MIAAP is pleased to announce that our Board Resident Representative Michal Ruprecht has been awarded the 2026 Emerging Voices Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Michal has been an active member of MIAAP for a few years now and has been influential in advocacy and outreach.

He is being recognized for his work as a medical journalist with NPR and CNN where he worked on stories about immigration, vaccines, AI, autism, and more. His stories dove deep to the heart of issues, following immigrant doctors who face deportation, the contrast between an America at war with vaccines vs. countries like Ghana who are clamoring for access to those same vaccines, and a detailed explanation of what dying of starvation looks like in light of the ongoing crisis in Gaza.

In his spare time he has produced short form videos for MIAAP’s Instagram, encouraging members to become active advocates for their patients and their profession. He continues to be an active member of MIAAP.

Congratulations Michal!

To learn more about this award and it's recipients click here.

Michigan News

Michigan found a way to reduce school vaccine waivers. Until it backfired

In 2015, the state started requiring parents seeking waivers to first attend a vaccine education session, in person, at their local health department.

But in the post-COVID era, the sessions became hostile, ineffective, and sometimes even unsafe for staff, local health officials say.

One high school called police last fall over an escalating dispute with parents who refused to obtain a state-recognized waiver for their children, and a sheriff's deputy warned the parents that they could face criminal charges.

Rx Kids linked to reductions in preterm births and low birthweights, fewer NICU admissions

A new study found that Rx Kids, the nation’s first community-wide prenatal and infant cash prescription program, was associated with significant improvements in birth outcomes for infants born in Flint, Mich.

The program was associated with reduced low birthweight and preterm birth rates and reduced admissions to the neonatal intensive care unit, according to the study published in The Lancet Public Health.

The findings show that providing direct support during pregnancy and infancy can improve maternal and infant health.

AAP News

AAP Statement on Medicaid Work Requirements Rule

“The American Academy of Pediatrics strongly opposes the rule announced earlier this week by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that will make it harder for families to access healthcare and will lead to people losing their Medicaid coverage altogether. This is an intentional policy choice that will harm children’s long-term health and well-being.

“When parents have healthcare coverage, their children are more likely to be covered and stay covered over time, allowing uninterrupted access to the care they need to grow up healthy. Work requirements have not been shown to help adults gain employment. Instead, the added red tape makes it more difficult for eligible people to stay enrolled in Medicaid and makes the program less efficient overall. These administrative barriers will disproportionately hurt people with disabilities, and parents of children with special health care needs will lose coverage.

AAP Council on Health Equity Calls for Position Nominations

Call for Nominations – AAP Council on Health Equity – 2026 Chairperson Position

The AAP Board of Directors is soliciting nominations to fill a chairperson vacancy for the Council on Health Equity.

To be considered complete, all submissions must include a fact sheet, a biographical summary, a nomination letter, and a letter of support. Documents for submission and sample letters are attached. Once submitted, candidates will receive a request to complete their conflict of interest disclosure. Completion of this disclosure will finalize the application process. Attached you will also find the statement of needs for this council and an FAQ document.

AAP leaders are required to use personal (not work/institutional) email addresses for AAP work. Please ensure you are using your personal email address when applying for a leadership position.

As part of the AAP Equity Agenda, the Board of Directors is committed to increasing the percentage of members from groups underrepresented in medicine that are serving in Academy leadership positions. Diverse candidates in terms of race, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or national origin are encouraged to apply. To ensure a diverse pool of applications, the call for nominations will be widely distributed.

The deadline for nominations is June 12, 2026. Given the abbreviated nomination period, the requirement for two letters of support if self-nominating is waived. For those who self-nominate, only one letter of support is required. Nominees must submit the completed application package to their Chapter President and the AAP Nominations Team (nominations@aap.org). The AAP Board of Directors intends to make an appointment expeditiously. Once appointed, the chairperson may be re-appointed annually for a term totaling four years.

Thank you for your review and contribution to the nominations process for the chairperson vacancy for the Council on Health Equity.

Please email any questions to nominations@aap.org.

Required Documents: Fact Sheet, Bio Summary, Sample nomination letter, Sample Letter of Support, COHE Needs Statement, FAQ

Federal judge says Florida AG likely ‘retaliating against AAP’

A federal judge has temporarily blocked a legal attack on the AAP by the Florida attorney general.

In a thorough, 58-page ruling, Northern District of Illinois Judge Matthew F. Kennelly said the AAP is likely to succeed in proving Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier violated its First Amendment rights and that he pursued a lawsuit against the AAP’s gender-affirming care policy in bad faith.

Pediatricians in the News

Arul Thirumoorthi, MD

Teenage patient receives treatment for papillary thyroid cancer

Papillary thyroid cancer is now the second-most common cancer in teenagers, affecting appoximately 2 patients per 100,000 between ages 15 to 19.

In 40% of patients, the tumor spreads to other parts of the body.

“Gavin had extensive metastasis, where the tumor had spread to his lymph nodes,” said Arul Thirumoorthi, M.D., Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatric Surgery who led Gavin’s treatment.

“Fortunately, we have seen 95-98% survival rates with the appropriate treatment."

Just two weeks after his diagnosis, Gavin underwent a ten-hour surgery led by Thirumoorthi and Sean Edwards, M.D., James Hayward Endowed Clinical Professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.

The surgical team removed Gavin’s thyroid and the cancer-affected lymph nodes that had spread from both sides of his neck into his chest and around his vocal cords.

Partner Programs

My name is Julia Terhune and I am a doctoral candidate at Michigan State University College of Communication Arts and Sciences. I am interseted in the intersection between digital literacy and healthy literacy. My disseration is exploring how the social media content created by physicians impacts health literacy and trust in science among underserved communities in Michigan. As part of this work, I am surveying doctors, medical students, residents, and nurses on their perceptions of physician social media content and how they use social media themselves. If you could fill out this survey, it would allow me to collect this preliminary data that will allow me to modify and build my hypotehsis and additional research questions. If you have any questions about this survey, please feel free to contact me at koprows3@msu.edu. I am happy to discuss any aspect of this work. Your participation is greatly appreciated

Take the Survey here or at the QR code

MI Chapter American Academy of Pediatrics

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