Stephanie Lovinsky-Desir, MD, MS
Associate Professor of Pediatrics in Environmental Health Sciences
Chief, Pediatric Pulmonary Division
Three statements about you – two true, one false.
- I was a cheerleader for 16 years and worked as a cheerleading instructor.
- I have lived in New York my whole life.
- I let my children skip the last day of school to go to the Knicks NBA Championship parade.
Give us your ‘elevator pitch’ biography.
I am a pediatric pulmonologist and environmental health scientist who is passionate about addressing pediatric health disparities. My research focuses on understanding social and environmental factors that give rise to disparate exposures and outcomes, particularly for children with respiratory diseases. I have worked closely with a local community group in New York City to bring environmental justice research and advocacy to young people living in New York City. I have also worked on committees within the ATS and the EPA to address health equity and child environmental health more nationally.
What would you tell yourself as an Early Career Professional?
I think it is really important to follow your passions and stay true to yourself. Oftentimes our mentors try to steer us into safer directions, perhaps where there is more funding available at the time or where there is greater likelihood for success. That wisdom and guidance is critically important. However, it is equally important to make sure that you are putting your personal spin on whatever you do, and that personal spin is often rooted in and informed by your core values.
If you weren’t in medicine, and were in a different industry altogether, what would you be?
I have wanted to be a physician since I was five years old. So it’s really difficult for me to think of being anything other than what I am today. However, my goal for retirement is to open a yarn shop and knit all day long!
What is your favorite way to spend a day off?
As much as I complain about it, I love running around with my three children on the weekends, taking them to their various sports and extracurricular activities and cheering them on the sidelines. I am often the loudest parent in the crowd! But when I really need to decompress you can find me listening to an audiobook and knitting, my two favorite hobbies.
What areas of medicine are you most excited to see develop?
Currently, I am most excited about cross-disciplinary collaborations that bring social sciences, public health, public policy and law together with data science and medicine. So many of the factors that contribute to health disparities in the United States cannot be solved by prescriptions and medical therapies alone. We need to think bigger and work outside of our silos to really figure out how to affect lasting change for the problems that we see within our exam rooms.
What is one advancement in your field you’d like to see in your career?
If we could begin to close the disparity gap for asthma prevalence and morbidity in the United States it would be wonderful. There are so many factors that contribute to this gap, including environmental conditions, poverty, and other social determinants of health. Therefore, closing this gap requires a shift towards addressing root causes, many of which are rooted in systemic racism. A lot of work needs to be done in these spaces. And I am hopeful that our generation of clinicians, scientists and advocates can help move this work forward.
Which statement (in the first question) was false?
Number 2 was false. I lived outside of New York for only 4 years of college when I lived in Philadelphia and attended LaSalle University (where I was a cheerleader!).
Dr. Lovinsky-Desir is Chair of the ATS Health Equity & Diversity Committee and a member of the Council of ATS. Previously she was a member of the Assembly on PEDS Program Committee and Chair of the Assembly on PEDS Executive Committee.