Maryland Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics

Dr. Badawi was named a Top Doctor in the specialty of Pediatric Behavior and Development by Baltimore magazine in 2016.
Debbie Badawi is a behavioral-developmental pediatrician in Baltimore, Maryland. After completing her pediatric residency at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, she did a fellowship in behavioral-developmental pediatrics at the University of Maryland. Her clinical experience includes primary and specialty care, as well as consultation on multidisciplinary teams in the school system and in health care settings. While on the faculty at University of Maryland she had the opportunity to train medical students, residents and fellows in behavioral-developmental pediatrics.
Dr. Badawi served as the medical director of the Maryland School for the Blind for several years before taking a position as the medical director of the Office for Genetics and People with Special Health Care Needs in the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. In this position, she led newborn screening follow up for the state to assure all children with abnormal screening results received needed evaluations. She also worked with the office leadership to manage four million dollars in federal Maternal Child Health Block Grant funds for Children with Special Health Care Needs to provide needed services and improve health care outcomes for this target population.
She is currently an assistant professor in pediatrics, and her clinical work includes evaluation and management of children with autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and NICU follow up. Her particular areas of interest and research include family-professional partnerships, and the prevention of mental, emotional and behavioral disorders in children. 

Monique Soileau-Burke, MD, FAAP, is a general pediatrician at  The Pediatric Center in Columbia, MD.   Dr. Burke serves as a Clinical Instructor at Johns Hopkins where she was recently inducted into the Distinguished Teaching Society.  She served as the Vice-President of the Maryland AAP Foundation and previously served as the Central Maryland Representative.  Dr. Burke completed her pediatric residency training at Johns Hopkins in 2002.  She received her medical degree in 1999 from the Tulane University School of Medicine where she was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha.  She received her Bachelor of Science from Newcomb College of Tulane University with a major in child psychology and early childhood education in 1995. At the Pediatric Center, Dr. Burke serves as a managing partner.  With over 25,000 patients and a staff of 50, the practice serves a culturally and economically diverse population of patients from Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carol and Howard Counties and Baltimore City.  In 2012, she became certified as an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and introduced lactation medicine to her practice with designated lactation areas and counseling. A native of Louisiana, she moved to Baltimore for three years of residency training.  Twenty years later, she still resides in Baltimore City with her husband, Warren, and their eleven-year-old daughter, Evangeline.  She is an avid Ravens fan—unless they’re playing her beloved New Orleans Saints.

Dr. Rachel Dodge is a community pediatrician in Southeast Baltimore County at Dundalk Pediatrics Associates. Dr. Dodge and her husband are southeast Baltimore County natives.  They live in Edgemere and are very active in supporting the local community.  Dr. Dodge is the mother of 3 children.  She received her medical degree from the University of Maryland, School of Medicine in 2002 and completed the pediatric residency program at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital/University Hospitals of Cleveland in 2005.  Dr. Dodge completed the General Pediatric Academic Development Fellowship at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and earned a Master’s of Public Health degree from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2008.

Dr. Dodge’s passion is advocating for the medical needs of low-income and high risk populations.  Before coming to Dundalk Pediatrics, she was the Medical Director for the MATCH (Making All The Children Healthy) Program that provides medical case management and health care coordination for all children in Baltimore City’s foster care system.  She also practiced pediatrics at the Harriet Lane Clinic at Johns Hopkins, teaching residents and medical students.  She holds a part-time appointment as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.  She is a community preceptor to medical students for the Longitudinal Ambulatory Program.

Dr. Dodge currently serves as the Treasurer-Secretary for the Maryland Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and was appointed to Maryland Medicaid Advisory Committee.

Jennifer Belbot Cox M.D. FAAP is a general pediatrician at Pediatric Partners LLC, a private practice with locations in Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard Counties. She serves as a managing partner in the North Park/ Harford County office. She received her medical degree from the University of Maryland Medical School in 2002 and completed her residency training in pediatrics at the Pennsylvania State Milton S Hershey Medical Center in 2005. Dr. Cox lives with her husband and three children in Baltimore County. 

Landy Cook, MD, FAAP, is a native of Columbia, Maryland. He received his undergraduate degree from Brown University and his medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine. He then attended residency in pediatrics at the University of Vermont. Dr. Cook is board-certified in Pediatrics and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Dr. Cook joined The Bay Pediatric Center in September 2003. He spent the previous two years working in the small community of Taos, New Mexico and later moved to Easton to be closer to his family where he has been living with his wife and three children since 2003. He hopes to help share some of the challenges and opportunities of providing care to the diverse group of children on the Eastern shore. In his free time, Dr. Cook enjoys running, sailing, gardening, and outdoor activities.

Christine Saba, MD, FAAP, completed medical school at Eastern Virginia Medical School, followed by a residency at Georgetown University Medical Center. Prior to entering medical school, she cared for pediatric patients as the first Senior Clinical Pharmacist in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Johns Hopkins Hospital after completion of the first pediatric pharmacy program at MCV hospital in Richmond. After residency she initially worked for a group practice; since 2000, has been in solo practice, and has been very involved in what it takes to manage and run a practice through 20+years of the evolving changes in Medicine. She has lived in Montgomery County since 1969.

Christine has a passion to advocate for the well-being of children and those families who have no voice to say what their children need by working with her colleagues in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. She feels pediatricians have come together during this COVID-19 pandemic. Now, with the increased awareness of what needs to evolve to address the discrepancies of care and social biases that exist in human beings, pediatricians can have huge impact.

Waldorf Pediatrics was established in 2007 a little over a year after I completed my specialty fellowship in Pediatric Hematology-Oncology. Throughout the last 16 years, I have problem- solved many of the issues facing pediatricians in my community. I was a solo practitioner for about four years before adding an additional provider. Our clinic growth over the past years has sustained four additional clinicians including a part-time Pediatrician and three family Nurse Practitioners.

Family-centered care of children is the most effective healthcare delivery. However, Pediatricians face many barriers to this ideal. Difficulty in identifying and connecting families with mental health or behavioral care, interrupted communication with the school due to privacy concerns and case coordination are obstacles that we must overcome daily. We must create systems that allow easier identification of mental health consultants for children, transparency from providers as to insurances accepted, types of counseling employed and “first available appointment” time lines. It is critical for our communities as we recover from this pandemic that we have robust mental health emergency services for the entire family with the ability to have ongoing follow-up. It is essential that we help pediatricians identify a mental health advocate/liaison outside of the family who is responsible for coordinating every ER visit, hospitalization or crisis counseling need.

In addition, I will provide dynamic, on-going communication from the region’s clinics about problem-solving and brainstorming for additional barriers to the excellent pediatric care each child deserves.

Dr. Machemer graduated from the University of Illinois College of Medicine, completed Pediatric Internship and Residency at the University of Minnesota, and a Fellow in Pediatric Hematology-Oncology at Duke Medical Center.
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