Deborah A. Frank, MD
Professor in Child Health and Well-Being, Pediatrics
Biography
Deborah A. Frank serves as BUSM professor of Pediatrics; director, Grow Clinic for Children at Boston Medical Center (BMC); and founder and principal investigator of Children’s HealthWatch, a network of pediatric and public health researchers working to improve child health. A highly respected national authority, she has testified before both the United States and Massachusetts legislatures on the growing national problem of hunger and its effects on children. Frank also leads research funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse on the effects of intrauterine exposure to cocaine and other substances on children’s long term development. She advocates at hearings and in the media against criminalizing addicted mothers or stigmatizing their children.
Frank has served on numerous committees and advisory boards including the Mayor’s Hunger Commission, the Massachusetts Child Hunger Initiative and the Physicians Task Force on Childhood Hunger in Massachusetts. She has received awards in recognition for her work including the 2004 Standing Ovation Award, Massachusetts Human Services Coalition; 2007 Woman of Valor Award, Jewish Funds for Justice; 2008 Woman of Justice Award, Boston Lawyer’s Weekly, and more recently in 2010 Dr. Frank received the Massachusetts Health Council Outstanding Leadership Award and the Physician Advocacy Merit Award from the Institute on Medicine as a Profession at Columbia University. Frank is the author of more than 50 papers and articles.
Other Positions
- Assistant Professor, Community Health Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health
Education
- Harvard Medical School, MD
- Radcliffe College, BA
Publications
- Published on 1/10/2025
Lê-Scherban F, Coleman SM, Fusfeld Z, Frank DA, Poblacion A, Black MM, Ochoa E, Sandel M, Ettinger de Cuba S. Maternal adverse childhood experiences and lifetime experiences of racial discrimination: Associations with current household hardships and intergenerational health. Soc Sci Med. 2025 Feb; 366:117695. PMID: 39837079.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 12/5/2024
Poblacion A, Ettinger de Cuba S, Black MM, Weijer I, Giudice C, Esteves G, Fabian P, Zanobetti A, Cutts DB, Lê-Scherban F, Sandel M, Ochoa ER, Frank DA. Food Insecurity and Weight Faltering: US Multisite Analysis of Young Children's Weight Trajectory. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2024 Dec 05. PMID: 39644920.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 10/1/2023
Poblacion A, Ettinger de Cuba S, Frank DA, Esteves G, Rateau LJ, Heeren TC, Coleman S, Black MM, Cutts DB, Lê-Scherban F, Ochoa ER, Sandel M, Sheward R, Cook J. Development and Validation of an Abbreviated Child and Adult Food Security Scale for Use in Clinical and Research Settings in the United States. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2023 Oct; 123(10S):S89-S102.e4. PMID: 37730309.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 7/10/2023
Ettinger de Cuba S, Miller DP, Raifman J, Cutts DB, Bovell-Ammon A, Frank DA, Jones DK. Reduced health care utilization among young children of immigrants after Donald Trump's election and proposed public charge rule. Health Aff Sch. 2023 Aug; 1(2):qxad023. PMID: 38756243.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 6/10/2023
Ettinger de Cuba S, Bovell-Ammon A, Ahmad N, Bruce C, Poblacion A, Rateau LJ, Coleman SM, Black MM, Frank DA, Lê-Scherban F, Henchy G, Ochoa E, Sandel M, Cutts DB. Child Care Feeding Programs Associated With Food Security and Health for Young Children From Families With Low Incomes. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2023 Oct; 123(10):1429-1439. PMID: 37302653.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 4/7/2023
Lê-Scherban F, Ettinger de Cuba S, Bovell-Ammon A, Coleman S, Rateau L, Cutts D, Black M, Heeren T, Frank DA. Association Between Material Hardship in Families With Young Children and Federal Relief Program Participation by Race and Ethnicity and Maternal Nativity. JAMA Health Forum. 2023 Apr 07; 4(4):e230508. PMID: 37083823.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 2/7/2023
Parker MG, de Cuba SE, Rateau LJ, Shea M, Sandel MT, Frank DA, Cutts DB, Heeren T, Lê-Scherban F, Black MM, Ochoa ER, Rose-Jacobs R, Garg A. Associations of household unmet basic needs and health outcomes among very low birth weight children. J Perinatol. 2023 Mar; 43(3):364-370. PMID: 36750715.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 11/5/2022
Bovell-Ammon A, Ettinger de Cuba S, Lê-Scherban F, Rateau L, Heeren T, Cantave C, Green KA, Frank DA, Cutts D, Ochoa E, Sandel M. Changes in Economic Hardships Arising During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Differences by Nativity and Race. J Immigr Minor Health. 2023 Apr; 25(2):483-488. PMID: 36334182.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 10/1/2022
Cutts DB, Ettinger de Cuba S, Bovell-Ammon A, Wellington C, Coleman SM, Frank DA, Black MM, Ochoa E, Chilton M, Lê-Scherban F, Heeren T, Rateau LJ, Sandel M. Eviction and Household Health and Hardships in Families With Very Young Children. Pediatrics. 2022 Oct 01; 150(4). PMID: 36120757.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 2/10/2022
Ettinger de Cuba S, Mbamalu M, Bovell-Ammon A, Black MM, Cutts DB, Lê-Scherban F, Coleman SM, Ochoa ER, Heeren TC, Poblacion A, Sandel M, Bruce C, Rateau LJ, Frank DA. Prenatal WIC Is Associated with Increased Birth Weight of Infants Born in the United States with Immigrant Mothers. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2022 Aug; 122(8):1514-1524.e4. PMID: 35151905.
Read at: PubMed
View 185 more publications: View full profile at BUMC