Marsha Griffin, MD, is Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Division of Child and Family Health at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine (UTRGV) on the southern US/Mexico border. She was a founding member of the Executive Committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Council on Immigrant Child and Family Health and co-authored the AAP Policy Statement “Detention of Immigrant Children.”  

Dr. Griffin previously served as Medical Director of the Humanitarian Care Respite Clinic in McAllen, Texas, where she organized volunteer medical teams from around the country to provide medical care for immigrant families passing through the border region. Along with other faculty at UTRGV, Stanford University School of Medicine, Texas Children’s Hospital and Migrant Clinicians Network, Dr. Griffin formed the Humanitarian Care Network to create a national network of physicians and clinics committed to providing urgent access to medical care in their destination communities for migrating children with serious medical conditions and pregnant mothers. She is also a co-founder and President of Community for Children, Inc., a non-profit created to benefit immigrant families on the border. 

In recognition of this work, her advocacy for all children, and her service to the American Academy of Pediatrics, she received one of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ highest awards in 2018, the Clifford G. Grulee Award. In 2019, Dr. Griffin was named Health Policy Hero by the National Center on Health Policy in Washington, DC.  Dr. Griffin spent the last ten years writing and speaking both nationally and internationally about her concerns for the trauma inflicted on immigrant children on the border. She recently moved to DC to continue her immigration advocacy nationally, having spent seventeen years as a pediatrician on the southwest border serving immigrant children and families.