Vincent J. Palusci

Vincent J. Palusci, M.D., M.S. (1958– ) is an American pediatrician and Professor of Pediatrics at NYU Grossman School of Medicine in New York City. He is certified by the American Board of Pediatrics in General Pediatrics and Child Abuse Pediatrics.  He is a pioneer in the diagnosis and prevention of child abuse and a recognized expert in the field who helped begin Child Abuse Pediatrics, a subspecialty of Pediatrics. 
== Education ==
Palusci grew up in the Westmont section of Haddon Township, New Jersey as an only child, attending Holy Saviour School and Eustace Preparatory School where he was valedictorian of his class. At the University of Pennsylvania he was a Benjamin Franklin Scholar and magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. with honors in chemistry. For his medical degree, he chose UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School (now Rutgers New Jersey Medical School) where he won a SmithKline Medical Perspectives Fellowship to study the health care of senior citizens in Atlantic City. He completed his pediatric internship and residency at NYU/Bellevue Hospital under chairman Joseph Dancis and later received a masters degree in Epidemiology under Nigel Paneth at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine.
== Career ==
Palusci began his career in 1987 working as a general pediatrician in Huntington, New York. While working with Dr. Milton Gordon, he began evaluating child abuse referrals from the Suffolk County New York Department of Social Services. Realizing the need for a better scientific basis for medical practice in child abuse and neglect, he began clinical research and joined the medical staff at NYU Medical Center and Bellevue Hospital to further his research training with Benard Dreyer. In 1995, he left to expand the child protection program at Helen DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He also became medical director of the Kent County Children’s Assessment Center, rising from assistant to associate professor at the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine.
In 1998 he joined David Chadwick in a letter describing the importance of medical findings in abusive head trauma and decrying the lack of its understanding by the judicial system in the Louise Woodward Case in Boston. He left Grand Rapids in 2005 to start the Child Protection Center at Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit and to become the Helppie Endowed Professor at Wayne State University School of Medicine. In 2008, he returned to New York City as Professor of Pediatrics at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine and as a senior medical consultant for the New York City Administration for Children's Services Medical Consultation Program.
Palusci actively trains and mentors medical students, residents and pediatric fellows and has presented more than 100 academic abstracts around the world.  He has trained professionals through the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC), and the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect.
Palusci is a researcher on the diagnosis, reporting and prevention of child abuse and neglect, with more than 75 peer-reviewed, empirical publications and 100 published commentaries. He is a member of journal editorial boards and served as associate editor for Child Abuse Review. He is currently Editor-in-Chief of the Child Maltreatment (journal). He has edited several books, including Preventing Child Abuse: Critical Roles and Multiple Perspectives in 2021.
Palusci has been a leader in professional organizations, including the executive committees for the AAP Section on Child Death Review and Prevention and the AAP Council on Child Abuse and Neglect. He is President of the Board of Directors of Prevent Child Abuse - New York, Inc. (2021-2023) and was President of the Society of Alumni of Bellevue Hospital in 2015-2016.[15] He was a member of the child abuse sub-board of the American Board of Pediatrics and is currently a content expert for it and the APSAC Center for Child Policy. He has served on the Michigan Child Death Review Team and chaired the Michigan Citizens Review Panel for Child Fatality in 1999-2007.
== Awards ==
• Founding Member of the Ray E. Helfer Society (1999).
• President’s Honor Roll of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children “for his work contributing to the professional response to child maltreatment” (1998, 2000)
• 2001 Christine Nelson Professional Award for Child Abuse Prevention from the Kent County Child and Family Resource Council (now Family Futures) in Grand Rapids, MI.
• 2004 Ray E. Helfer Award for distinguished contribution to child abuse prevention from the American Academy of Pediatrics and National Alliance for Children’s Trust and Prevention Funds.
• Outstanding Service Award from the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (2018).
Category:American people
Category:1958 births