Dr. Sarah Schlegel Appointed Medical Director of CCA’s Medical-Legal Partnership Project
The Center for Children’s Advocacy’s Medical-Legal Partnership Project (MLPP) has appointed Sarah Schlegel, M.D. as the project’s Medical Director.
The MLPP, a medical-legal collaborative that improves the health and welfare of low-income children and their families, provides legal assistance on site at hospitals and medical clinics serving greater Hartford’s poorest neighborhoods.
As Medical Director for the MLPP, Dr. Schlegel will work with the project’s attorneys to develop a training curriculum for resident and attending physicians. She will consult with MLPP staff on medical-legal issues, including developmental disabilities, educational curriculum, and medical diagnoses, and will work directly with Attorney Jay Sicklick, Director of the MLPP and Deputy Director of the Center for Children’s Advocacy, to develop systemic advocacy strategies that address the unmet medical needs of children at risk in Connecticut.
“The work of the MLPP is critical to the poorest families in our neighborhoods. Hartford’s pediatricians and family care providers are the first contact for these vulnerable children. Their ability to direct families to available legal support services dramatically improves medical outcomes,” noted Dr. Schlegel.
Dr. Paul Dworkin, Connecticut Children’s Medical Center’s Physician-In-Chief and Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the UConn School of Medicine, will continue to serve as chief medical advisor to the MLPP.
Attorney Sicklick indicated that “we are very fortunate to have someone of Dr. Schlegel’s ability and expertise join our project. Sarah will help us develop a first-class training curriculum for Hartford’s pediatric practitioners, and will work with other medical directors around the country to address systemic health issues and raise the visibility and impact of medical-legal collaboratives.”
Dr. Schlegel is an attending physician at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center (CCMC) in the Department of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. She recently completed a fellowship in developmental-behavioral pediatrics at Yale University. She received her bachelor’s degree in neuroscience and behavior at Wesleyan University and her medical degree from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. She also completed a pediatric residency at Stony Brook University Hospital.
Dr. Schlegel is board-certified in general pediatrics, and is a member of numerous professional organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. Dr. Schlegel is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics with the UConn School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics. Her clinical work includes outpatient services for children with developmental and learning problems, and support for the outpatient and inpatient rehabilitation programs, and the Special Kids Support Center-Medical Home Initiative.
A member of the AAP since 2001, Dr. Schlegel currently sits on the Oral Health Initiative steering committee for the Partnership to Reduce Oral Health Disparities in Early Childhood. In 2007, she spearheaded and now co-chairs the Ad Hoc Trainee/Recent Graduate Committee in the Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. Her involvement in Reach Out and Read led her to create her own youth literacy non-profit organization, founding ReBooK (Recycling Books for Kids) in 2000.
