Press Release

Safe Kids Worldwide Welcomes New President and CEO – Kate Carr

September 29, 2011

Washington, D.C. – Kate Carr has been appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer of Safe Kids Worldwide effective October 1.  John Formisano, who has served as the interim President and CEO since December 6, 2010, will continue in his capacity as Vice Chairman for Safe Kids Worldwide Board of Directors.

“Over a thousand child deaths each day and thousands more injuries that require medical care could be prevented if known injury prevention methods were applied across the globe,” said Carr.  “It’s vitally important that Safe Kids continue to provide an advocacy voice and expand its education of parents, caregivers and children to empower them with prevention skills.  Safe Kids has been a vital partner in the effort that has resulted in the 53 percent reduction in the rate of child deaths in the U.S. since 1987. But there is much more to be done.  Child safety and booster seats significantly reduce the risk of injuries and deaths to children, yet in the U.S. car crashes remain the leading killer of kids ages 3-14.  Looking forward, road traffic injuries are projected to be the number one killer globally, surpassing infectious diseases.  This is a trend we can and must reverse.”

“Safe Kids has tremendous programs in place for child passenger safety, pedestrian safety, youth sports injury prevention and home safety,” continued Carr.  “With support from Johnson & Johnson, FedEx, the General Motors Foundation and other partners, I look forward to working with Safe Kids coalitions across the U.S. and throughout the world to further improve the effectiveness of those programs.”   

“Kate Carr’s exemplary leadership will strengthen Safe Kids capability as the premier global child injury prevention nonprofit organization,” said Safe Kids Worldwide Board Chairman John H. Claster.  “And her experience with the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation and Malaria No More will help catalyze the growth of Safe Kids’ global initiatives.”

“I also want to thank John Formisano for his service to Safe Kids,” continued Claster. “He successfully directed the organization as interim President and CEO for the past nine months while the Board of Directors executed a methodical search process and selected Kate Carr to lead Safe Kids.” 

“We welcome Kate Carr to her new role,” said Kurt D. Newman, President and CEO, Children’s National Medical Center. “Safe Kids is an integral part of Children’s National, which started the organization more than 20 years ago with support from founding partner Johnson & Johnson. With a mission to eliminate preventable childhood injury, Safe Kids is leading the way with a bold, visionary approach that over the years has fundamentally re-imagined how we care for and protect kids. We look forward to ongoing creative collaborations with organizations around the world, with Ms. Carr at the helm of this vital organization.”

Safe Kids Worldwide works in 20 countries to support the recent World Health Assembly resolution on child injury prevention, the leading cause of death for children over the age of 5 years globally.  More than 830,000 children die each year from road traffic crashes, drowning, burns, falls and poisoning – and pproximately 44 percent of these deaths are preventable.   The adoption of this historic resolution by the World Health Assembly is a landmark accomplishment, as it firmly frames child injury as a major child survival issue and highlights the need to expand child survival programming and financing streams to include child injury prevention.

Carr comes to Safe Kids Worldwide from Malaria No More, where, since 2008, she served as the Managing Director and Chief Development Officer.  Malaria No More is a nonprofit organization that seeks to end deaths from malaria by 2015.  As President and CEO for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation from 1998 - 2005, Carr successfully led a dramatic expansion of programmatic activities that produced significant domestic and international advancements on behalf of children’s health.

About Safe Kids Worldwide
Safe Kids Worldwide is a global network of organizations whose mission is to prevent unintentional childhood injury, the leading cause of death and disability to children ages 1 to 14. Twenty member countries and more than 600 coalitions and chapters across the U.S. bring together health and safety experts, educators, corporations, foundations, governments and volunteers to educate and protect families.

About Children’s National Medical Center:
Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC, has been serving the nation’s children since 1870. Home to Children’s Research Institute and the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation, Children’s National is consistently ranked among the top pediatric hospitals by U.S.News & World Report and the Leapfrog Group. With 283 beds, more than 1,330 nurses, 550 physicians, and seven regional outpatient centers, Children’s National is the only exclusive provider of acute pediatric services in the Washington metropolitan area. Children’s National has been recognized by the American Nurses Credentialing Center as a Magnet® designated hospital, the highest level of recognition for nursing excellence that a medical center can achieve. For more information, visit ChildrensNational.org, receive the latest news from the Children's National press room, or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Media Contact

Katherine Collins
Public Relations Associate
kcollins@safekids.org
Office: (314) 791-0537

September 29, 2011