The F. Edwards Rushton CATCH Award recognizes an outstanding CATCH grantee whose CATCH project has developed over time and expanded beyond its original goals to positively impact child health.  

Named in honor of Francis Edwards Rushton, Sr, MD, FAAP, the founder of CATCH, this award recognizes pediatricians who have advanced the medical home and children's access to health care and other needed services through a CATCH project.​ 

About F. Edwards Rushton 

Dr. F. Edwards Rushton, Sr. is remembered as the “father of CATCH”. When he joined the AAP ​staff in 1992, he started a small program focused on giving seed money to community pediatricians to start projects using local resources and partnerships to address local child health issues. During the past two decades, the CATCH program has evolved into one of the most vital programs in the Academy. To date over 1800 grants have been awarded, and many lives have been impacted because of Dr Rushton’s dream. This vision also expanded internationally, resulting in the I-CATCH program. His motto, “One pediatrician can make a difference,” continues to inspire. This award will keep Dr. Rushton’s spirit alive. 

2024 Award Recipient – Stephanie Denton, MD, FAAP

Dr. Denton co-founded a nonprofit called Alabama Game Changers (AGC) to assist children with learning challenges, including dyslexia.   Her two CATCH projects “Attacking Illiteracy in Underserved Poverty Areas” and “Applying Neurodevelopmental Models to Literacy Intervention” paved the way for AGC to open a multi-disciplinary center for Alabama children who struggle scholastically.  Now in its 10th year, AGC is reshaping literacy efforts in Alabama and building bridges between the educational and medical communities.  Dr. Denton serves on the Alabama Department of Education’s Dyslexia Advisory Council and as the state’s Chapter CATCH Facilitator.  

2023 Award Recipient –Beth Volin, MD

Dr. Volin has been a champion for supporting the needs of children experiencing homelessness in the Chicago area for decades.  Her 1996 CATCH Planning grant evolved into Kids-SHIP  – Kids Shelter Improvement Project - to address the medical, psychological, and educational needs of children and families who live in homeless shelters. Over the years, the program has evolved and adapted to current circumstances, broadening its scope to provide shelter-based care, flu and COVID vaccine clinics, expanded services through occupational therapy and speech/language pathology, and support for those seeking asylum in the US. Kids-SHIP also serves as key program to introduce students and residents across several medical departments to community pediatrics, with the hope of inspiring the next generations to continue this important work. Dr Volin also served many years as a Chapter CATCH Facilitator.

2022 Award Recipient - Yvette L. Piovanetti, MD, FAAP

Dr. Piovanetti’s 2016 CATCH Implementation project “Smart Start” helped create a prenatal educational program for uninsured mothers to reduce disparities among breastfeeding mothers in her community in Puerto Rico.  Dr. Piovanetti also received a CATCH grant in 1994 which led to a Healthy Tomorrows Partnership for Children grant focused on breastfeeding, and decades of work with Proyecto Lacta which recently has been integrated into Ashford Hospital. Dr Piovanetti also serves as the director of Centro Pediátrico de Lactancia y Crianza, a hospital based breastfeeding clinic where pediatric and multidisciplinary training on breastfeeding best practices throughout Puerto Rico are organized. Dr Piovanetti also served in multiple chapter and national AAP leadership roles, including PR Chapter CATCH Facilitator and the AAP National Nominating Committee.

2021 Award Recipient - Adrienne Wallace Carmack, MD, FAAP

Dr. Carmack’s 2008 CATCH Planning project “Integrated Health Care for Foster Children” focused on investigating how to make health services more accessible to children in foster care.  She spearheaded advocacy for children in foster care by establishing a foster care committee in the Maine AAP chapter, impacted state legislation, and now serves as Medical Director of the Maine Office of Child and Family Services.

2020 Award Recipient - Jennifer Plumb, MD, MPH

Dr. Plumb’s 2015 CATCH Planning project “Overdose Death Prevention: Naloxone Rescue Kits” involved disseminating information about the use of overdose rescue kits, and lead to the creation of Utah Naloxone – a program which provides education and distribution of naloxone rescue kits to community organizations and individuals. This program has led to a more caring and compassionate view of people at risk for opioid overdose death and has resulted in thousands of lives saved with almost 10,000 reversals reported.  Utah was fourth in the nation for overdose deaths in 2012; with 2021 data from the CDC, Utah is now 42nd in the nation for overdose deaths.

2019 Award Recipient - Karen E. Schetzina, MD, MPH, FAAP

Dr. Schetzina has received multiple CATCH grants to improve the care for children and families in the Appalachian region of Northeast Tennessee.  Her 2006 CATCH Planning grant “Breastfeeding Promotion as a Bridge Between Obstetric and Pediatric Medical Homes” and the 2008 CATCH Implementation grant “Lactation and Infant Nutrition Coordination (LINC) Program” helped to increase breastfeeding rates as well as access to pediatric care for newborns.  She also received a Healthy Active Living Grant that evolved into a Healthy Tomorrows Partnership for Children grant project, ReadNPlay, providing a monthly support group to parents to promote healthy nutrition, activity, literacy and safe play. Dr. Schetzina’s 2017 CATCH Planning grant and 2020 CATCH Implementation grant helped to identify opportunities to prevent Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) in clinical, educational, and community settings and develop an integrated care approach for families affected by antenatal drug use/exposure.  She also has mentored a pediatric resident who received a CATCH grant.  

