Medical Response to Child Sexual Abuse

Rich Kaplan was a board-certified pediatric child abuse specialist at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Center for Safe and Healthy Children at the University of Minnesota Amplatz Children’s Hospital, and Associate Medical Director at Midwest Children’s Resource Center. He worked with victims of child abuse for over 30 years, first as a social worker and then, for the rest of his career, as a pediatrician. In addition to his work in general pediatrics, Dr. Kaplan was a pioneer in the field of child abuse pediatrics, being among the earliest certified in that specialty. He was internationally recognized as a leading figure in pediatric medicine and received many awards and honors for his dedication to the field. Dr. Kaplan passed away August 19, 2013.

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Joyce Adams has been involved in the medical evaluation of suspected sexual abuse since 1984, first as the director of the Sexual Abuse Evaluation Program at the University of Kansas Medical Center, and then at Valley Medical Center in Fresno, California. She has published extensively in the field of medical evaluation of suspected sexual abuse. She also speaks regularly at national and international meetings on topics of sexual abuse and adolescent gynecology, and is active as an expert witness in child sexual abuse cases nationwide. Currently, Joyce Adams is a Professor of Clinical Pediatrics in the Division of Primary Care Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine at UCSD. She is involved in teaching, clinical care, and research in several settings, including the Chadwick Center for Children and Families at Rady Children’s Hospital of San Diego. She also acts as a consultant for the Sexual Abuse Response Team and Child Abuse Program at Palomar and Pomerado Hospitals in San Diego County.

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Suzanne Starling is a professor of pediatrics at Eastern Virginia Medical School and medical director of the Child Abuse Program at Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters in Norfolk, Virginia, where she also directs the Child Abuse Pediatrics Fellowship program. She earned her medical degree from East Carolina University in Greenville, NC, completed her pediatrics residency in Greenville, South Carolina, and her fellowship in Child Abuse Pediatrics at the University of Colorado and The Children’s Hospital in Denver Colorado. She testifies nationally as an expert witness in child abuse and neglect cases and has published more than 25 journal articles and book chapters in the field. Suzanne Starling is immediate past chair the Executive Committee of the Section on Child Abuse of the American Academy of Pediatrics. She also serves as chair of the American Board of Pediatrics subboard on Child Abuse Pediatrics, the board that oversees the education and certification process in the field of child abuse. She is a charter member of the Ray E. Helfer Society, an honorary society for physician specialists in child abuse. She has received many awards for her work, including being named Outstanding Professional by the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children.

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Angelo Giardino is the medical director of Texas Children’s Health Plan, a clinical associate professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine, and an attending physician for the Texas Children’s Hospital’s forensic pediatrics service at the Children’s Assessment Center in Houston, Texas. Angelo Giardino completed his residency and fellowship training in pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Immediately after his fellowship training, Angelo Giardino became the assistant, and then the associate, medical director at Health Partners of Philadelphia, where he had primary responsibility for utilization management, intensive case management, and health care data analysis. He also shared responsibility for the plan’s quality improvement program. Additionally, he began the Child Abuse and Neglect Team for Children with Special Health Care Needs, which was funded by a three-year grant from a local philanthropy. In 1998, he was appointed associate chair of clinical operations in the Department of Pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), and in June of 1999 he was asked to chair the CHOP Quality Committee. These accomplishments are only a few of his career.

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