Upstate Golisano Children's Hospital physician Alicia Pekarsky, MD, is being honored for her years of dedication to the McMahon Ryan Child Advocacy Center, which works with the community to heal abused children.

Pekarsky will receive the Catherine Senska-Haas Distinguished Service to Abused Children Award at the 15^th Pinwheel Ball at the OnCenter April 4. The award is given to an individual who has demonstrated exemplary dedication in the care, treatment, or investigation of child abuse. Among her many roles serving children, Pekarsky is currently the co-medical director of the McMahon/Ryan Child Advocacy Center.

“Dr. Pekarsky has dedicated the past 20 years to providing exceptional care and unwavering support to the children of Onondaga County,” said McMahon Ryan Executive Director Erin Bates. “Her expertise, compassion, and commitment are deeply felt by our multidisciplinary team and the families who rely on her care. It is truly an honor to celebrate Dr. Pekarsky for her years of service, dedication, and advocacy.”

Pekarsky was one of the first physicians in the country to be certified in Child Abuse Pediatrics. She earned her medical degree from Upstate in 2002. After completing her pediatric residency in 2005 at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia, she returned to Upstate. She completed a three-year fellowship in Child Abuse Pediatrics. In 2006, the American Board of Pediatrics approved Child Abuse Pediatrics as a new subspecialty in Pediatrics. She took the first board exam in this field in 2009 and subsequently became one of the first 191 American Board of Pediatrics-certified Child Abuse pediatricians.

She is currently an associate professor at Upstate Medical University as well as the director of Upstate Golisano Children's Hospital Child Abuse Pediatrics Division, co-medical director of the McMahon/Ryan Child Advocacy Center and program director for the Upstate Child Abuse Pediatrics fellowship.

Pekarsky is also the pediatric representative on the NYS Children’s Justice Task Force and the NYS Child Fatality Review team. She is currently working with Upstate Distinguished Teacher Professor Ann Botash, MD, a pioneer in this field, on a $750,000 grant with NYS Office of Children and Family Services to survey medical professionals working at child advocacy centers to assess their needs, provide education to multi-disciplinary teams and create a peer-review network. She was also recently elected to a 3-year term on the  Executive Council of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Child Abuse and Neglect.

Pekarsky has evaluated more than 4,000 children for suspected maltreatment and has received state, national and international recognition for her work in this field over the past 20 years. She has also maintained her board certification in general pediatrics and follows has a small panel of primary care patients.

Pekarsky, who grew up in Syracuse and attended Fayetteville-Manlius High School, said she always knew she wanted to pursue pediatrics. She found the growth, development and changing physiology of children fascinating but also knew that a career in pediatrics would mean working with family systems and taking care of families and that appealed to her. The family system approach to caring for children who are suspected to have been abused seemed a natural fit for her.

“I enjoy the complexity of working with interdisciplinary teams within the hospital, but I am also part of multidisciplinary teams that involve child protective services, law enforcement, the district attorney’s office, therapists and advocates,” she said. “I find it fascinating to work with each of these groups.”

Pekarsky said she finds her work challenging but rewarding and that her work started to hit home a lot more after she became a mother. She and her husband now have five teenagers.

“One of the most important things about working in the field of child abuse pediatrics is consistency,” she said. “It is important to show up every day, do the best you can and recognize you are making an impact, even though you often can’t make it perfect for every child and family.”

Pekarsky finds her role as an educator equally important and rewarding, training medical students, residents, and fellows in child abuse pediatrics. There are only 33 certified child abuse pediatrics fellowships across the country, many of which are unfilled, yet in Onondaga County alone, there are more than 4,000 reports annually to Child Protective Services (CPS).

Pekarsky has been recognized many times for her work, but is especially touched by this award from McMahon Ryan.

“I feel incredibly honored,” she said. “I did not get to meet the woman that the award is named after but I know she was a CPS worker who, by all accounts, was incredible. She was a wonderful human being and to win an award that’s named after her is something I will always cherish.”