Debra Esernio-Jenssen

Debra Esernio-Jenssen is currently working at Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital in the field of Child Protective Medicine. She is also currently the Medical Director of the John Van Brakle Child Advocacy Center. In 2009 she was certified by the American Board of Pediatrics in Child Abuse Pediatrics. From 1998 to April 2010, she was the Director of the Child Protection Center at Schneider Children’s Hospital and the Chair of the Child Protection Consultation Team at Long Island Jewish Hospital in New Hyde Park, New York. She graduated from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in 1982 and completed her pediatric residency at North Shore University in Manhasset, NY where she was selected to be Chief Resident in Pediatrics in 1985. In 2007, she was invited to join the Ray Helfer Society. She is a member of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children and has a special interest in prevention. Debra has also produced a domestic violence and abusive head trauma public service announcement that has been shown on the big screen before every University of Florida home football game. Debra is recognized both nationally and internationally for her work in child abuse and child abuse prevention.