Jody R. Murph

MD, MS, FAAP
Biography

Jody Murph, Associate Director of the NHLP Resource Center, received her medical degree from the Medical College of South Carolina and completed her postgraduate training at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC). She is currently Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine at UIHC, and she holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Iowa College of Public Health.

Her clinical interests are preventative behavioral issues, issues related to emotional health and development of children and adolescents, and childhood immunization issues. Her research has focused upon infectious diseases among children in child care centers and her recent publications in peer reviewed journals have dealt with this subject.

Dr. Murph has engaged in extensive child advocacy activities. At the local level she was a founder of Healthy Kids Community Care (HKCC), a free medical clinic for students in the Iowa City Community School District and their younger siblings, and she currently serves on the HKCC Advisory Board. She also is a member of Iowa City Community School District Wellness Committee which develops strategies to address prevention and health issues such as obesity,

At the state level, she serves as a member of the Governance Committee of the Early Childhood Iowa (ECI) Initiative, which developed an Iowa Early Childhood Strategic Plan and seeks to address issues of children birth to age 5, focusing primarily on health. She also is a member of the Iowa Advisory Board of Reach Out and Read (ROR) which is working to establish every primary health care provider’s office as an early literacy site for children 6 months to 5 years of age.

A major focus of her professional advocacy activities is directed at improving the oral health of children. She is a member of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry/Head Start Dental Home Initiative Advisory Board: She also secured grant funding and worked with faculty at the UI College of Dentistry to develop and implement training for primary health care providers (PCPs) to enable PCPs to provide a dental home to vulnerable, high risk children.

She is an active member of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) at both the state and national levels: She is Immediate Past President of the AAP, and is a member of the Iowa AAP Executive Board. She serves on the APP National Committee on Federal Government Affairs and she previously was a member of the AAP National Committee on Early Childhood, Adoption and Dependent Care.

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