Welcome to Dr. Laura McGuinn who begins as the director of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics on Monday, January 7. She will also hold the inaugural Thomas H. Lowder Endowed Chair in Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics and will serve as the new clinical director of the Civitan-Sparks Clinics.

Dr. McGuinn earned her Bachelor of Arts in biology from the University of Texas at Austin, and her medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas, where she completed her residency training as Ambulatory Chief Resident. Dr. McGuinn completed her fellowship in Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, and is certified by the American Board of Pediatrics as a Subspecialty Fellow in both Neurodevelopmental Disabilities and Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. She began her academic medical career as a member of the pediatric faculty of the Children’s Hospital of Austin Medical Residency Program, where she served as director of the Developmental Assessment Program and director of the Developmental and Behavioral Pediatric Clerkship. She joined the staff at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, originally as an assistant professor and then as associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics Section of Developmental – Behavioral Pediatrics.

Dr. McGuinn’s service to developmental and behavioral pediatrics is exemplified by her multiple related roles during her years at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, which included: director of the resident rotation and the ACGME approved and MCHB funded, fellowship program; and leadership roles as director of OK-KIDS Systems Improvement Initiative, co-director of the OK Child Heath Practice Based Research Network, and director of the Sooner SUCCESS Care Coordination Program. Through her leadership roles in medical education, Dr. McGuinn has mentored fellows, residents and students. She has provided service and leadership to Oklahoma Head Start, Oklahoma Children’s Oral Health Coalition and the Oklahoma Autism Workforce Initiative, among many.