Dr. Elizabeth Barnert, associate professor of pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, has joined the National Commission on Correctional Health Care’s board of representatives as the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine liaison.
A board-certified pediatrician, Barnert has a clinical focus on adolescents and a special interest in justice-involved and marginalized youth. “My work is guided by the principle that all children should receive the support they need to be healthy and thrive,” she said. “That includes young people in the juvenile legal system, who all too often lack advocacy on behalf of their physical and mental health.”
Barnert provides clinical care in a juvenile hall and is also an attending pediatrician at UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital. Her research focuses on youth involved in the U.S. juvenile legal system, youth who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation and those undergoing family separation. Her advocacy on behalf of those populations to the California Legislature and U.S. Congress has contributed to several pieces of child-protective legislation.