July 29, 2025

Spotlight: Kenisha Campbell is the CMO of a pediatric organized system of care

Navigating the healthcare system should not be a privilege reserved for some families while others face barriers to accessing basic healthcare services. Dr. Kenisha Campbell, a professor of clinical practice in the Division of General Pediatrics at the University of Washington and a 2024 awardee of a Population Health Initiative Tier 1 pilot grant, has made it her professional mission to reduce these inequities. Now, as the newly appointed chief medical officer for the Seattle Children’s Care Network (SCCN), she is placing that belief into practice. SCCN oversees 15 community pediatric clinics that serve over 137,000 children, and Dr. Campbell aims to ensure every patient receives equitable, preventive care.

“I’m motivated by the power of preventative care and early intervention,” said Dr. Campbell. “The foundations for a healthy life are built in childhood and adolescence.”

Her emphasis on child and adolescent health began during medical school, where at Washington University in Saint Louis, her work with adolescents to improve their health outcomes inspired her to focus on Pediatrics for her residency, completed at the University of Rochester’s Golisano Children’s Hospital. After her residency, a fellowship brought her to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, where she specialized in adolescent medicine, while simultaneously completing her master’s in public health at the University of Cincinnati. After starting her career leading adolescent primary care and subspecialty care at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Campbell found her way West, drawn by Seattle’s Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic, where she was the medical director.

“I was impressed by the clinic’s 50-year history of community connection and its focus on caring for the entire patient,” explained Campbell. “Working at the intersection of pediatric care and community health requires you to understand the unique challenges families face outside the clinic walls.”

At SCCN, Campbell heads the network’s quality improvement initiatives, honing in on immunizations, preventative visits, antibiotic stewardship and chronic disease management for conditions like asthma and ADHD. Bridging communication gaps between different healthcare sectors has been crucial to achieving these initiatives.

“Building effective population health programs isn’t easy because you have to collaborate through interdisciplinary teams,” said Campbell. “You need to bring together primary care providers, specialists, operational leaders, data analysts, and community partners who all speak different professional languages.”

This approach has enabled comprehensive screening efforts across SCCN’s entire network.

“We screened over 50,000 patients for behavioral health needs last year,” notes Campbell. “This early identification helps connect families with appropriate resources before problems escalate.”

In line with Campbell’s steadfast commitment to health equity, all SCCN practices are required to accept Medicaid insurance and have implemented standardized assessments to identify disparities in health outcomes.

Campbell credits the communities she’s served and her mentors for refining her equity-focused healthcare philosophy. “Every initiative we launch has an equity lens built into its foundation,” she explains.

Her approach extends beyond simply implementing evidence-based practices in primary care clinics to creating comprehensive systems that support providers in delivering consistent, high-quality care. Campbell emphasizes that for community pediatricians managing busy practices, SCCN provides essential data infrastructure and quality improvement expertise needed to transform care delivery.

“I’m really grateful for the opportunity to bring together 135 providers who care for children and adolescents across the region,” Campbell reflects.