April Edwell, MD, MEd

I care for all variety of critically ill children, teenagers, and young adults in the ICU. My particular areas of interest are thinking about how to make our system more equitable and just for patients, and how we train the next generation of physicians to be anti-oppressive in their thinking and practice.

My philosophy of care is one part Derrick Shephard’s “It’s a beautiful day to save lives” one part Captain Hook’s “Indefatigable good form” and one part Mary J. Blige’s “Don’t need no hateration, holleration in this dancery.”
Education
MAEd, 2021 - Education, University of California at Berkeley
Fellow, 2021 - Pediatric Critical Care, University of California at San Francisco
MAEd, 07/2021 - Graduate Medical Education and Racism, University of California, Berkeley
Fellowship, 07/2021 - Pediatric Critical Care, University of California, San Francisco
2019 - Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion Training, University of California
Chief Resident, 2017 - Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Residency, 07/2017 - Internal Medicine/Pediatrics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Resident, 2016 - Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Intern, 2013 - Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
MD, 2012 - , University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
MD, 05/2012 - , University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
BS, 2008 - Biological Anthropology and Anatomy, Duke University
Honors and Awards
  • John A. Watson Faculty Scholars Program, Dean's Diversity Fund, UCSF, 2025
  • Projects for Peace Alumni Award, Middlebury Projects for Peace, 2025
  • Brownell Anderson Award, Western Group on Educational Affairs (WGEA), 2025
  • Herbert W. Nickens Faculty Fellowship, Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), 2024
  • Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators, University of California, San Francisco, 2024
  • UCSF Pediatric Residency Faculty Teaching Award, University of California, San Francisco, 2024
  • RIME Underrepresented in Medicine (URiM) Research Award, Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), 2023
  • UCSF Pediatric Residency Compassionate Faculty Physician Award, University of California, San Francisco, 2022
  • UCSF Innovations Funding for Education, University of California, San Francisco, 2021
  • UCSF Fellow Teaching Award, Nomination, University of California, San Francisco, 2020
  • UCSF Health Exceptional Physician Award, University of California, San Francisco, 2020
  • Alpha Omega Alpha, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Medicine, 2014

  1. Edwell A, Huang JX, Bongiovanni T, Pantell M. Inequities in the Application of Behavioral Flags for Hospitalized Pediatric Patients. JAMA network open 2025. PMID: 39976964


  2. Overall J, Gautam A, Franco M, Argueza BR, Edwell A, Karvonen KL. "And Still We Rise: Advances in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Antiracism in Academic Pediatrics". Academic pediatrics 2025. PMID: 39826887


  3. Edwell A, Edwell J. From othering to belonging: a framework for DEI history-telling and strategising. Medical humanities 2024. PMID: 39122261


  4. Karvonen KL, Edwell A, McZeal A, Ondusko DS, Rogers E. Recognition and Impact of Policing Families in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Neoreviews 2024. PMID: 39616136


  5. Anderson HLK, Xu X, Edwell A, Lockwood L, Cabral P, Weiss A, Poeppelman RS, Kalata K, Shanker AI, Rosenfeld J, Borman-Shoap E, Pearce M, Karol C, Scheurer J, Hobday PM, O'Connor M, West DC, Balmer DF. How Might we Build an Equitable Future? Design Justice, a Counternarrative to Dominant Approaches in Medical Education. Teaching and learning in medicine 2024. PMID: 39282912


  6. Essakow J, Edwell A, Smith E, Daya S. Acknowledging and Addressing Microaggressions: A Virtual Experiential Learning Approach for Faculty. MedEdPORTAL : the journal of teaching and learning resources 2024. PMID: 39233770


  7. Edwell AA. Dear Black Folx in Academic Pediatrics. Academic pediatrics 2023. PMID: 37591341


  8. Argueza BR, Young ES, Deering L, Franco M, Nightingale J, Irving P, Edwell A, McBride D, Marbin J. Integrating Discussions on Racism and Health Equity into Clinical Reasoning Conference. Academic pediatrics 2023. PMID: 37567442


  9. Edwell A, Van Schaik S, Teherani A. URM: Underrepresented or Underrecognized? A Case Study of Black Pediatric Critical Care Physicians. Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges 2023. PMID: 37983396


  10. Edwell A, van Schaik S, Teherani A. URM: Underrepresented or Underrecognized? A Case Study of Black Pediatric Critical Care Physicians. Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges 2023. PMID: 37523368


  11. Aljohani OA, Arcilla L, Kaushik N, Cresalia NM, Li B, Edwell AA, Ramirez AM, Anwar S. Myocarditis in children after COVID-19 vaccine. Annals of pediatric cardiology 2022. PMID: 36589642


  12. Edwell A, Schaik SV, Desai M. Beyond satisfaction: evaluating understanding in PICU family centered rounds. Journal of Communication In Healthcare 2021. PMID: 36911895


  13. Edwards A, Permar S, Buck S, Jhaveri R. Ten-Year-Old Girl With Abdominal Pain, Irregular Breathing, and Tachycardia. 2016. PMID: 28220709


  14. Edwards A, Clay EL, Jewells V, Adams S, Crawford RD, Redding-Lallinger R. A 19-year-old man with sickle cell disease presenting with spinal infarction: a case report. 2013. PMID: 23972124