Sharon G. Humiston, MD, MPH, FAAP

Sharon G. Humiston, MD, MPH, FAAP, is a Professor of Pediatrics at Children’s Mercy and University of Missouri-Kansas City, Kansas City, MO. Beyond her clinical work, Dr. Humiston’s career has focused on three central aspects of immunization delivery, including research, quality improvement and education. She is a health services researcher with more than 140 peer-reviewed publications on innovative and practical approaches for improving vaccine delivery. Dr. Humiston has been the principal investigator on numerous maintenance-of-certification (MOC) vaccination quality improvement projects for both the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Academic Pediatrics Association (APA). Her experience as an immunization educator includes development and implementation of print, in-person, video-based and online interactive forms of immunization education for clinicians. Dr. Humiston previously worked in (what was then) the Training Education Branch of CDC’s National Immunization Program. During her tenure with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), she was the project officer on a series of studies that led to successful demonstration of improved immunization-related communication with parents in primary care offices. She is currently collaborating on the development of a succinct, mixed methods, foundational immunization curriculum for pediatric and family medicine residents.

Most recently, Dr. Humiston’s work has focused on increasing rates of cancer prevention with HPV vaccine. She was co-principal investigator of the AAP’s “HPV Vaccination Project” and has served as the AAP representative on the American Cancer Society’s HPV Vaccination Roundtable and the Roundtable Steering Committee. She also provided leadership on HPV vaccination initiatives for the APA and now serves as co-chair of the APA’s “Special Interest Group on Immunization.” Dr. Humiston is also the Director for Research at the Immunization Action Coalition and previously served on the National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC), where she chaired the Communication and Public Engagement subcommittee.