The 2019 Millie and Richard Brock Lecture in Pediatrics: “Health of Immigrant Children and the Reasons Behind the Failure of Service Systems”

U.S. immigration policy and practices are in the headlines each day. How did we get to where we are today, where are policies going in the future, and how are children and immigrant families being affected? Join us for this revealing and insightful talk about the immigration crisis at the border and learn how the current system is causing harm to children’s health. Dr. Benard Dreyer will walk us through the immigrant experience and cover such topics as Zero Tolerance, Public Charge and the Flores Agreement, as well as the potential repercussions on nutrition, housing, education and mental health.

About the Speaker

Benard Dreyer, MD is a general and development-behavioral pediatrician who has spent his professional lifetime serving poor children and families. Professor of Pediatrics at NYU, he leads the Division of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics, is Director of Pediatrics at Bellevue Hospital, and also works as a hospitalist. He was Interim Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at NYU from 2004-2005 and from 2007-2008. He is a Past President of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), having served a one-year term as president in 2016. For over 30 years, he led a primary care program at Bellevue, including co-located mental and oral health services and clinics in homeless shelters. His research is focused on interventions in primary care to improve early childhood outcomes, including early brain development and obesity.

Dr. Dreyer has been AAP NY Chapter 3 President, and a member of the Committee on Pediatric Research and the Executive Committee of the Council on Communications and Media. He Co-Chaired the AAP Health Literacy Project Advisory Committee, including editing the AAP publication Plain Language Pediatrics. He has served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Section on LGBT Health and Wellness. As President-Elect, President, as Immediate Past President, and now as a Past President he has taken a leadership role in the AAP’s Strategic Priority on Poverty and Child Health. He has been asked by the AAP to be the Medical Director of AAP Policies. The AAP publishes more than 80 policies, clinical reports, technical reports and clinical practice guidelines each year. He is also on a member of the AAP Task Force on Addressing Bias and Discrimination, and on the Executive Committee of the Pediatric Academic Societies. Dreyer was president of the Academic Pediatric Association (APA), and founded and chairs the APA Task Force on Childhood Poverty and the APA Research Scholars Program. He also hosts a weekly radio show on the Sirius XM Doctor Radio Channel, On Call for Kids.

About The Brock Lecture

The Brock Lecture was established by Millie and Richard Brock in 1987 on the 100th anniversary of The Academy’s Section on Pediatrics to select a nationally recognized leader in pediatrics to deliver the annual Brock Lecture. The Brock Lecture held at the Academy will address issues concerned with providing care for underserved children.