As the Director of Pediatric Clinical Quality at Harmony Healthcare LI, Suanne Kowal-Connelly, MD, FAAP, has been working for over nine years to promote health equity, reduce barriers to care and improve health outcomes for the underserved communities of Nassau County. She is a board-certified pediatrician with over 30 years of experience in various settings, including private practice, school districts, and child abuse and neglect prevention. Adaptability to community needs has allowed her to bridge gaps between health care, education, and community engagement, while continuing to seek innovative ways to deliver evidence-based care to patients. Dr. Kowal sees health literacy as a bridge to better health and has been a contributing writer to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) online parenting magazine, HealthyChildren, with many articles. This has led to one of her proudest accomplishments: authoring a book, Parenting Through Puberty published by the AAP in 2018. In turning her attention to the earliest years of a child’s life, she has recently been awarded grant funds to support a HealthySteps program at Harmony Healthcare in partnership with the Institute for Parenting at Adelphi University.