Marilyn Kaufhold, MD
The Ray E. Helfer Society Recognizes Dr. Marilyn Kaufhold for Outstanding Teaching
Marilyn Kaufhold, MD, a child abuse pediatrician at the Chadwick Center of the Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego is the first recipient of the Ray E. Helfer Teaching Award. The Helfer Society is an honorary association of child abuse physicians from across America and around the world who are leaders in the field of child maltreatment. The award was inaugurated this year to recognize the importance of teaching in the promotion of the scientific and humanitarian aspects of child abuse medicine. Dr. Kaufhold was selected as the first to be honored with this award because of her 30 years of superb teaching at the local, national and international level. Her students include thousands of physicians, nurses, social workers, community advocates, law enforcement officers, attorneys and members of other disciplines who strive to prevent child maltreatment and reduce its impact on affected children and families. Her teaching is thoroughly grounded in the medical literature, her calm, quiet demeanor engages every audience and her ability to energize her students to continue and expand their efforts to make the world a better place make her a teacher of the highest caliber. Dr. Ray Helfer was a pioneer in the field at a time when child abuse was commonly unrecognized or ignored. He researched the root causes of abuse and neglect and taught extensively on how to recognize, address and prevent child maltreatment. His approach to this medical and societal problem was to involve multidisciplinary teams of medical, mental health and social service professionals. Cases of child abuse and neglect are now routinely handled in this way. He wrote several books including “The Battered Child” (University of Chicago, 1968) and “Helping the Battered Child and His Family” (Lippincott, 1972), which are considered classics on the subject. of Chair, Child Abuse and Neglect.