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Crosscurrents

California’s new surgeon general is on a mission, and it’s all about the kids

Courtesty of Center for Youth Wellness
Dr. Nadine Burke Harris will be sworn in on February 11, 2019 as California's first state surgeon general. She founded the Center for Youth Wellness but has stepped down as its chief executive to take on her new role.

Govenor Gavin Newsom early last week announced a new position of state surgeon general. And it’s pretty much custom made for Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, the high-profile San Francisco pediatrician he appointed to fill it.  

"When you activate your stress response, it also activates your immune response . . . because if that bear gets his claws into you, you want your immune system to be primed to bring inflammation to stabilize the wound. It's actually genius. But what happens when that bear comes home every night, and this system is activated over and over and over and over again?"

The founder of San Francisco’s Center for Youth Wellness has dedicated her professional career to understanding the link between toxic stress in children and serious health problems in adults. Now she has a new bully pulpit.

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