PPC: Pediatric Policy Council (comprised of members of AMSPDC, APA, APS, SPR):

ABOUT
The Pediatric Policy Council (PPC) is the combined legislative advocacy efforts of the Academic Pediatric Association, American Academy of Pediatrics the Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairs, the American Pediatric Society and the Society for Pediatric Research. The PPC’s publishes a monthly newsletter highlights advocacy and policy updates from Washington, DC.

Council Roster

Chair

David Keller, MD
University of Colorado Medicine

APA

Maya Ragavan, MD, MPH, MS
University of Pittsburgh
Mona Patel, MD
University of Southern California

APS

Lisa Chamberlain, MD, MPH
Stanford University School of Medicine
Scott Lorch, MD, MSCE
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

AMSPDC

Tina Cheng, MD, MPH
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Joseph St. Geme, MD
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

SPR

Tom Mariani, PhD
University of Rochester Medical Center
Ashwini Lakshmanan, MD, MS, MPH
Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine

Staff, American Academy of Pediatrics

Matt Mariani-Seltz
Director, Federal Advocacy
Yameen Ibrahim
Legislative Assistant, Federal Advocacy

Letters of Support

In recent months, the PPC organizations have signed letters regarding federal legislation, appropriations, and regulatory issues. Topics covered in these letters include:

• Letter to congressional appropriations leadership reiterating FY 2026 appropriations requests for NIH and NICHD, July 30, 2025

• Sign-On Letter to Congress urging for swift consideration and advancement of legislative proposals to reauthorize the HRSA Title VII health professions and Title VIII nursing workforce development programs, August 19, 2025

• Letter to Congress documenting harms to children of current immigration policies at detention facilities, September 16, 2025

• Letter to Congress expressing concern with the Trump administration’s executive order to impose greater oversight on federal grantmaking activities, September 24, 2025

• FY 2026 letter to Congress urging robust funding for NIH in final spending bill (Ad Hoc Group for Medical Research), October 27, 2025

• FY 2026 appropriations request for the Census Bureau, October 30, 2025

• Letter urging House and Senate Appropriations committee leadership to finish FY 2026 appropriations to provide robust funding for HRSA Title VII and Title VIII programs (HPNEC), November 5, 2025

• FY 2026 appropriations request for the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), December 11, 2025

• Letter to Congress urging for swift and robust oversight regarding the CDC’s abrupt changes to the childhood vaccine schedule, January 9, 2026

• Letter to Congress urging for swift passage of appropriations bill that provides robust funding for NIH, January 20, 2026