Jonathan D. Klein, MD, MPH
Recipient of the Savithri & Samuel Raj Endowed Professorship in Pediatrics
Usha Raj, MD, MHA: Dr. Raj is the Anjuli S. Nayak Professor of Pediatrics. She was the Head of Pediatrics at UIC from 2008-2015 and Chief of Neonatology at Harbor-UCLA (1995-2008).
She is nationally and internationally known as a clinician-scientist for her research on the mechanisms involved in the development of a lethal disease, pulmonary hypertension. Her work has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for 34 years. She has published over 192 peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts, reviews, and chapters in high-quality journals and text books. She has received numerous awards from international scientific societies, including the Scientific Recognition, Distinguished Achievement and the Elizabeth Rich Mentorship Awards from the American Thoracic Society and the Julius Comroe Jr. Distinguished Lectureship and election as a Fellow by the American Physiological Society. She received an honorary doctorate (honoris causa) from the University of Lausanne in June 2016 in recognition of her many contributions in research and mentorship. She is a member of the World Task Force on Pediatric Pulmonary Hypertension and a Senior Advisor to the Pediatric Pulmonary Hypertension Network in North America. She has been selected for the U.S. News & World Report Top Doctors list. Dr. Raj takes a major interest in education and mentoring, particularly of students and faculty from under-represented minorities. During her tenure as Head of the Department of Pediatrics she helped establish the Children’s Hospital University of Illinois. She was the Associate Project leader of a grant from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid that was designed to improve care for the underserved pediatric population with chronic illnesses in Chicago. And most recently, continuing her commitment to serving the under-served, she was a consultant and advisor to the Obstetric and Pediatric departments at the College of Medicine in Ulaan Baator, Mongolia, where she is establishing a program to reduce the maternal and neonatal morality rates.
Jonathan D. Klein, MD, MPH is professor of pediatrics with tenure and executive vice head of the department of pediatrics at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) College of Medicine. He is a pediatrician and a specialist in adolescent medicine and a health-services researcher known for his leadership and contributions to child and adolescent health. He is globally recognized for his expertise and scholarship in access and quality of care for adolescents, tobacco control, and for translation of preventive services research into practice and policy. He joined the faculty at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2017, and was appointed Associate Vice Chancellor for Research in March, 2020.
Dr. Klein graduated from Brandeis University, UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School, and Harvard School of Public Health. He was chief resident in pediatrics at the Floating Hospital, New England Medical Center and was a fellow at the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program at UNC Chapel Hill. He served on the faculty at the University of Rochester School of Medicine from 1992-2009.
From 2009-2017, Dr. Klein was associate executive director at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). He was founding chair of the AAP Tobacco Consortium for its Center for Child Health Research. He designed and obtained funding for the AAP Julius B. Richmond Center where he was founding director and PI from 2009-2017, and continues to serve as its scientific director. The Richmond Center, named for UIC graduate and former surgeon general Julius B. Richmond and funded by the Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute, is dedicated to protecting children from tobacco and secondhand smoke.
Dr. Klein has served as founding chair of the Resident Section and chair of the Committee on Adolescence for AAP; as chair of NCD Child, a global advocacy coalition for inclusion of children and youth in the United Nations Non-communicable Disease (NCD) and Sustainable Development Goals; on the Association of Medical School Department Chairs in Pediatrics Pediatric Scientist Development Program Steering Committee; and as a member of the US Preventive Services Task Force. He currently serves as a member of the Leadership Committee for the American Pediatric Society, as an elected member of the Executive Committee and Standing Committee of the International Pediatric Association, and as North American Vice President for the International Association for Adolescent Health.