2018 Award Recipient - I. Leslie Rubin, MD, FAAP 

Dr. Rubin’s 1999 CATCH Planning project “Metropolitan Atlanta Cerebral Palsy Needs Assessment Project” helped illuminate the causal connection between social and economic disadvantage and disabilities in children, and eventually led to him forming the Institute for the Study of Disadvantage and Disability (ISDD). He started a program called “Break the Cycle of Disadvantage and Disability” based on the model of the CATCH Program – learn more at https://www.breakthecycleprogram.org/.  Dr Rubin also was the recipient of 2 Healthy Tomorrows Partnership for Children grants – one to develop a medical home for homeless children called Healthcare Without Walls, and another to provide a medical and mental health home for children of homeless veterans, called Support Our Heroes’ Kids. Dr Rubin currently serves as District CATCH Facilitator after serving over 17 years as a Chapter CATCH Facilitator.  

2017 Award Recipient - Diego Chaves-Gnecco, MD, MPH

Dr. Chaves-Gnecco is founder and program director of Salud Para Niños (Health for the Children), created in 2002 at UPMC Children’s Hospital as the first pediatric bilingual clinic in Pittsburgh and further grew from his 2004 CATCH Resident grant to increase access to medical homes for Spanish-speaking children who do not qualify for privately- or publicly- funded US health insurance.  Salud Para Niños offers culturally and linguistically competent primary care and immunizations for children and families as well as activities oriented toward prevention and empowering community members about their own health. The clinic celebrated 20 years of service in 2022.

2016 Award Recipient - Carole Stipelman, MD, MPH, FAAP

Dr. Stipelman’s 2009 CATCH Implementation project “AmeriCorps Workers as Medicaid/SCHIP Case Managers” involved training AmeriCorps Utah Healthcare Corps (UHC) volunteers.  She trained UHC members to provide individualized enrollment case management to parents of children who were eligible for Medicaid/SCHIP.  This work led to other grants and resulted in children who were previously uninsured becoming insured and accessing preventative care at higher rates.  She participated in the formation of Take Care Utah, a program that helps Utahns access health insurance coverage and navigate the health care system. Dr Stipelman also served as a District CATCH Facilitator.

2015 Award Recipient - Joan Jeung, MD, FAAP

Dr. Jeung’s 2011 CATCH Planning project “Health Care Access for Asian Refugees” studied the access that local Asian refugee groups had to quality health care in her community of East Oakland, CA, and the barriers to care. The project also initiated coalition building with groups serving these communities which built relational and referral networks to enable effective outreach and services to these communities.  This work helped lead to a Healthy Tomorrows Partnership for Children funded project “Empowering Mothers Initiative.”

2014 Award Recipient - Tom Faber, MD, MPH, FAAP 

The Zuni Youth Enrichment Project (ZYEP), a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the health and wellness of Zuni children, was founded by Tom Faber, MD, FAAP after receiving a 2007 CATCH planning grant, which established an extremely successful summer camp. Programs also include weekend and holiday activities, adolescent leadership development programs, and several sports leagues.  To better understand the needs of Zuni children and youth and to identify strategies for addressing these challenges, Dr. Faber received a 2012 CATCH Planning Grant to fund the Zuni Children’s Assessment of Needs (CAN) initiative which explored the key issues of childhood obesity, teen pregnancy, suicide and substance abuse. The Zuni Youth Enrichment Project is a Zuni-led nonprofit that offers year-round youth programs to more than 1000 youth annually. Dr Faber also serves as a current Chapter CATCH Facilitator.

2013 Award Recipient - Marsha Raulerson, MD, FAAP

Dr. Raulerson was on the original State Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) commission in Alabama, which established the first CHIP program in the country. Dr. Raulerson first received a 1997 CATCH Planning grant, “Three Steps for Teens,” to help enroll adolescents (ages 15–18) in the first phase of Alabama’s implementation of Title XXI State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Three Steps for Teens built collaborations to help identify eligible teens in Escambia and Conecuh counties, successfully enroll them in the Medicaid program, and link them to an appropriate medical home. She was later awarded a 2005 CATCH Planning grant, “Telemedicine to Provide Psychiatry Services to Rural Alabama” which focused on the possibility of using telemedicine to provide child psychiatrist’s care to children in rural Alabama.  The program was launched with the involvement of the local hospital, mental health providers at the local and state level, the county school system, Dr. Raulerson and her colleague Dr. Tom Vaughan. It has gone on to serve hundreds of children. Dr. Raulerson has held many leadership roles, including Alabama Chapter president, Chair of the AAP’s Committee on Federal Govern Affairs (COFGA), and president of Association of the State of Alabama (MASA), She founded the AAP Alabama Chapter-AAP Mental Health Coalition as well as the chapter’s Reach Out and Read program. Dr. Raulerson also is former District X CATCH Facilitator.

Last Updated

10/10/2023

Source

American Academy of Pediatrics