Event Description:  In this talk, Dr. Leila DeWitt will be discussing the impact of inpatient food insecurity on pediatric health and evaluating the potential ethical responsibility for health systems to respond to his health-related social need in children and their families.

Presenter:
Dr. Leila DeWitt is a pediatric hospitalist and food insecurity researcher. Prior to starting her medical career in pediatrics and research, she attended Wake Forest University for undergraduate and graduate school, completing a Masters in Bioethics and proceeded to medical school in South Carolina. She returned home to Wake Forest for pediatrics residency training and clinically practices as a pediatric hospitalist at Brenner Children’s Hospital, where she also serves as Associate Section Chief for Pediatric Hospital Medicine. Additionally, she serves as an Associate Program Director for the Wake Forest Pediatrics Residency Program. Her research focuses on food insecurity experienced by pediatric patients and their families while admitted to hospital, in addition to the connection of hospitalized pediatric patients to federal nutrition benefits. She and her research partners have worked to build an inpatient food pantry and developed an inpatient food insecurity screening (IFI) tool. Findings from her pilot IFI work contributed to the implementation of a caregiver meal tray program, allowing caregivers with IFI access to free meals while their children are admitted to the hospital.

This interdisciplinary activity is free, however, you must pre-register by 10 AM (ET) on June 18 to be able to attend.