Speaker's Profile

Kimberly Avila Edwards, MD, is a board-certified general pediatrician in Dell Children’s Medical Group Pediatrics Mueller, a clinical partnership between Dell Children's Medical Center and UT Health Austin. She specializes in caring for infants, children, adolescents, and young adults with more than 20 years of experience. Additionally, Dr. Avila-Edwards is an assistant professor and serves as the Associate Chair for Advocacy for the Dell Medical School Department of Pediatrics.

Dr. Avila Edwards graduated magna cum laude from Harvard university with a bachelor's degree in biochemistry. She earned her medical degree from Harvard Medical School and completed both an internship and residency in pediatrics at Texas Children’s Hospital/Baylor College of Medicine.

Dr. Avila Edwards currently serves as the Director of Advocacy and External Affairs for Dell Children’s Medical Center. She formerly served as a part-time general pediatric practitioner and urgent care provider at a multispecialty group practice in the Austin area.

Dr. Avila Edwards' clinical and research interests include pediatric obesity. In 2010, she co-founded the Texas Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Childhood Obesity at Dell Children's Medical Center. After her involvement with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Healthy Active Living for Families project and Institute for a Healthy Childhood Weight, she continues to work at a national level with the AAP and has held various roles both nationally and within the state chapter of the AAP, the Texas Pediatric Society (TPS), and the Texas Medical Association (TMA). As a fluent Spanish speaker and the first Hispanic TPS President, she was uniquely positioned to work with the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Texas Pediatric Society in their advocacy efforts for immigrant children during her presidency. She has actively participated in Texas legislative sessions, sharing her content expertise and testifying before various state legislative committees on various obesity and other child health-related billon behalf of TPS, the TMA, and the Texas Academy of Family Physicians.