Leah Brandon
Medical director - internal medicine & pediatrics
ChildServe
Age: 35
Partner: Tim Marquard
Children: Anna, Kate and Simon
Mentor: Michael Flood
Why she’s a Forty: She is medical director and staff physician in internal medicine and pediatrics at ChildServe, a nonprofit organization providing care to children and families with special health care needs. She volunteered as a court-appointed mentor and as a one-on-one tutor for children in the Des Moines area. She is a committee member with the University of Iowa-led Transition Resources to Adult Care for Health (TRAC) grant working to develop models for transition to comprehensive adult health care for people in Iowa with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
What are your goals in your role at your company?
Current goals include developing innovative ways to deliver care to medically complex children and young adults through patient-centered agile care models, collaborative multidisciplinary teams, care coordination and health care system navigation. We are also working to standardize and develop evidence-based best practices for this heterogeneous group of complex patients.
What are your goals for your community involvement?
To help develop models for transition to comprehensive adult health care for people in Iowa with intellectual and developmental disabilities through work with the University of Iowa-led Transition Resources to Adult Care for Health (TRAC) grant.
What's your biggest passion, and why?
Teaching. There is immense satisfaction in helping someone understand or become interested in something because I took the time to explain why I find it so amazing. We learn and truly understand by teaching. My desire to continue learning and to share with others has directed much of my involvement.
What is it that drives you?
My every day starts at zero. Taking a little extra time to listen, problem-solve or learn something goes a long way towards making someone else’s life better.
What are your future aspirations?
Incorporation of learners to gain experience in the unique needs and care of medically complex patients with a goal of increasing familiarity and comfort for primary care and care coordination in the community.
Three hobbies: Bicycling, kayaking, windsurfing.
Fun fact: She capsized in Class V rapids on the Nile in Uganda. This did not deter her from rafting Class IV rapids at 20 weeks pregnant on the Tully in Australia.
ONE word: Resolute.
What is your wish for the Central Iowa business community? For the Iowa business community to support initiatives and advocacy directed toward improving health care for those with medical complexity, especially transitioning from pediatric to adult care. A lot of support is lost when complex children enter the adult world.