Senior Co-Director, PolicyLab
David M. Rubin is senior co-director of PolicyLab: Center to Bridge Research, Practice, and Policy and director of research and policy for Safe Place: The Center for Child Protection & Health at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Dr. Rubin also serves as a senior fellow with the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the Wharton School. A general pediatrician by training, Dr. Rubin has focused his academic pursuits on health policy and practice for vulnerable populations and is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Task Force on Foster Care. His work has included population-based studies on the health and well-being of children in foster care that appeared in the journal Pediatrics in 2004 and 2007, and in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine in 2008. Dr. Rubin was the principal author of a report for Casey Family Programs in 2005 (available at www.casey.org), joining other leading health policy experts in outlining the impact of Medicaid reform proposals in Washington on healthcare access and delivery to children in foster care. The report influenced the budget reconciliation process in the United States Senate and House of Representatives, serving to protect children in foster care from spending reductions and regulations that would have limited their access to needed healthcare services.
As a result of his experience working with vulnerable populations, Dr. Rubin is the recipient of a career-development award from the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development to study the outcomes of children in foster care. He has been focusing on the stability of a child’s placement history in out-of-home care, combining national policy-oriented analyses of children in foster care with local community-based research that includes a longitudinal study of well-being among children entering out-of-home care in Philadelphia (Children’s Stability & Well-Being Study, CSAW) and the development of integrated interventions to support the behavioral health needs of these children.
At The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Dr. Rubin directs the pediatric course and curriculum for the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and is a co-director of an evidence-based medicine curriculum for the pediatric residency program. He is also a practicing primary care pediatrician at the faculty practice for Children’s Hospital. Dr. Rubin holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania, a medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco, and a master’s degree in clinical epidemiology and biostatistics from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He also completed a residency in pediatrics and fellowships in child maltreatment at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Rubin lives with his wife and three daughters in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.
Research Interests
Behavioral health
Child welfare
Family and parenting support
Contact Information
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Select Publications
Rubin DM, Feudtner C, Localio R, Mandell DS. State variation in psychotropic medication use by foster care children with autism spectrum disorder. Pediatrics. 2009;124(2):e305-e312. Epub 2009 Jul 20.
Kresnicka LS, Rubin DM, Downes KJ, Lavelle JM, Hodinka RL, McGowan KL, Grundmeier R, Christian CW. Practice variation in screening for sexually transmitted infections with nucleic acid amplification tests during prepubertal sexual abuse evaluations. J Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol. 2009;22(5):292-9. Epub 2009 Jul 2.
Wood JN, Christian CW, Adams CM, Rubin DM. Skeletal surveys in infants with isolated skull fractures. Pediatrics. 2009;123(2):e247-52.
Mekonnen R, Noonan K, Rubin DM. Achieving better health care outcomes for children in foster care. Pediatr Clin North Am. 2009;56(2):405-15.
Rubin DM, Feudtner C, Localio R, Mandell DS. State variation in psychotropic medication use by foster care children with autism spectrum disorder. Pediatrics. 2009;124(2):e305-e312. Epub 2009 Jul 20.
Rubin DM, Downes KJ, O'Reilly A, Mekonnen R, Luan X, Localio AR. The impact of kinship care on behavioral well-being for children in out-of-home care. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. 2008;162(6):550-6.
Rubin DM, O'Reilly A, Luan X, Localio AR. The impact of placement stability on behavioral problems for children in foster care. Pediatrics. 2007;119(2):336-44.
Rubin DM, Pati S, Luan X, Alessandrini EA. A sampling bias in identifying children in foster care using Medicaid data. Ambulatory Pediatrics. 2005;5(3):185-90.
Rubin DM, Alessandrini EA, Feudtner C, Localio AR, Hadley TR. Placement changes and emergency department visits in the first year of foster care. Pediatrics. 2004;114(3):e354-e360.
Rubin DM, Alessandrini EA, Feudtner C, Mandell DS, Localio AR, Hadley TR. Mental health costs and placement stability for children in foster care. Pediatrics. 2004;113(5):1336-41.
