NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Square Roots, a mission-driven company focused on pregnancy health and wellness, announced the appointment of Dr. Judith Palfrey and Senator Olympia Snowe as the Co-chairs of the Square Roots Advisory Board.
Dr. Palfrey, a new addition to the Advisory Board, has an extensive record of leadership in pediatrics, having served both as the Executive Director of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! Program as well as the President of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Senator Snowe, an existing Square Roots Advisory Board Member, will work with Dr. Palfrey to jointly lead the Square Roots Advisory Board’s efforts to redesign wellness in pregnancy and develop new standards in healthy pregnancy and networks to share the best practices.
“Few people have had a greater impact on the health of children across America than Dr. Judith Palfrey. Throughout her remarkable career, Dr. Palfrey has combined research with resolve, ensuring that leading academic breakthroughs translate into action at the community level,” said Morad Fareed, Founder and CEO of Square Roots. “Her healthcare expertise, working in unison with Senator Snowe, who has unmatched experience serving our country as a bipartisan leader advancing women’s issues, will be incredibly valuable to Square Roots as we work to build new models for improving the health and wellness of mothers and babies.”
Dr. Palfrey is currently the Director of the Global Pediatrics Program and Senior Associate in Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital. She is also the T. Berry Brazelton Professor of Pediatrics and Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a Professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
“My life’s work has been committed to empowering communities and families to advance the health of children. The success of that mission requires a multifaceted, multi-stakeholder approach, which is why I am so drawn to the work of Square Roots,” said Dr. Judith Palfrey. “I am pleased to unite with my Co-chair, Senator Snowe, to lend our collective expertise to lead the Square Roots Advisory Board together on this important initiative.”
“As a national leader in children’s health, Dr. Palfrey has changed the lives of thousands,” said Senator Olympia Snowe. “Improving maternal health outcomes requires both influencing policy changes and informing communities – endeavors for which Dr. Palfrey brings tremendous experience. I am delighted to Co-chair the Square Roots Advisory Board with her.”
Senator Snowe served in the U.S. Senate from 1995-2013 and as a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1979-1995. She is the first woman in American history to serve in both houses of a state legislature and both houses of Congress. While in the House, she Co-chaired the bipartisan Congressional Caucus on Women’s issues for ten years. Senator Snowe built a reputation as one of the Congress’ leading centrists, Co-chairing the Senate Centrist Coalition from 1999-2006. In 2005 she was named the 54th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine. In 2006 Time Magazine named her one of the top ten U.S. Senators. Snowe is also the founder and honorary Board Chair of the Olympia Snowe Women’s Leadership Institute, a 501(C)(3) public charity established to elevate the confidence and aspirations of high school girls.
As a national leader in child health, Dr. Palfrey was one of the initial authors of Bright Futures, the preventive guidelines, which are now incorporated into the Affordable Care Act. Dr. Palfrey founded Project School Care, an innovative outreach program to study the needs of children assisted by medical technology and to enable them to attend school. She also developed the Pediatric Alliance for Coordinated Care, a clinical service model that delivered community-based, family-centered primary care to Medicaid-enrolled children with disabilities. She has served as the Principal Investigator on Opening Doors, an NIDRR funded national center that seeks to improve services to children from traditionally underserved communities. Dr. Palfrey was the 2010-2011 President of the American Academy of Pediatrics. She was a strong advocate for the passage of the Affordable Care Act. During her tenure as President of the American Academy of Pediatrics, she worked to ensure that full access to a medical home was in reach for all children.
Dr. Palfrey is the author of a number of scientific articles, the books, Community Child Health: An Action Plan for Today (1995) and Child Health In America: Making A Difference Through Advocacy (2006), and is Co-author of the Disney Encyclopedia of Baby and Childcare (1999). A 1967 graduate of Radcliffe, Judy was chief of the Division of General Pediatrics at Children's Hospital Boston for 25 years and has recently retired from that role to direct the Childcare International Pediatric Center at Boston Children’s Hospital.
View the full Square Roots Advisory Board.
About Square Roots
Square Roots (www.squareroots.com) is a mission-driven company focused on pregnancy health and wellness. By integrating new technology and scientific findings with intelligent partnerships from medicine to policy to maternal care takers, Square Roots brings needed solutions and resources to the most critical period of life: our beginning. We identify the highest impact programs and tools that have a proven health impact for mothers and coordinate the distribution of these programs and tools between academia, policy, public agencies, and private companies.
Follow Square Roots on Twitter with @SquareRootsLife and on Facebook and Instagram with @SquareRootsBirth.
