Tsering Lhewa, MD, FAAP grew up in a Tibetan community in the Himalayan foothills of north India before moving to Southwest Washington during middle school and has since called the Evergreen State home. He did his undergraduate studies at Whitman College, medical school at University of Washington and pediatric residency at Oregon Health & Science University. He has enjoyed traveling and learning from global health work in Tibetan communities, and different parts of India and Australia. He also completed National Institutes of Health Academy fellowship program in Bethesda, Maryland and conducted biomedical research while learning more about our nation’s health disparities from leading clinicians and researchers.
Dr. Lhewa is a board-certified pediatrician partner with Child & Adolescent Clinic, where he enjoys working with a team dedicated to providing quality care for children and families in Southwest Washington, especially those most in need. As a private pediatric clinic, they currently serve over 80% Medicaid patients although lower reimbursement rates continue to make it more financially challenging to serve an already more medically and socially complex population. He also serves as the Medical Director at Innovative Services NW, Neurodevelopmental Center which provides pediatric therapy and serves the special needs of children in Clark county.
As part of WCAAP, he has appreciated working together with pediatricians from different parts of the state to advocate for our patients and our profession. He enjoyed serving as the Physician Champion for Southwest Washington region of the Pediatric Transforming Clinical Practice Initiative (TCPI). Along with pediatricians, he has also partnered with early intervention staff, school officials, community health workers, state legislators and other health care stakeholders to advocate for better access to care for our children.
Having a special interest in social determinants of health, Dr. Lhewa was one of the first cohort members in our state to become a speaker in the ACE Interface NEAR sciences (Neuroscience, Epigenetics, Adverse childhood experiences and Resiliency) and has enjoyed presenting in various settings. He has also enjoyed giving talks and webinars on different quality improvement projects including improving well child and immunization rates as well as mental health, postpartum depression and other developmental screenings. In addition, he serves as chair of the YPS governing council of Washington State Medical Association and has enjoyed working with physicians from different medical specialties on issues impacting the lives of our wider medical community and our patients.
Outside of medicine, he enjoys spending time with family traveling (recent highlight including hike up to Tiger’s Nest Monastery in Bhutan), exploring our beautiful State and National Parks, going to the local fitness center with his wife, watching Hindi movies, and listening to podcasts and music from different parts of the world.