April Inniss, MD, MSc leads the way in Research & Evaluation for the Message. She is a board-certified pediatrician, bringing to the Message a unique profile of knowledge, skills, and expertise in the areas of children’s media, clinical care, and academic research. From her experience in each of these domains, she has developed keen insight into the powerful role of media in young lives.
While a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar at the University of Michigan, she acquired the formal analytical tools to explore in depth how media can model, promote, and influence healthy behaviors. This experience was enriched with an Internship at the Sesame Workshop’s Research and Evaluation Department, service on the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Committee on Communications and Media, and presentation of her own media research to a national academic audience.
Her research has been featured in widely read news publications, including Consumer Affairs, PR Newswire, and U.S. News & World Report. An increasingly well-recognized figure at the intersection of children’s media, pop culture, and health, Dr. Inniss has also developed several thought pieces and blog posts published by the AAP, KevinMD.com, and her own blog, kidsmediadoc.com.