David Steinhorn, MD, FAAP, professor of pediatrics, GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences, recently received the 2019 Pioneer in Integrative Medicine Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) at the organization's annual meeting in New Orleans, La.
Steinhorn was nominated for his role as a worldwide leader on integrative approaches to pediatric hospice and palliative medicine and critical care medicine. In addition to his role at GW, he serves as the medical director of the PANDA Palliative Care Program in the Division of Critical Care at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C.
“I was very pleased to receive this recognition from my peers across the country,” said Dr. Steinhorn. “The mission of medicine is to provide humanistic, compassionate care to patients and their families, and it is greatly enhanced through integrative modalities.”
The award honors pioneers in pediatric integrative medicine. Through the award, the AAP hopes to raise awareness by publicly acknowledging key figures who have advocated for pediatrics complementary and alternative medicine research, education, and clinical care.
“This award recognizes that Western medicine must embrace other approaches to provide the most comprehensive care, which must include attention to the human beings inside the frail bodies we are charged with caring for,” Dr. Steinhorn said. “Western medicine often loses sight of the human reality underlying illness and recovery, tending to view illness solely as a biological process without much consideration for the spiritual and emotional costs of medical care.”
Under Dr. Steinhorn leadership, the PANDA Palliative Care now offers massage therapy, acupuncture and acupressure, aromatherapy, and healing touch to patients.
A founding member of the AAP’s Section on Hospice and Palliative Medicine, he has been directing pediatric palliative programs for more than 20 years. Prior to GW and Children's National, he was a professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University in Chicago, Ill., and medical director of the Bridges Palliative Care Program at Children’s Memorial Hospital.
Dr. Steinhorn is widely published in peer-reviewed journals, including in Palliative Care for Infants and Children and Adolescents. A frequent lecturer nationally and internationally, he holds several patents.He also has training in Peruvian shamanism and energy medicine. He is the chapter author on Integrative Medicine in the Oxford Textbook of Pediatric Palliative Care as well as lead author of several other chapters in the field.
This is not the first time Dr. Steinhorn earned an award from AAP. In 2011 and 2018, he received the AAP Service Award. Other honors include being named a Top Doctor in Northern Virginia Magazine in 2017 and 2019.
Contributors: George Washington University School of Medicine an Health Sciences, Capital Caring Health, and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization
