Missouri– Dr. Katie Plax
Updated April 2006

Dr. Katie Plax attended the University of Rochester School of Medicine where she received her M.D. She is a board certified pediatrician at the Adolescent Center at St. Louis Children's Hospital where she enjoys seeing patients and teaching residents and medical students.  When she is not seeing patients, she spends much of her time and energy advocating for vulnerable children in St. Louis, Missouri.

She received a Soros Advocacy Fellowship through the Medicine as a Profession program of the Soros Foundation. Through this Fellowship she worked to increase children's access to health care through a policy called presumptive eligibility for children in the state of Missouri. This policy allows income eligible children to be immediately enrolled in the Medicaid or CHIP program at community sites.

Most recently, Katie has developed a rotation to encourage St. Louis Children's Hospital pediatricians-in-training to learn more about the most vulnerable children in St. Louis and to become advocates for change. Ultimately she hopes to educate residents about the public and private services that impact children’s lives by exposing future pediatricians to community needs and resources.  Currently, there are over 31 agencies participating in the rotation. 

Katie is also part of a campaign to get a constitutional amendment on the November Ballot that will increase the Missouri tobacco tax.  Under this amendment, 17.5% of the funds will go to tobacco prevention and cessation to prevent children from smoking, and 82.5% will go to health care access, treatment, and coverage for those on Medicaid and those living below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level.  This campaign is being led by the Committee for a Healthy Future which is made up of community groups, health care advocates, and providers.  For more information, you can visit www.healthymissouri.org.