SYRACUSE — Dr. Gregory Conners, executive director of Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital in Syracuse, has been appointed chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ (AAP) committee on pediatric emergency medicine. Conners’ four-year term as chair began July 1, Upstate Medical University announced. The committee addresses the needs of children and adolescents in the access to […]
SYRACUSE — Dr. Gregory Conners, executive director of Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital in Syracuse, has been appointed chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ (AAP) committee on pediatric emergency medicine.
Conners’ four-year term as chair began July 1, Upstate Medical University announced.
The committee addresses the needs of children and adolescents in the access to and delivery of pediatric emergency care.
Besides his role as Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital executive director, Conners is also professor and chair of Upstate Medical University’s department of pediatrics.
“On behalf of Upstate Medical University, I congratulate Dr. Conners on this important appointment. He has distinguished himself as a national leader on pediatric emergency medicine and his leadership and insight on this important issue will benefit all pediatric patients greatly,” Dr. Lawrence Chin, dean of Upstate Medical’s College of Medicine, said.
The AAP committee on pediatric emergency medicine uses its resources “to foster national programs and policy designed to heighten professional and public knowledge of such issues as prehospital care of children, EMS, pediatric life support, hospital resources for the delivery of pediatric emergency care, including essential equipment supplies, staff and protocols,” according to the Academy.
The AAP, an organization of 67,000 pediatricians, issues guidance and policies on numerous nationally important issues related to pediatric care. The AAP recently announced that it “strongly advocates that all policy considerations for the coming school year should start with a goal of having students physically present in school.”
As a member of the committee on pediatric emergency medicine from 2010 through 2016, Conners was part of the process that provided guidance on pediatric-observation units and “stressed the importance” of good communications between an urgent-care center where a child was treated and the child’s “medical home.”
The committee’s decision-making process on policies and guidelines often involves discussion and input from various other organizations, such as groups representing emergency physicians, emergency department nurses, and emergency-medical-services personnel, Conners noted.
Conners joined Upstate Medical University in March 2019, from Children’s Mercy Hospitals & Clinic, University of Missouri, Kansas City School of Medicine, where he served in a variety of roles, including associate chair of pediatrics and director of the division of emergency medicine.