Diane and Norman Bernstein Professorship Advances Community Health

Children’s National on May 27 installed Mark Weissman, MD, as the Diane and Norman Bernstein Professor in Community Pediatrics. As vice president of the Diana L. and Stephen A. Goldberg Center for Community Pediatric Health, Dr. Weissman leads the largest primary care provider for underserved children in the District of Columbia. The Goldberg Center aims to build healthy communities and delivers care to underserved neighborhoods through community-based health centers, hospital-based clinics, and medical mobile vans.

“I am so honored to be the first Diane and Norman Bernstein Professor of Community Pediatrics,” said Dr. Weissman. “Kids can’t choose their parents, their insurance, or even their pediatricians, but they all deserve the same access, quality, and experience of care. At the Goldberg Center, we are working with pediatricians across the region, with government, payers, and community partners to measurably improve outcomes. And we are just getting started.”

Dr. Denice Cora-Bramble, MD, MBA, Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for Ambulatory and Community Health Services at Children’s National, said, “A visionary leader and skilled clinician, Mark blends and selflessly shares creativity, commitment, passion, a sense of humor, and dedication. There is no one more deserving of this honor.”

Diane Bernstein has been involved in children’s issues for more than 40 years, including 15 years as a volunteer and staff member at Children’s National. She founded the hospital’s Patient Representative Office and helped create the Child Life Services program. Norman Bernstein is the founder of Bernstein Management Corporation, a Washington-based real estate firm. He and Diane have served on multiple volunteer leadership boards. This is the second endowed professorship they have created at Children's National: In 2008, they established the Diane and Norman Bernstein Professorship in Pediatric Surgery.