Danielle Laraque-Arena is an American physician, academic, and administrator. She is a Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and Pediatrics at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public HealthLaraque-Arena, Danielle. “Danielle Laraque, MD.” Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Accessed July 19, 2025. https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/profile/danielle-laraque-md. and a Senior Scholar-in-Residence at the New York Academy of Medicine.
Previously, Laraque-Arena was a professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, as well as chair of the pediatrics department at Maimonides Medical Center. From 2016 to 2018, she was President of State University of New York Upstate Medical University, succeeding Gregory Eastwood as the first woman to hold office. In this capacity, she concurrently was Chief Executive Officer of the Upstate Health System.
Throughout her career, she has published over 120 peer-reviewed monographs, articles, and educational pamphlets including the Principles of Global Child Health: Education and Research (AAP Books, 2019),Stanton, Bonita F., and Laraque-Arena, Danielle. Principles of Global Child Health: Education and Research, 2nd ed. (Elk Grove Village, IL: American Academy of Pediatrics, 2019), https://publications.aap.org/aapbooks/book/506/Principles-of-Global-Child-Health-Education-and. Ending the War Against Children: The Rights of Children to Live Free of Violence (Elsevier, 2021),Stanton, Bonita F., and Laraque-Arena, Danielle. Ending the War Against Children: The Rights of Children to Live Free of Violence. Pediatric Clinics of North America 68, no. 2. New York: Elsevier Health Sciences, 2021. https://shop.elsevier.com/books/ending-the-war-against-children-the-rights-of-children-to-live-free-of-violence-an-issue-of-pediatric-clinics-of-north-america/stanton/978-0-323-83610-4. and Leadership at the Intersection of Gender & Race in Healthcare and Science: Case Studies and Tools (Routledge, 2022).Laraque‑Arena, Danielle, Lauren Germain, Virginia Young, and Rivers Laraque‑Ho, eds. Leadership at the Intersection of Gender and Race in Healthcare and Science: Case Studies and Tools. Routledge Key Themes in Health and Society. New York: Routledge (Taylor & Francis), May 27, 2024. ISBN 9781032309712.
Early life and education Danielle Laraque-Arena was born along with two brothers in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, daughter of Paul and Marcelle Laraque. Her grandparents ran a pharmacy, and her grandfather was a physician. Her father was a poet, activist, and critic of Haitian president François Duvalier. He fled Haiti for Spain in 1960 when Duvalier's police were targeting political dissidents. He then immigrated to the United States in 1961; Marcelle joined him in 1962, and their children and a grandmother joined them soon afterward, when Danielle was 7 years old. The family lived in Queens in New York City. There her father initially worked as a parking attendant at New York University and her mother became a clerk at the United Nations.Renee Gearhart Levy
Her father took night classes to earn a bachelor's degree and took a job at Fordham Preparatory School, teaching Latin and Spanish. His position afforded Laraque-Arena tuition free enrollment at Fordham University, which she attended for two years. She spent her third year abroad at the University of Leeds in England, later transferring to the University of California, Los Angeles, where she earned a B.S. in chemistry in 1976. She then received a full-tuition scholarship to the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, where she earned a Doctorate of Medicine.
Career While attending medical school, Laraque-Arena worked at Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital in Watts, which served Watts and Compton, both low-income areas within greater Los Angeles. She later completed her postdoctoral internship and residency at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
In the mid-1980s, she joined Columbia University's faculty, where she worked at Harlem Hospital during the US's AIDS epidemic. There she developed three teams to evaluate and treat abused and neglected children. From 2000 to 2010, she worked as professor of pediatrics and of preventative medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and was the chief of the general pediatrics division, as well as vice-chair of public policy and advocacy there. She later became a professor of pediatrics at the Einstein College of Medicine, part of Yeshiva University.
