This episode's guest is Dawn Garzon PhD, APRN, CPNP-PC, PMHS, FAANP, FAAN, discussing School Health.

Dawn is a pediatric nurse practitioner and pediatric primary care mental health specialist. With over 25 years’ experience as a NP, Dawn loves working with adolescents and helping children and youth from preschool age through 21 years with a wide range of conditions like ADHD, depression, anxiety, and developmental disorders, among others. She believes the best approach to pediatric behavioral health involves working with team members to provide blended education, therapy, and medication to help patients develop into the healthiest they can be. She is a well-known author and presenter on topics related to pediatric mental health.

Dawn received a BS in nursing from U. of Miami in 1990, a Master of Science in nursing from U. of Florida in 1994. In 2002, she obtained a PhD in nursing from UMSL and a postdoctoral fellowship from Washington University in 2005 while finishing a Master of Psychiatric Epidemiology. She will obtain her psychiatric nurse practitioner from Mizzou in 1/21.

She returned to MO in fall 2020 after living in the Pacific NW for four years. Her most recent position was at SeaMar Community Health Centers as a pediatric behavioral health prescriber Vancouver, WA from 2017-2020, and she held academic professorships at UMSL from 1997-2016, Washington State University from 2016-2019 at the U. of Portland from 2019-2020.