Leslie Sude, MD, is a general pediatrician who has special interests in child advocacy, community medicine, developmental and behavioral pediatrics, family financial wellness, and mobile health care to improve health equity for low-income families. She has a simple and reassuring message for parents who bring their children to her: You know your child best.
“Sometimes, parents’ confidence is undermined by themselves, other parents, or media influences,” Dr. Sude explains. “I try to give them as much guidance as I can, and also instill confidence in their own abilities as a parent. I want to help them find their own inner strengths. At the end of the day, parents know what is best for their child.”
Dr. Sude is particularly interested in disorders of learning, attention, and behavior. “I enjoy taking on the challenge of making kids who struggle with these issues successful in school and at home,” she says. “It takes patience and time, but by collaborating with schools, mental health centers and families, a child who once struggled can make great gains with the right support.”
In 2017 Dr. Sude established the first Volunteer Income Tax Assistance site co-located in a medical clinic, and in 2020 expanded the Yale School of Medicine Community Healthcare Van program to include post-partum maternal and newborn health checks in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She serves as lead advisor of a mobile flu vaccine clinic and participates in the New Haven Nature and Health consortium, which seeks to improve mental and physical health through increased exposures and experiences in nature.
But Dr. Sude’s favorite part of her job, she says, is building bonds with her patients and their families. “There is nothing more fun than taking care of a newborn baby and then later seeing him or her grow up and graduate from high school,” she says.
