Film Forum

Perri Klass is Professor of Journalism and Pediatrics and director of the Medical Humanities Minor at New York University; she works in the pediatric clinic at Bellevue Hospital. Her book, The Best Medicine: How Science and Public Health Gave Children a Future, describes how victories over infant and child mortality have changed the world. In 2026, the American Academy of Pediatrics will publish Pediatrics for Underserved Populations, which she coedited with Eileen Costello, M.D., and Terri McFadden, M.D.  Perri is National Medical Director of Reach Out and Read, a national program which promotes early literacy through pediatric primary care, with guidance about reading aloud and children’s books provided at routine well child visits; the program now reaches 4.8 million children a year, many of them growing up in poverty.

Related Films