Peter A. Gorski
Title: Director, Lawton and Rhea Chiles Center for Healthy Mothers and Babies, and Professor of Public Health, Pediatrics and Psychiatry,
Specialty: Infant and early childhood health, behavior and development, child development, social determinants of health, the relationship between social capital and children’s health and development, and creating working partnerships between community stakeholders, professionals and academic faculty and programs.
Contact Information:
University of South Florida
1002 E. Palm Ave
Tampa FL 33605
Phone: (813) 229-2884
E-mail this USF Collaborative Partner
Details:
Topics of expertise:
Infant and early childhood health, behavior and development, child development, social determinants of health, the relationship between social capital and children’s health and development, and creating working partnerships between community stakeholders, professionals and academic faculty and programs.
Educational and professional background:
B.A., Haverford College; M.D., Tufts University School of Medicine; M.P.A., Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government; Pediatric Residency - Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School; Child Development Fellowship – Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. Gorksi is the Chairperson for the National Committee on Early Childhood, Adoption and Dependent Care for the American Academy of Pediatrics. He is a member of the Academy’s Bright Futures Early Childhood Expert Panel. He is a member of the Allegany Franciscan Foundation Fellows, Allegany Franciscan Foundation Tampa Bay. Gorski serves on the editorial boards of International Pediatrics, Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, and Infant Mental Health Journal. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a member of the Ambulatory Pediatric Association, American Orthopsychiatry Association, National Perinatal Association, Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Society for Research in Child Development, and World Association for Infant Mental Health.
Describe some of your grants dealing with children, families or communities:
“I have directed biobehavioral research grants, service program development grants, professional education and training grants and community-based health services research grants. Subject areas have spanned from clinical practice research in pediatric care of newborn infants, original research looking at the impact of hospital environments on the recovery of high risk infants, collaborative training of child health and mental health professionals, and developmental and behavioral pediatric fellowship training grants . I am now the principal investigator of two large community-based research and development grants for improving and reducing disparities in maternal and child health services utilization and outcomes.”
What have you learned from your research that you wish every student knew?
Students should know that no one discipline holds all the keys to solving problems and promoting the healthy development of children. They must learn from the start of their careers to work effectively in collaboration with a variety of people who can contribute positive ideas, passion and skills.
What do you have to say about healthy development of children?
“Today as almost never before, the healthy development of children is inextricably linked with the intelligence and commitment of public policies and policy makers. The social health of our community creates primary resources for health. Access to health care is secondary to access to personal dignity, social and economic justice, peace and security as influences on the health and developmental outcome of children.”
What do you think is the biggest issue in your field right now and how would you address it?
1) We need to more seriously value children and the importance of childhood in creating a healthy, secure and leading society.
2) Protecting and promoting the health of young children, their families and communities is a primary influence in determining children’s potential for learning, working, capacity for relationship (caring) and taking responsibility for themselves and others. Reciprocally, human health - beginning in earliest infancy - is directly and continuously influenced by the child’s relationships with his social and physical environments. In other words, child health and development are 100 percent determined by nature and 100 percent determined by nurture. The two forces cannot be separated and they each continuously influence the well being of the other.
