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Member Spotlight: Dr. La Sharon Samuels
At 8 years old, Dr. LaSharon Samuels knew she wanted to be a pediatrician. Sitting in her own pediatrician’s office in south east Michigan as a child, watching children leave, often smiling, upbeat, with lollipop in hand, she knew pediatrics was a worthwhile profession, and she never turned back.
Dr. Samuels started her journey at Tulane University in New Orleans, finished medical school at the University of Wisconsin and moved back to Michigan to begin her career at Children’s Hospital in Detroit, before opening her own practice in Auburn Hills.
Dr. Samuels has now been a pediatrician for 22 years and has experienced significant societal shifts in parenting, culture, education and technology during her tenure. Despite these changes, one thing has not changed for her: the joy she derives from building relationships with her patients and families, “It is my greatest privilege, being a part of my children’s and family’s worlds, I learn from them just as much as they learn from me.”
Dr. Samuels understands how unique every child is. She actively practices acknowledging every patient’s uniqueness, she believes this has helped her build rapport with patients and families and ultimately foster community beyond her practice doors. Dr. Samuels is passionate about taking what she’s learned and experienced in the clinical setting, applying it to the work she does beyond the office. She is a pillar in her community, and has served on varied committees, boards and councils over the years. She gets involved more broadly, knowing her experience, credibility as a pediatrician and exercising her voice in advocacy, “can change the experiences of children for the better.”
When asked what she hopes her legacy will be, Samuels shared that her hope is that her patients and families can say she was always there for them, no matter what. Ultimately, she says, she hopes her patients feel and know, “whatever little bit I could've done, I did.”
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MIAAP & MDHHS Issue Joint Letter on Immunizations | |
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MIAAP Member Dennis Cunningham Featured in Bridge & MLive Articles on Monkeypox & Polio
Back to school and monkeypox: How much should Michigan worry?
“People ask me in my job, ‘What keeps me up at night?’” said Dr. Dennis Cunningham, medical director of Infection Prevention at Henry Ford in Detroit. “Monkeypox is not even on that list.”
“I don't mean to trivialize it for the people who have it. It's horribly uncomfortable; it's embarrassing.”
But for all these reasons, if monkeypox spills into educational settings, its spread can be contained.
Read Full Bridge Article
Michigan kids are behind on vaccinations. Doctors worry diseases like polio could spread.
Dr. Dennis Cunningham recalls a whooping cough outbreak in the late 1990s while he was a resident in Philadelphia. Some hospital staff had cracked ribs from coughing.
“It was terrible. Everyone was just hacking up all the time even though we were trying to wear the masks. It was a nightmare. It is not a benign illness, and it can be quite frightening,” said Cunningham, a pediatrician and director of infection control and Prevention for Detroit-based Henry Ford Health.
Read Full MLive Article (subscription required)
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Annual Conference Topic of the Week!
Long COVID in Kids
Speaker: Ixsy Ramirez, MD
There is an ever-growing population of children with post-COVID syndrome and difficult to manage chronic symptoms. Knowing the spectrum of symptoms, where and how to get consultation is key to helping patients.
This presentation will discuss the literature in COVID in children, the experiences of patients who have been evaluated in our post-COVID syndrome clinic and help to provide local resources.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand common presentations of post-COVID syndrome
- Understand the spectrum of post-COVID syndrome
- Know your local resources
Register now!
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MIAAP Webinar Today:
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy Interventions for Adolescent Depressed Moods
Speaker: Colleen Cullinan, PhD
When: Today, August 19 - 12:00pm-1:00pm
Cost: Free for MIAAP Members
This webinar has been approved for 1 AOA Category 1-A credit and 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)TM.
Pediatricians often do not feel well-equipped to deliver brief interventions for children exhibiting depressed mood during well-visits or medication checks. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) offers several brief, evidence-based interventions that can be easily delivered in a 15-minute visit.
ACT interventions such as metaphors, defusion exercises, values clarification, and mindfulness activities may meet the need of PCPs in practice working with teen patients.
Register here
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Michigan Health Clinics Overwhelmed by Demand for Monkeypox Vaccine
With Michigan hitting just over 100 confirmed and probable monkeypox cases as of Wednesday, health care providers say they’re starting to split doses of the vaccine per the FDA’s advisory last week.