Laraque-Arena was chair of the pediatrics department and a vice president of Maimonides Medical Center. She was president of State University of New York Upstate Medical University (Upstate) from January 2016 to December 2018, succeeding Gregory Eastwood as the first woman to be president. She is Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and Pediatrics at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Senior Scholar-in-Residence at the New York Academy of Medicine.
Laraque-Arena is also a prolific author, having published over 120 peer-reviewed monographs, book chapters, media resources, and educational pamphlets including the Principles of Global Child Health: Education and Research (2019), Ending the War Against Children: The Rights of Children to Live Free of Violence (2021), and Leadership at the Intersection of Gender & Race in Healthcare and Science: Case Studies and Tools (2022).
Throughout her career, she has mentored hundreds of young physicians and academics, and was on the National Academy of Medicine's Committee on Integrating Primary Care and Public Health, as well as the American Academy of Pediatrics' Board of Directors. Additionally, she is a former President of the Academic Pediatric AssociationAcademic Pediatric Association. APA Past Leaders 2020. Published June 2022. Accessed July 22, 2025. https://www.academicpeds.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/APA-Past-Leaders_2020.pdf. and Co-chair the Governor of New York's Task Force on Maternal Mortality and Disparate Racial Outcomes.Laraque‑Arena, Danielle. “President Laraque‑Arena to Co‑Lead State Task Force on Maternal Mortality.” Upstate News (SUNY Upstate Medical University), May 10, 2018. Accessed July 22, 2025. https://www.upstate.edu/news/articles/2018/0510-president-laraquearena-to-colead-state-task-force-on-maternal-mortality.php. She is on the board of Prevent Child Abuse America,Laraque‑Arena, Danielle. Danielle Laraque‑Arena, MD. Prevent Child Abuse America. Accessed July 22, 2025. https://preventchildabuse.org/team/danielle-laraque-arena/. Women in Medicine Legacy Foundation (of which she is President),Laraque‑Arena, Danielle. “Dr. Laraque‑Arena, Leader in Health Equity, Named New WIMLF President.” Women in Medicine Legacy Foundation, July 1, 2022. Accessed July 22, 2025. https://www.wimlf.org/blog/danielle-laraque-arena-new-wimlf-president. and Vaccinate Your Family (of which she was Chair).Laraque‑Arena, Danielle. Danielle Laraque‑Arena, MD, FAAP. Vaccinate Your Family. Updated February 14, 2025. Accessed July 22, 2025. https://vaccinateyourfamily.org/staff_board/danielle-laraque-arena-md-faap/.
Personal life Laraque-Arena is married to Luigi Arena, a retired radiologist. The two met while she was a freshman in college and Arena was a visiting Fulbright Scholar from Italy earning a master's degree in New York. Together they have two adult children, Marc Anthony and Julia Marie.
Selected works Books (with Bonita F. Stanton) (with Bonita F. Stanton)
Essays Laraque, Danielle (February 1, 1990). "Blood Lead, Calcium Status, and Behavior in Preschool Children". Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. 144 (2): 186–9. Laraque, D.; Arena, L.; Karp, J.; Gruskay, D. (July 1990). "Bone mineral content in black pre-schoolers: Normative data using single photon absorptiometry". Pediatric Radiology. 20 (6): 461–463. Laraque, Danielle; Barlow, Barbara; Durkin, Maureen; Howell, Joy; Cladis, Franklyn; Friedman, David; DiScala, Carla; Ivatury, Rao; Stahl, William (July 1995). "Children who are shot: A 30-year experience". Journal of Pediatric Surgery. 30 (7): 1072–1076. Laraque, Danielle (May 2011). "Global Child Health: Reaching the Tipping Point for All Children". Academic Pediatrics. 11 (3): 226–233. Laraque-Arena, Danielle; Frintner, Mary Pat; Cull, William L. (May 2016). "Underserved Areas and Pediatric Resident Characteristics: Is There Reason for Optimism?". Academic Pediatrics. 16 (4): 401–410.
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