OUR PROVIDERS

Dr. Ballenger is a native of Louisville, Kentucky and graduate of Brown University and Howard University School of Medicine. She came to Boston for her pediatric training. She completed her pediatric residency, and a year of fellowship in General Pediatrics, at Boston City Hospital, now Boston University Medical Center, and a second year of fellowship at Children’s Hospital.  Before establishing her private practice in Cambridge, her clinical practice included care for children admitted to the Commonwealth’s psychiatric hospital for children; primary care at several of Boston’s distinct Neighborhood Health Centers; and as staff physician in the Division of General Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital, Boston. Her academic and clinical interests have focused on urban pediatric and adolescent primary health care including: adolescent mothers and their children; access to care for homeless children living in motels; medical student and resident education. Recently, through the Pediatric Physicians’ Organization at Children’s (PPOC), Dr. Ballenger has worked on quality improvement measures in pediatric primary care, especially in the area of evidence based diagnosis, treatment and management of ADHD in primary care settings. She is the physician supervisor for the Practice’s Medical Home Initiative. Over the past 20 years, she has been active at Harvard Medical School (HMS), tutoring in Patient-Doctor I and III; lecturing on topics in child development and adolescent health; as a preceptor for the 3rd year Pediatric Primary Care Clerkship; as well as preceptor for Primary Care residents in their continuity clinics. She is a senior member of the Inter-Society Multicultural Fellows Committee, as well as the Cross Cultural Care Committee. However, her most sustained work on behalf of students and HMS, has been as a member of the admissions committee, serving for almost 20 years, both as a subcommittee chair and as a member of the main admissions committee. She has received recognition and awards from Harvard Medical School and Children’s Hospital for her contributions to medical student education and commitment to quality primary care. In 2000 she received the Harold Amos Faculty Diversity Award in recognition of her “contributions and commitment to the advancement of diversity at Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Dental Medicine.” And in 2009 Harvard Medical School students selected Dr. Ballenger to receive the AAMC (the American Association of Medical Colleges) Humanism in Medicine Award. The award honors a medical faculty who “exemplifies the qualities of a caring and compassionate mentor in the teaching and advising of medical students.” In 2010 she was the recipient of the Award of Service to Pediatrics and the Community, presented by Children’s Hospital and the Pediatric Physicians’ Organization at Children’s to four eastern Massachusetts pediatricians. Dr. Ballenger feels especially honored to be included in the book, Respect: An Exploration, written by Harvard University sociologist, Professor Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, the Emily Hargroves Fisher Professor of Education. Dr. Ballenger is the subject of a chapter entitled, Healing. She is the medical consultant for the Crispus Attucks Children’s Center in Dorchester. Dr. Ballenger is married to William Poole, J. D., a retired federal attorney who worked in the U. S . Department of Housing and Urban Development, and is from Tuskegee, Alabama. Her hobbies include gardening, quilting and children’s literature, and for fun Dr. Ballenger enjoys impromptu singing and dancing.