Dr. Rachel Dawson
Dr. Rachel Dawson is the Executive Director for Medical Affairs for respiratory vaccines at Moderna. Prior to joining Moderna, she served as Global Director for Medical Affairs, Pneumococcal vaccines at Merck & Co. Inc., and before joining the pharmaceutical industry, Dr. Dawson served as an Adolescent Medicine Physician at Baylor, Scott & White in Temple, TX and Pediatric Clerkship Director for Texas A&M College of Medicine. She joined the military while in medical school and completed her Pediatric residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. and her fellowship in Adolescent Medicine at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, TX. Dr. Dawson served one tour in Iraq while on active duty and as the Chief of Adolescent Medicine Services at Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center at Ft. Hood as her last assignment, improving the health of adolescents in the military community. She has extensive experience with immunization advocacy and education. She successfully managed multiple grant awards to promote adolescent immunization and patient-centered medical homes through school community partnerships. Dr. Dawson has served on various committees of widely known national medical societies and has authored numerous articles on adolescent related topics. She currently lives in Texas with her husband, Jay, and her three children, two of which stutter.
As a Pediatrician, I have felt inadequately prepared to care for my patients who stutter due to lack of training in medical school or residency on how to treat these patients holistically. Also, as a mother of teenage twins who stutter, I have experienced firsthand how the school system's Speech-Language Pathologists are unprepared to care for children who stutter due to lack of training, time and education. Therefore, my hope is that Spero Stuttering, Inc. will help equip those who are caring for individuals who stutter, allowing them to find their voice regardless of stuttering.