Children with disabilities, developmental delays or chronic illnesses have had their journeys eased at least a bit because Professor Battle has been such an ardent advocate on their behalf. For more than 20 years, she was CEO and Medical Director of the Hospital for Children here in Washington, one of relatively few hospitals in the nation devoted exclusively to pediatric rehabilitation. In that capacity, she ensured that the hospital kept pace with the latest technology and built the institution into a model for similar facilities.
In addition to her the Institute School of Public Health appointment, Dr. Battle is a clinical professor in the Department of Pediatrics at GW's School of Medicine and a member of the academic staff at Children's National Medical Center. In the early 1990s, as a Fellow in the Creating Healthier Communities Fellowship of the Healthcare Forum, Dr. Battle focused on adolescent mothers with HIV/AIDS and their children, a project that evolved into the Minority Adolescent Community Initiative. In recent years, she has transferred her managerial leadership skills to new fields, serving as the Executive Director of the National Museum of Women in the Arts and Executive Director of the Foundation for the National Institute of Health. Dr. Battle was named a Washingtonian of the Year by Washingtonian magazine and earned the President's Medal for Distinguished Community Service of the Catholic University. At GW, she won the Alumni Volunteer Award in 1994 and the Undergraduate Public Health Excellence in Teaching Award in 2005 and in 2008.
