Renee E. Fox, M.D.

Dr. Renee Fox is executive director of the Institute for a Healthiest Maryland, a joint initiative of the University of Maryland, Baltimore and the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene which connects academic partners from Maryland’s higher education institutions and public health practitioners to improve the health of Maryland residents and transforming communities, critical for success of health reform.

Dr. Fox is an associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics of the University of Maryland School of Medicine. She is a graduate of Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences and received her M.D. from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. She remained in Rochester to complete her pediatric residency at the University of Rochester, later joining the fellowship program at the Joint Program for Neonatology at the Harvard Medical School.

In 1986, she joined the faculty at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore. She has held many leadership roles in the Department of Pediatrics at the School of Medicine including; head of the Division of Neonatology, medical director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the University of Maryland Medical Center, and medical co-director of the Maryland Regional Neonatal Transport Program, (a joint program of the University of Maryland Medical Center and the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.) Dr. Fox served as chairman of the Perinatal Advisory Committee for the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services System. During her tenure as chair, this committee developed the initial review processes for levels of perinatal care for the state and transport services for newborns that remain in use today. She is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Federal Government Affairs and served on several state committees focusing on the health of newborns and mothers.

A Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Health Policy Fellow (2007-2010), she was selected as the first Health Policy Fellow to work in the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). This experience gave her an unparalleled view of health care economics for a physician. She was previously a fellow in the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Program for Women.

Following her year at the CBO, Dr. Fox returned to the University of Maryland School of Medicine to continue clinical practice and to improving birth outcomes in Maryland. She is the principal investigator on the “B’more for Healthy Babies Upton/Druid Heights” program to improve birth outcomes for mothers and babies, funded from the Family League of Baltimore City. She recently served on the Maryland Health Quality and Cost Council Health Disparities Workgroup, developing a report recommending methods to decrease health disparities, resulting in the Health Enterprise Zone legislation. Throughout her career, she has worked to improve the access and quality of care provided to mothers and their infants in Maryland.

A resident of Baltimore County, Dr. Fox lives with her husband, Daniel Florea. They are the proud parents of two grown daughters, Catherine and Julia Florea.