But given the limited vaccine supply and how overwhelmed health departments and clinics are right now, doctors say the focus still needs to be on the community that’s been hit hardest by the virus.
That’s primarily men who have sex with men and have multiple sex partners. But in Michigan, vaccine eligibility has also expanded to include anyone who has multiple sex partners, especially if they engage in “high risk” activity.
Read more
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Vaccination Rates Amongst Kids on the Decline in Michigan
Back to school is here, and in addition to buying new school clothes, backpacks and gear for sports, it's time to make sure your kids' immunizations are up to date.
Vaccinations continue to look different during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. There may be more questions about what is required, and how often shots need to be updated.
Vaccination rates for Michigan's youngest children have been slipping. It's a trend that started well before the pandemic, according to Oakland County Health Officer Calandra Green.
"I went back to 2016 and really for Oakland County as well as for much of the state, we've seen a decline," Green said.
Read more
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CDC: Bivalent COVID Vaccine Boosters Could be Available for Adolescents, Adults in September
A bivalent COVID-19 vaccine booster targeting the omicron variant could be available next month for children as young as 12 years.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released a guide to help clinicians and jurisdictions prepare for a fall booster campaign.
Both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna have created bivalent boosters in anticipation of a possible fall/winter virus surge. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advised the companies to use both the original SARS-CoV-2 strain and the omicron BA.4/5 spike protein. About 89% of the circulating strains are BA.5, and nearly all the rest are BA.4, according to the CDC.
Read more
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Michigan Pediatricians in the News | |
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Let’s Make It a Healthy School Year: Thoughts From a Pediatrician
It won't be long before children head back to the classroom to kick off another school year.
While parents need to make sure their child has all the school supplies they need to succeed, it is just as important to make sure they have a healthy start to the school year, according to Ascension Michigan. Pediatrician Jo S. May, MD, with Ascension St. Joseph Pediatrics in Tawas City recommends these tips to help your child stay healthy:
Read more
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Silvia Operti-Considine, MD, a Pediatrician with Kidz 1st Pediatrics
A devoted pediatrician, Dr. Operti-Considine sees patients at her private practice – Kidz 1st Pediatrics – in Rochester Hills, Michigan.
Originally from Argentina, she earned her undergraduate and medical degrees from the Universidad del Salvador in 1988. Upon relocating to the United States, she completed her internship and residency in pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan in 1994.
Read more
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Kids Struggle to get Effective Asthma Treatments in hotspots of Detroit, Wayne County
Dr. Elliott Attisha, a pediatrician and school health consultant, said early intervention matters because missed school days add up fast.
"Asthma can really interfere with the learning environment; it can impact concentration of the student," he said. "We know that the more days you miss school, the more that's going to impact your learning."
Read more
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Spectrum Health Explains Importance of Immunizing Children, not just for COVID
Recent statistics in Michigan and across the US are showing that since the pandemic, regular childhood vaccination rates are down. Dr. Hanna Jaworski, division chief of pediatrics at Spectrum Health, shares more about this trend and why parents should make sure all vaccinations are up to date.
Read more
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PrIMES Mentorship Program
WePrIMES is recruiting current medical students, residents, fellows, and attendings with less than 3 years experience to be Mentors for PrIMES. Help increase the diversity in medical school students by being a Mentor, follow the link below to apply today! Recruitment for this cycle will continue through August 2022
Apply here
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AAP Infection Prevention and Control Quality Improvement ECHO – Now Recruiting!
The American Academy of Pediatrics is recruiting primary care practice teams to join a 3-month learning collaborative aimed at improving knowledge, skills and self-efficacy around infection prevention and control strategies. Primary care clinicians and their teams will participate in 2 sessions per month: 1 learning session and 1 quality improvement (QI) session, applying QI methodology from October – December 2022 for a total of 6 sessions. More details can be found on the attached program flyer. Preference will be given to pediatric practices from and/or serving rural and underrepresented populations.
Apply online!
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MI Chapter American Academy of Pediatrics
106 W. Allegan, Suite 310, Lansing, MI 48933
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