Collen Kraft

As a physician, educator, and child advocate, Dr. Kraft has been promoting health throughout her career. After graduating from Virginia Tech, she attended medical school at Virginia Commonwealth University, where she completed a residency in pediatrics.

Inspired by her father, Virginia Tech Department of Chemistry Professor James McGrath, she returned to Virginia Tech in 2009 to become the founding pediatric residency program director at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine in Roanoke. She moved to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital to become the Medical Director of the Health Network in 2014.

In 2016, she was elected President of the American Academy of Pediatrics. In 2018, she made international headlines for taking a hard stance against the federal practice of migrant children being separated from their families in U.S.-Mexico border detention facilities.

Dr. Kraft is currently a Professor of Pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California.

She gave the department commencement speech for the Class of 2019, saying, “Virginia Tech was my foundation for science, problem-solving, innovation, and service. My career has been remarkable because I have had the privilege to work in a profession that uses science to promote innovation through service and solutions.”