Congratulations to Thresia B. Gambon, MD, MBA, MPH, FAAP for being selected as the 2025 Audrey Lincourt Schiebler, RN, FAAP, and Gerold Schiebler, MD, FAAP, Advocacy Award recipient! The award is given annually to a physician who has worked beyond the profession, educated local and state legislators, and diligently advocated to improve the health and welfare of Florida’s children.
Dr. Gambon’s deep and longtime involvement with the Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, of which she is currently the Immediate Past President, provided her a platform to support legislation that improves Baker Acts, especially for kids with autism. She participated twice in Children’s Week in the Florida State Capital, communicating with the State’s Lawmakers. As a former Community Access to Child Health (CATCH) grant recipient, she volunteered to serve as FCAAP’s CATCH grant facilitator from 2011-2020. She has served on FCAAP’s Membership Committee and School and Mental Health Task Force and continues to serve on the Immigrant Health Task Force, Child Abuse & Injury Prevention Committee, Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, and the Legislative Advocacy Committee.
Dr. Gambon has a long history of providing care to the underserved and marginalized populations of Miami-Dade County and has been an asset in managing adolescents in the Miami-Dade area for over 25 years. She is actively engaged in the community and has served on the Children’s Trust, the local children services council. Throughout her career, she has been involved in local task forces and collaborations to improve care in a county that carries a high burden of uninsured and undocumented patients, including working closely with the health department to increase vaccination rates and dental services.
Dr. Gambon practices at Citrus Health Network in Hialeah, Florida, which is a federally qualified health center (FQHC) that includes community health centers and specializes in behavioral and medical care for mental health patients, foster care children, and victims of sex trafficking. She was hired to help assist in opening the pediatric site; the center now boasts six providers caring for children from birth to 21. Her focus has been mental health and family planning, working very closely with teen girls especially girls involved in human trafficking, testing for and treating STI’s and encouraging the use of long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARC). She is one of only a few providers at Citrus Health Network responsible for foster care children in Miami-Dade County. She also provides medical care to teenagers admitted to the long term residential psychiatric program, following them in her outpatient setting and helping them and their parents or legal guardians wade through the complicated transition process of childhood to adulthood in the complex healthcare system.
On the national level, Dr. Gambon started her advocacy journey in 2007 rallying for the reauthorization of CHIP. She participated in the Washington, DC Advocacy Course several times, and through the listserv for the AAP Federal Advocacy, she frequently reaches out by email or phone to Congress regarding child issues. She has served on the American Academy of Pediatrics Council of Community Pediatrics and the Committee of Psychosocial Aspects of the Child and Family.
Dr. Gambon works closely with the Quality Improvement division on policies concurrent with The Joint Commission, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration advocating for the utmost health and wellbeing of her adolescent patients. She has also been a Reach Out and Read champion for over 20 years.
Dr. Gambon’s receipt of the 2025 Schiebler Award will be officially announced at The Future of Pediatric Practice 2025 on August 29 – 31 in Orlando. Thank you, Dr. Gambon, for your significant contributions and advocacy for Florida’s children, and congratulations!
