Edward M. Barksdale, Jr. MD is the Robert J. Izant, Jr. MD Professor and Surgeon-in-Chief at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital/University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve School of Medicine (CWRUSOM).  An All-American Athlete and honors graduate of Yale University (1980), Dr. Barksdale received his medical degree from Harvard University (1984).   He completed a residency in General Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital (1991) and fellowship training in Pediatric Surgery at Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati (1994).  He began his academic surgical career at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh (1994-2007) and was recruited to Rainbow/UH in 2007.  Dr. Barksdale has been widely recognized and awarded by colleagues and communities for his service to his various missions.  A member of numerous national medical/surgical organizations, where he has also held leadership roles, Dr. Barksdale is the Immediate Past-President of the American Pediatric Surgery Association (APSA).  He currently works at the nexus of academia, clinical surgery, medical education, public health and social justice as a passionate advocate for child health and healthcare.  He endeavors to invest his academic, clinical and service efforts to inspire individuals and transform communities at the precipice of hope. In Cleveland, he has been devoted to build programs to address health disparities particularly in fragile populations of children.  He is the Co-Founder of the Antifragility Initiative, a novel holistic, person-centered, pediatric violence intervention funded by the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) and philanthropy at >S3.2 M.