Dr. Phyllis R. Magrab

Dr. Phyllis R. Magrab, Professor of Pediatrics, Georgetown University, has dedicated her career to improving the quality of life for vulnerable children and their families.  For the past forty years she has provided service, conducted research, and trained future professionals in the care of children with chronic illnesses, disabilities and mental health needs and their families.  She has been Director of the Center for Child and Human Development, a major research and training and public policy program, since 1975 and also has been Chief of Pediatric Psychology since 1969.  Dr. Magrab has written/edited ten major books as well as numerous articles and chapters that reflect her personal commitment and philosophy of caring.

She was one of the founders of the field of pediatric psychology and her text, Psychological Management of Pediatric Problems, represents one of the first works in the field that established its academic presence.  She received the Distinguished Contributions Award from the American Psychological Association, Society of Pediatric Psychology for her efforts in 1985.

Dr. Magrab has contributed significantly to the field of training clinical psychologists and has served as chairperson of both committees and conferences that have further defined the field.  For these contributions, she received the Distinguished Service Award from the Division of Clinical Psychology of the American Psychological Association in 1991. In 1999, she was honored by Georgetown University for her teaching when she received the inaugural Estelle Ramey Medical Women Faculty Award, a tribute to her commitment to sharing knowledge and creating a community of caring professionals.

Over the past two decades Dr. Magrab has been actively involved in developing public policy to insure society's commitment to children and youth with special needs.  She was one of the pioneers in the field of maternal and child health and children's mental health to establish community-based, family-centered systems of care for children and youth with disabilities, chronic medical conditions and mental health needs.  She has consulted with professionals and public health leaders in practically every state in this country around developing policies and implementing systems change towards this goal.  She was the recipient of the Surgeon General's Award for Distinguished Service for this work in 1988 by Surgeon General C. Everett Koop and, also, was appointed by President Reagan to the Maternal and Child Health Research Committee. She received John C. Mac Queen Award from the Association of Maternal and Child Health in 2002.  In the early 1990's she was asked to work with the Ministries of Health in Hungary and Czechoslovakia to apply these concepts to the decentralization of health care that was taking place in Central and Eastern Europe.  In connection with these efforts, Dr. Magrab was one of the founders of the early childhood, democracy building programs, later named Step by Step, in Central and Eastern Europe with the Soros Foundation. One of her more recent books, Where Children Live, is a compendium of effective community solutions to serving children and their families, both nationally and internationally. Additionally, Dr. Magrab has had a special interest in teenage pregnancy and was a co-founder of the Best Friends program with Elayne Bennett and Alma Powell. 

Currently, Dr. Magrab is actively involved in global issues related to social exclusion, education and development, and literacy - informing, guiding and developing policy and practice.  She is working with UNESCO on their agenda of Education For All (EFA) and with the OECD on policies for serving at-risk children in their communities.  She is especially concerned with the social justice issues surrounding global initiatives that relate to children and the human rights agenda. In 2006 Dr. Magrab was named to a UNESCO  Chair  to honor this work and to establish her continuing role in implementing EFA and the UN/UNESCO literacy agenda.