Kathleen Brogan Schwarz, M.D. ’64, a leading pediatric gastroenterologist, returned to 61传媒in February as the Lois Langland Alumna-in-Residence (LLAiR). During her week at Scripps, she counseled individual premed students on their future careers and addressed a Women in Science luncheon crowd at the Malott Commons, among other activities. She encouraged young women to continue to break down barriers in science and medicine-such as sexual harassment, gender bias in subspecialities, steeper academic ladders than males have, and less time for publication. One of the solutions Schwarz offered for female physicians was to establish a “mommy tenure track”: flexible work environments without negative consequences for women with young children.
The LLAiR program offers alumna an opportunity to share her professional and life experiences and facilitate significant interaction between alumnae, students, staff, and faculty.
Dr. Schwarz is a board-certified pediatric gastroenterologist with a special interest in pediatric liver disease, particularly viral hepatitis and liver transplantation. She joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins in 1987 and became Division Chief of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Professor of Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. Previously, Dr. Schwarz was on the faculty at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and for nine years was the Chief of Pediatric Gastroenterology at St. Louis University, Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital. She is now director of a pediatric liver center and principal investigator for the first prospective controlled treatment trial for kids with hepatitis-C virus (HCV), funded by a $6.8 million five-year grant from NIH and Roche Pharmaceuticals. She is also the principal investigator for Hopkins in an NIH multicenter study of biliary atresia, a serious liver disease of infants.
She has been a member of the Subboard of Pediatric Gastroenterology of the American Board of Pediatrics and Secretary-Treasurer of the North American Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition. In 1999, Dr. Schwarz was named one of the top 25 pediatricians in Baltimore by Baltimore magazine.
She received her undergraduate degree in biology at 61传媒, and attended Washington University School of Medicine and the Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Central de Venezuela, for her medical degree.
She and her husband, Fritz, are the parents of two grown sons.