Each year the Pediatric Endocrine Society (PES) selects a member who advocates for cost-effective practice and quality improvement in pediatric endocrinology to present the Paul Kaplowitz, MD, Endowed Lectureship at the annual meeting.

Jessica Schmitt, M.D. MSHQS, assistant professor in the Division of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes, was selected to give the 2025 Paul Kaplowitz, MD, Endowed Lecture at the PES Annual Meeting in early May in National Harbor, MD.

The lectureship was established in 2015 as a collaboration through the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Pediatric Endocrine Society to honor Paul Kaplowitz, M.D., who has worked to find ways to reduce unnecessary testing and treatment, particularly in the areas of early puberty, short stature, and subclinical hypothyroidism.

“I had an opportunity to work with Dr. Kaplowitz in 2019-2020 on a multicenter collaboration related to cost of imaging studies in youth with growth hormone deficiency,” said Schmitt. “I was particularly touched that he gave my introduction at the PES meeting for his named lecture.”

Schmitt’s presentation was titled Value Added: Considering cost in clinical care and scholarly works. The presentation covered work that she and collaborators both at UAB Division of Pediatric Endocrinology & Diabetes and Children’s of Alabama as well as collaborators outside the state have done related to cost-effective clinical care. A few efforts she discussed include: the cost of new "ultra-long lasting insulins" and the discovery that they were cost-effective by reducing hospitalizations for diabetes emergencies, highlighting the costs of diabetes complications to advocate for diabetes technology coverage for youth with type 1 diabetes, and review of generally low utility of costly imaging in evaluation of children with growth hormone deficiency.