Lisa J. Chamberlain named chair of pediatrics and director of Steele Children’s Research Center

The University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson has appointed Lisa J. Chamberlain, MD, MPH, as chair of the Department of Pediatrics and director of the Steele Children’s Research Center, effective March 1.

A nationally recognized pediatrician and health equity leader, Dr. Chamberlain currently serves as professor of pediatrics and associate chair for policy and community engagement in Stanford University’s Department of Pediatrics. She is director of the Office for Child Health Equity and associate faculty director of the Stanford Center on Early Childhood. Her leadership includes founding Stanford’s Pediatric Advocacy Track and co-founding the California Collaborative, which trains pediatricians nationwide.

Nationally, Dr. Chamberlain serves on committees of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Pediatric Society, including the AAP Child Health Financing Committee and the national Pediatric Policy Committee, and serves on the board of advisers for Zero to Three. She is an elected member of the American Pediatric Society and serves on its executive board.

Dr. Chamberlain’s academic work focuses on reducing pediatric health and educational disparities through health services research and policy engagement. As a Stanford Harman Faculty Scholar, her research examines the evidence base for “Kinder Ready” clinics through team science that integrates early childhood education, pediatrics, epidemiology and economics to advance child health equity. Her work, particularly focused on children with medical complexity, has informed Title V reform efforts to expand access to care in California, and she recently led a national coalition advocating for full federal funding of the National Institutes of Health and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

An accomplished scholar, Dr. Chamberlain has authored more than 95 peer-reviewed publications and has maintained sustained extramural funding throughout her career. Her honors include the inaugural Child Advocacy Award from Stanford’s Department of Pediatrics, the American Pediatric Association Advocacy Award, and the George Armstrong Lecture Award, presented at the 2025 Pediatric Academic Societies meeting.

Dr. Chamberlain earned her medical degree from the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson, followed by internship and residency training at Stanford’s Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. She completed a Master of Public Health in maternal and child health at the University of California, Berkeley, and a general pediatric academic fellowship through the joint UCSF-Stanford program.

Her return to the college represents a welcome homecoming to the institution where her medical career began.