseases

Dr. Ashlesha Kaushik, M.D., FAAP is American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Iowa Chapter Immunization representative, AAP Iowa Chapter Infectious Diseases Champion and serves on IA AAP Legislative Committee and Committee on Immunization. Dr. Kaushik is a national AAP spokesperson and recipient of 2019 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Childhood Immunization Champion Award for Iowa. She is also a featured global health expert for Sabin Vaccine Institutes Immunization Advocates.

Dr. Kaushik is presently Chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Director of Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at Unity Point Health, Sioux City, Iowa, and holds an academic appointment by the Stead Family Department of Pediatrics as Clinical Assistant Professor for the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. As AAP Iowa Chapter Immunization Representative, Dr. Kaushik has been at the forefront of AAP efforts toward building of Iowa immunization coalition-IA Immunizes and serves on the coalition steering committee.

Dr. Kaushik completed her postdoctoral fellowship in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at University of Texas Southwestern, Children’s Medical Center of Dallas, Texas. Dr. Kaushik is certified in Pediatrics leadership by Harvard Medical School. She pursued her residency in Pediatrics from Mount Sinai School of Medicine St. Joseph's Children's Hospital, NJ and received the Best Teaching Resident award for outstanding teaching in Pediatrics. She is certified in Healthcare Epidemiology and Infection Control by the Society of Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) and is also a nominated member of the Midwest Society for Pediatric Research, New York Academy of Medicine and an elected overseas fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, United Kingdom. Among her publications, her research-work on impact of MRSA Surveillance in the NICU has been cited by the World Health Organization guidelines on infection control.  As an enthusiastic advocate for children’s health, Dr. Kaushik has also been involved in community education through media/ news stories:

 

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