Michele Beekman, MD, FAAP is a pediatric hospitalist at OSF HealthCare Children’s Hospital of Illinois, assistant professor of clinical pediatrics at the University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria (UICOMP), and associate program director of UICOMP’s Pediatric Residency Program. Outside of patient care, she mentors residents as they grow in their profession, serves as pediatric education director for the Transitional Year Residency Program, chairs the Education Directors Committee, and runs the Evidence Based Medicine Committee. She has led numerous quality improvement projects and helped coordinate UICOMP’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, designing self-study online curriculums as well as a hybrid learning model.
Dr. Beekman has held a wide range of leadership positions throughout her career, including chief pediatric resident, director of pediatric inpatient education, and medical director of pediatric sedation. She is actively involved with a variety of patient safety initiatives which have developed into an ongoing curriculum on patient safety, communication and quality improvement. The instructional framework she developed has received national recognition through the Association of American Medical Colleges and publication in the Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development.
An executive board member of the Illinois chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) since 2016, Dr. Beekman travels regularly to work on legislative issues, educational programs and statewide healthcare initiatives. She gives back to the community in multiple ways, from returning to her alma mater to provide talks on careers in science and medicine, to her active involvement with the Peoria Tri-County Breastfeeding Initiative. She was also selected to be a reviewer for the AAP’s Breastfeeding Handbook for Physicians 3rd Edition.
Dr. Beekman received the 2014 Pediatric Residency Program Teaching Award and 2015 Pediatric Subinternship Medical Student Teaching Excellence Award from UICOMP and was the 2018 recipient of the Dr. Mary Draeger Schultz Patient Safety Award through OSF HealthCare.PM
