Dr. Lisa Chamberlain to Lead University of Arizona Steele Children’s Research Center 

Alum Appointed to Chair UA College of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics 

The University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson appointed Dr. Lisa J. Chamberlain 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, Chamberlain was professor of pediatrics and associate chair for policy and community engagement in Stanford University’s Department of Pediatrics. She was director of the Office for Child Health Equity and associate faculty director of the Stanford Center on Early Childhood. She also founded Stanford’s Pediatric Advocacy Track and co-founded the California Collaborative, which trains pediatricians nationwide.

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. She is an elected member of the American Pediatric Society and was recently named 2026-27 president-elect.

Her academic work focuses on reducing pediatric health and educational disparities through health services research and policy. As a Stanford Harman Faculty Scholar, her research examined the evidence base for “Kinder Ready” clinics through team science.

Her work, which focused on children with medical complexity, 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.

Chamberlain has authored more than 95 peer-reviewed publications. 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.

Chamberlain’s appointment is a homecoming. She 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 her MPH in maternal and child health at the University of California, Berkeley, and a general pediatric academic fellowship through the joint UCSF-Stanford program.

Photo courtesy The University of Arizona College of Medicine