AT THE TOP
MEDICINE
Dr. Jacquelyn Calbert
Neuro-Developmental Pediatrician
By
Lori A. Calbert, M.S.Ed
Dr. Jacquelyn Calbert is a Neurodevelopmental Pediatrician who works for Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. She has traveled around the world lending her expertise in this very specific subspecialty. As per the American Board of Pediatrics, only 255 certificates have been granted in this field (as per statistics through December 2012).
She attended the University of Virginia and received High Honors for her pre-med studies and then graduated from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine with her medical degree. She also did a fellowship at Hopkins in which she was able to work under the guidance of medical greats such as Dr. Ben Carson.
Dr. Calbert worked in a variety of roles, which included head of the Neurodevelopmental Department during her 20 year stint in the Navy from which she retired as Commander Calbert.
I was so happy that she took some time out of her busy schedule to talk with me.
Lori (Me - LC): Thank you, Dr. Calbert for interviewing with me today. I am going to get straight to the point - Was it difficult being a female physician in the military?
Dr. Calbert (DC): Well, in the military, there are demands that are difficult for anyone, especially for a woman with a family. I was lucky to have a family that supported me. You have to take assignments that mean that you are away from home, especially when you have to go to a foreign country. I was fortunate to have a spouse that was willing to come with me. I had additional family that would also help with the children. Thankfully, overseas, the military had a childcare center with extended hours.
My spouse left his job multiple times for us to move, including outside of the United States. He had to make these decisions at a critical time in his career.
LC: Describe your specialty.
DC: Neurodevelopmental Pediatrics is a relatively new subspecialty that involves assessment of individuals between 0-21 years of age with neurodevelopmental difficulties, such as attention problems, cerebral palsy, and autism.
LC: What is the biggest challenge you have faced in your field?
DC: My profession often requires an interdisciplinary team and difficulties with medical payment systems makes it hard to work in this way, because it is hard to get compensated adequately. I would love to do multi-specialty evaluations more frequently and be able to create custom treatments. Another challenge I face is that I deal with chronic problems that do not have quick fixes. Some issues such as ADHD, can be helped with medicine, but cerebral palsy and autism obviously are not so easily treated. The biggest breakthrough has been treating ADHD and the increasing variety of medications to treat it.
LC: Why did you leave the military?
DC: I retired after 20 years because it was becoming increasingly difficult to move my family. We had done multiple moves, but the children were approaching high school and college age, so we needed to settle down.
LC: Have any of your children decided to follow in your footsteps?
DC: Well, my daughter is a doctor. She has just started her residency. And my son is enrolled in pre-med classes (biology/biochemistry major). My daughter attended the University of Virginia, my alma mater.
LC: Which occupational achievements are you most proud of?
DC: I am proud of the fact that I was able to establish developmental programs around and outside of the United States. I provided services to many places, such as Iceland, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Okinawa.
I am also proud of forming teams and interdisciplinary service teams, which help to provide the best possible care to children and their families. There tends to be a high divorce rate in the types of scenarios I deal with, but the rates with families cared for by our teams, are quite low.
LC: Which medical achievement would you like to see come true in the next 10 years? Why?
DC: It would be truly amazing to see medicine fully interpret the genetic code in order to know which genes and variants are beneficial, harmful, or are inconsequential. We could customize treatment and become more proactive about the health of our patients. I also believe that there needs to be more studies of post-menopausal women and heart disease. From reading medical journals and talking to colleagues, I see there is very little information about a woman at this stage, when she is the least protected. They don't have the same hormonal support to battle heart disease or myocardial infarctions.
LC: Thank you, Dr. Calbert, for your insight into this new field and your exciting world.
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