In the wake of the murder of George Floyd, the mobilization of the Black Lives Matter movement, standing with our AAPI community against anti-Asian hate and racism, and advocating for our LGBTQIA+ community, AAP-CA3 amplified its call to dismantle racist systems at every level and speak up about the profound impact racism and discrimination play on the health status of children and their families.

For the past two years, we had the pleasure of working with Dr. Camille Robinson as AAP-CA3’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Champion. With Dr. Robinson moving away from California, we are ecstatic to welcome Dr. Chandani DeZure to the position.

“I wanted to effect change where it mattered,” Dr. DeZure said about taking on the role as EDI Champion for AAP-CA3. “Maya Angelou once said, ‘Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.’ I want us to do better.”

Dr. DeZure is well-versed in topics surrounding anti-racism and pediatric health disparities, even giving national talks on the subjects.

“Being AAP-CA3’s EDI Champion is an opportunity to educate and engage pediatricians and the community,” Dr. DeZure said. “There have always been health disparities in medicine that needed addressing and we are now getting a chance to fix them, which I don’t expect to be easy, but definitely worthy of our strongest efforts.”

Dr. DeZure is a board-certified pediatrician who specializes in caring for children from birth to 21 years of age. Splitting her time between Palomar Health Medical Group in Poway and Stanford Medicine Children’s Health/Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital in Palo Alto, Dr. DeZure is also a Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Stanford School of Medicine. Her experience and expertise include caring for:

• Children in an outpatient clinic setting
• Newborns in well-baby nursery
• Sick newborns in neonatal ICU
• Sick pediatric patients in the acute care units
• Neonates who require resuscitation at birth

“I hope to see a more equitable world for our patients, families, and ourselves,” Dr. DeZure said. “Ultimately, it will lead to better health outcomes for everyone.”

We hope you will please join us in welcoming her and enjoy learning more about her as she steps into her role as EDI Champion!