Sundes Kazmir, MD, is a pediatrician who specializes in evaluating child abuse.
“I love working with children and families and thinking about how we can support them in times of crisis,” Dr. Kazmir says. “I strive to be transparent, direct, and compassionate with families.”
Dr. Kazmir says she appreciates the multidisciplinary nature of her specialty. “We collaborate with social workers and law enforcement to understand if and how abuse is happening, and if so, how we can best help the child and family,” she says. “And at the Yale Child Sexual Abuse Clinic, I work with an amazing team of child-life specialists and social workers/forensic interviewers. We also have a consult service for all patients in the Yale New Haven Hospital system where providers can call us to discuss concerns for physical or sexual abuse or neglect.”
When a child makes a disclosure of sexual abuse, parents may feel that they are ones to blame, Dr. Kazmir says. “Parents may think they have failed their child somehow. I emphasize to parents that there is a critical role they play in their child’s recovery from the trauma. Children who are supported and believed by their parents, especially by mothers, have better mental and general health outcomes. Finding concrete ways to say, ‘I believe you,’ and “I will do whatever I can to protect you’ can be life-changing for a child.”
Dr. Kazmir’s research interests include sexual abuse and medical neglect. “Abuse and neglect are both complicated. Neglect may happen if there is a barrier, such as poverty or other societal factors, so working with families to better understand stressors and barrier, and how to provide resources is important,” she says.
