Laine Young-Walker has always been interested in medicine. In medical school, she pivoted her focus to child psychiatry after exposure to the field. Since then, she has become executive director of the Center for Child Well-Being and chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Missouri School of Medicine.
She served as vice chair for several years before becoming chair. During that time, she saw the need for more female voices at the table. Now, the School of Medicine has recruited several female chairs across various departments. Young-Walker says it has been “wonderful to have support from SOM leadership to advance more females in leadership and to value their opinions and experiences.”
Young-Walker has dedicated her career to having a positive impact on the community. This includes the creation of the Center for Child Well-Being in 2024, which ensures that every child in Missouri has the ability to thrive emotionally, socially and developmentally. More milestones include promotion to full professor at the SOM and selection as chair of the department.
As a “Woman to Watch,” Young-Walker hopes to inspire others to think big and create resources for their own community. “Being acknowledged by this honor means that the work I am doing in the community is making the impact that I want it to have on children, families, the community and the state of Missouri,” Young-Walker says. “Hopefully, highlighting me will provide more visibility to programs that they can access which will positively affect their children and families.”
Young-Walker also thanks the female leaders and role models she was inspired by in the Executive Leadership for Academic Medicine program at Drexel, along with her mentors at the University of Missouri. She says the future for women in medicine is bright, whether they be as clinicians, educators or researchers. Moreover, the future for child well-being is also bright under Young-Walker’s care and research.
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