Peter Simon, MD, MPH, Acting Medical Director, Division of Community, Family Health and Equity, RI Department of Health, is currently the Deputy Medical Director, Divisions of Family, Community Health and Equity. Dr. Simon is a graduate of Cornell University and the State University of New York Upstate Medical School in Syracuse. He received his MPH from Johns Hopkins University in 1976. He is certified by the American Board of Preventive Medicine and the American Board of Pediatrics. After working as a private pediatrician in Pawtucket, RI, he joined the RI Department of Health as a Medical Epidemiologist in 1984 after having served for seven years as a Consultant Medical Epidemiologist for the state's Immunization and Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Programs.
He has had multiple roles with the Title V Program at the state, regional, and national level, as well as serving the American Academy of Pediatrics at the state and national levels. Dr. Simon served as the Chapter Chairman for the local chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and as the "CATCH" (Community Access to Child Health) Coordinator. Dr. Simon has been a national leader in setting standards for the Prevention of Childhood Lead Poisoning and Newborn Screening in the US. He is a national trainer for all health professionals working with children's environmental health and has been the Medical Director of the RI Childhood Lead Poisoning Control Program since 1977. Since giving up his private practice in 1985, Dr. Simon continues to see pediatric patients at the Providence Community Health Centers and volunteers at the Hospital Albert Schweitzer in rural Haiti. He serves on the Board of CityMatCH and the National Center for Healthy Housing and as a consultant to the CDC Advisory Committee to the Center for Environmental Health, Childhood Lead Poisoning Control Program.
An ardent Red Sox fan since the Dodgers left Flatbush, Dr. Simon founded the Post 56 American Legion Baseball Team in Providence with his sons, Aaron and Ben.