Description: In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Amy Houtrow. Dr. Houtrow is a pediatric rehabilitation medicine physician, a health services researcher for children with disabilities, and a person with childhood-onset disabilities. In this episode, she joins Dr. Poullos to discuss her career path, her research, and her advice for aspiring healthcare providers with disabilities. 

Key Words: pediatrics, education, physical disability, Contra dystrophia calcium cans congenita, scoliosis, visual disability, research, mobility, lung disease, public policy

Bio: 

Amy Houtrow, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., is a professor and the Endowed Chair for Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She is also Chief of the Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine Services at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh (CHP). Dr. Houtrow earned her medical degree at Michigan State University and completed a combined residency program in Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. She is board certified in Pediatrics, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine. She completed a Master’s degree in Public Health in Health Policy and Management at the University of Michigan and earned her Ph.D. with distinction in Medical Sociology at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) while also serving as faculty there. Her dissertation won an international award for research on childhood disability. Her research has focused on health care access and outcomes for children and youth with disabilities with special emphasis on health equity and the impact of childhood disability on families. She has authored over 140 manuscripts for high-impact medical journals, written and edited textbooks, developed training programs for young physicians, and she is a sought-after speaker for conferences nationally and internationally. Her work has repeatedly garnered national media attention and informed public health policy. In 2018 she was inducted into the National Academy of Medicine, one of the highest honors in medicine.

Transcript