Maria H. Rahmandar, MD, FAAP

Dr. Maria H. Rahmandar (she/her) serves as the founding Medical Director of the Substance Use & Prevention Program, as well as founding medical director of an Overdose Education and Naloxone Distribution Program, at Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago.

Dr Rahmandar is a board-certified pediatrician and adolescent medicine specialist and an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, with a secondary appointment in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Dr Rahmandar is a champion for expanding harm reduction approaches to treatment, improving access & equity and decreasing stigma around substance use disorders.

Dr Rahmandar is regularly called on by media and government agencies to comment on and advise on addiction policy/regulations. She is passionate about education of trainees and community providers, frequently leading educational sessions and co-authoring articles & chapters on adolescent substance use. Dr Rahmandar is engaged as a clinical expert on several SAMHSA grants aimed at improving engagement in treatment and improving education in schools.

She holds leadership roles within national organizations, including the Society of Adolescent Health & Medicine Committee on Substance Use and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), where among many duties, she serves as an AAP E-Cigarette Faculty Expert and as a member of the AAP Section on Adolescent Health Executive Committee and Committee on Adolescence- she is currently revising the AAP policy statement and technical report on cannabis.