Cassandra (Casey) M. Pruitt, MD, FAAP, will be the next chief of the Division of Academic Pediatrics in the Department of Pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine.
Pruitt is a board-certified pediatrician and pediatric hospitalist who has served as the medical director for the WashU Complex Care Clinic and the General Academic Pediatric Clinic since its inception in 2019. She led the development of both clinics and the further growth of the Division of Academic Pediatrics since taking over as interim division chief in July 2022. Since 2022, she has also been the vice chair for Outpatient Health. Pruitt is nationally known for her work within the American Academy of Pediatrics, serving on the Committee for Continuing Medical Education and as the chair of the annual National Conference and Exhibition since 2019.
Pruitt earned her bachelor’s degree from Emory University before completing her medical degree from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine. She joined the residency program at the University of Texas Medical Branch Children’s Hospital in 1999 and served as the pediatric chief resident from 2002 to 2003. Pruitt practiced primary care pediatrics with leadership roles in the outpatient general pediatric clinic and the residency program. She led significant curriculum development within the residency program and was partially supported by an HRSA grant to improve the primary care curriculum. She served as the pediatric residency program director and medicine-pediatrics co-program director at the University of Texas Medical Branch prior to joining the hospital group at WashU in 2010.
After joining the faculty in 2010, Pruitt led the development of the pediatric hospitalist program at Progress West, including collaboration with Newborn Medicine in the creation of the NICU service, participating in strategic planning for the pediatric service line and representing Progress West on the Pediatric Clinic Expert Council for BJC HealthCare. She led the development of improved clinical protocols and standardization of care for asthma, newborn hyperbilirubinemia, hypoglycemia and neonatal abstinence. Pruitt played a significant role in implementing Epic at all community hospital sites, including developing order sets, standardized notes and the training curriculum for pediatric hospitalists and subspecialists. She continues to serve as a pediatric subject matter expert for BJC HealthCare and WashU.
Pruitt has been the site lead for several national hospital medicine quality improvement initiatives and developed the core curriculum for the Division of Hospital Medicine with publications on both topics. In conjunction with the BJC Center for Clinical Excellence, she developed quality tracking measures for pediatric hospitalists working at all sites within the BJC hospital system.
In addition, Pruitt has been an Associate Pediatric Residency program director since 2013 when she assumed leadership of the Community Outpatient Pediatric Experience (COPE). In this role, she has recruited a large voluntary community group and developed a standardized curriculum and new evaluation methods. She has been a clinical educator and course facilitator in the School of Medicine and currently serves on the Committee for Academic Promotion. Pruitt has received several teaching awards from the residency program, including the Outstanding Teacher Award, and was selected as a Clinical Teacher of the Year.
Pruitt is currently a professor of pediatrics at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in the Division of Academic Pediatrics, where she has expanded the Complex Care Clinic and the General Academic Pediatric Clinic from a two-physician practice to five physicians and a nurse practitioner. She has authored chapters on general pediatric subject matter, expanded the development of the section of community pediatricians within the division and participated in many committees within the MO AAP Chapter. In addition to the further growth and optimization of the Complex Care Clinic, Pruitt is currently working with the Missouri Hospital Association and leaders from hospitals across the state to advocate for implementing the ACE Kids Home Health plan option under Medicaid.
Pruitt brings a wealth of administrative, educational and clinical experience to this position.