Jenkins will lead AAP, promises to "turn up the volume" on concerns about children

Renee Jenkins, MD, chair of the department of pediatrics at Howard University and adjunct professor of pediatrics at George Washington University in Washington, DC, will be the first African-American pediatrician to head the American Academy of Pediatrics. Dr. Jenkins (also a long-time advisor on adolescent medicine for Contemporary Pediatrics), will assume the office of president-elect at the October 2006 Annual Conference and Exhibition and serve as president for the 2007-2008 term. She is a graduate of Wayne State University School of Medicine, and completed her residency in pediatrics at Jacobi Hospital/Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City and her fellowship in adolescent medicine at Montefiore Hospital, also in New York City.

The health of adolescents and underserved children has been the focus of Dr. Jenkins' career, on the national scene and in her home community of Washington, DC. She is principal investigator at Howard for the DC-Baltimore Research Center on Child Health Disparities, in collaboration with the Children's National Medical Center, Johns Hopkins's pediatrics department primary care division, and the DC Health Department. She was one of the founders of the Center for Youth Services in the District and was chair of the Mayor's Commission on Teen Pregnancy Prevention there. During her tenure as AAP president, Dr. Jenkins plans to "turn up the volume and be a loud and effective voice for children's issues."