To recognize PRIDE Month, we want to highlight a member of NASPGHAN who has made many contributions to our field, Dr. Kevin L Watson Jr.
Dr. Kevin Watson is a general pediatric gastroenterologist at Akron Children’s Hospital in Akron Ohio and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Northeast Ohio Medical University. He also devotes 50% of his time as a clinical informaticist and Assistant Director of Clinical Informatics at Akron Children’s Hospital. He is passionate about caring for children with all types of GI disorders such as IBD, eosinophilic esophagitis and functional GI disorders. In addition to practicing general GI, he is active in resident education serving on the residency education committee at Akron Children’s as well as being co-chair of the Medical Education Diversity Subcommittee. He has also been active in the NASPGHAN Technology committee as head of social media and co-host of Twitter PedsGIchat, as well as in the EHR Special interest group. Outside of medicine, he enjoys traveling, being a self-described foodie and spending time with his husband Rob, friends and family.
Current position and institution: General Pediatric Gastroenterologist, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Assistant Director of Clinical Informatics-Specialty Systems, Co-chair of Medical Education Diversity Subcommittee
Hometown: Virginia Beach, VA
Favorite GI disease: Hard to pick, but I’d have to say IBD. I’ve had the opportunity to form long term relationships with these patients and become like part of their families.
Hobbies: Bowling, volleyball, trying new restaurants
Favorite Vacation Spot: I’d have to say London has been the best thus far.
Favorite Activist: James Baldwin
Book You Recommend: I haven’t read a lot for pleasure recently but have read many mystery books by James Patterson and Tami Hoag
Best Career Advice You’ve Received: This actually comes from a quote from Maya Angelou “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
