History
The Division (originally the section of Child and Family Studies and later Community Pediatrics) was founded in 1995 by Philip R. Nader M.D. (1936-2017). Dr. Nader devoted his career to finding innovative ways to ensure child and family health and well-being. He is recognized for his work in schools and with community agencies, and demonstrated how multi-disciplinary partnerships can support healthy lifestyle behaviors and cardiovascular health in children and adolescents. Phil was recruited to the UC San Diego Department of Pediatrics in 1982 to become the Chief of the Division of General Pediatrics. Prior to this, he served as the Chief of the Division of School Health and Community Pediatrics at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. During his career, he developed and directed several multi-disciplinary research teams to conduct longitudinal, observational, and population-based interventions around physical activity and nutrition. He was the PI of several NIH-funded studies including the Family Health Project (PIs Nader and Sallis), CATCH (Child and Adolescent Trial for Cardiovascular Health), and SCAN (Study of Children's Activity and Nutrition). These studies demonstrated the value of using behavior-based programs in community and school settings to positively influence child nutrition and physical activity. He was also an Investigator in the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Child Care and Youth Development. 
In addition to this work, he expanded medical student, resident, and fellow training in primary care pediatrics by developing programs that emphasized the importance of child development, behavior, and family health. In 1983, he and Dr. Jeff Morgan started the Community Pediatric Fellowship program. In 2000, UC San Diego and the Navy Medical Center San Diego (PIs Nader, Reznik, and Blaschke) received a Dyson Award to expand the community pediatric resident rotation (which was started in 1995 by Howard Taras, MD and Tim Shope, MD) to include advocacy and focus on increasing resident understanding of the community's impact on child health. Active participation by all pediatric trainees in community health clinics, public health agencies, and programs for social justice had a major impact on the next generation of pediatricians. He supported the pediatric school health consultation service for the San Diego Unified School District, trained residents and fellows in school health, and chaired the School Health Council of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Throughout his career, Dr. Nader used innovative approaches to connect different sectors to promote change. He worked with the San Diego County Health Department to develop the "Partnership for Immunization Providers" (PIP) which was a precursor to the immunization registry. In 2006, he developed the San Diego County Childhood Obesity Initiative to bring together medical professionals, the health care system, educators, public health professionals, community organizations, and policy advocates to create a multi-disciplinary community initiative to promote healthy weight and address the issue of childhood obesity. During his career, Dr. Nader published over 160 peer-reviewed articles, and in 2010, published a guide for parents called, You Can Prevent Childhood Obesity: Practical Ideas from Pregnancy to Adolescence. He later co-founded the Legacy of Health Foundation which directly helps parents, doctors, and communities implement programs to prevent childhood obesity using evidence-based methods that start before pregnancy and continue through toddlerhood.
