Advocating for children’s health and safety has always been part of Pediatrician Dr. Steven Feder’s practice.

This spring, he will receive national recognition from The American Academy of Pediatrics for his work to keep children safe by educating policy makers on medical issues and advocating for the rights of transgender children.

Dr. Feder is now seeing the children of the patients he first saw when he moved to the area following his residency 19 year ago. Over the years, he has served as a coach and helped teach health classes in the Boothbay Region school system. He continues to serve as Medical Director of the Boothbay Region High School and Lincoln Academy school -based health centers.

He has also spent an increasing amount of time both in the Maine and Massachusetts legislatures advocating for policies that keep children safer and educating policy makers about the latest research on many health issues affecting children and adolescents. Most recently he has spoken about how certain chemicals may affect children and in support of transgender youth.

This spring, Dr. Feder will be recognized nationally by The American Academy of Pediatrics for his “dedicated leadership” of the Maine Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (Dr. Feder is a past president of the Maine Chapter) and his efforts to reduce children’s exposure to toxic chemicals as well as his advocacy in support of the rights of transgender children.

“Public health and advocacy for children and adolescents is a very important thing for me,” said Dr. Feder. “Children don’t have a voice in the voting booth.”

One of the issues that Dr. Feder has testified about is the potential for some types of chemicals, such as Bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates, to effect the development of children, including through exposure in the womb.

The Federal Food and Drug Administration has cited studies that indicate BPA may affect the “brain and endocrine system in fetuses, infants and young children. Exposure may also lead to behavioral difficulties. ” Phthalates, a class of chemicals that, like BPA, is found in a variety of products, may cause a higher incidence of attention deficit disorder and endocrine disruption in children exposed in the womb.

Feder said his goal is to make sure legislators understand the latest unbiased research and that consumers are aware of the potential risks.

When he provides testimony for the rights of transgender children, Dr. Feder said he tries to help people understand that research has found that children who identify themselves as transgender have often felt that way since they were very young.

“In the medical and mental health community it has been well established that people are not always the gender that their biology confers upon them at birth,” he said.

Like all young people, children and adolescents who are transgender deserve and need support, he said. Transgender children, however, face unique challenges.

“Socially, it can be a struggle especially in rural areas where there are fewer transgender youth and support systems and peers may be lacking. Young people with gender dysphoria can experience a great deal of stress and may have higher levels of anxiety, depression and social withdrawal than other children and adolescents,” he said.

Dr. Feder is pleased and humbled to receive the award from the American Academy of Pediatrics especially given that it is a peer nominated award given to only a small group of pediatricians in the state each year.

This is Dr. Feder’s second national award since coming to Maine (the first was for community pediatrics and obesity prevention). Dr. Feder is a primary care pediatrician at Lincoln Medical Partners in Boothbay Harbor and Damariscotta and serves as an Assistant Professor in Clinical Pediatrics for Tufts University Medical School.