It is with deep sadness that Migrant Clinicians Network announces the passing of Benard Dreyer, MD, FAAP, staunch advocate for migrant children’s health, and a Pediatric Specialty Care Access Network (Pedi SCAN) Champion with Migrant Clinicians Network’s Health Network.

“Benard truly exemplified the values and love for children of our Pedi SCAN Champions,” said Marsha Griffin, MD, FAAP, pediatrician, president of Community for Children, Inc., co-founder of Pedi SCAN, and former MCN Board Member, who worked closely with Dr. Dreyer for over a decade. Pedi SCAN is a network of pediatricians across the country who volunteer to assist asylum seeking children identified at the border with serious medical conditions in accessing urgent medical care when they reach their destinations. This prevents these children from ending up in an ER or an ICU or worse. In 2018, as Dr. Griffin and her colleagues began to organize Pedi SCAN,  Dr. Griffin reached out to Dr. Dreyer, former President of the American Academy of Pediatricians (AAP), to ask if he would be willing to act as the Pedi SCAN Champion for New York State, where he resides. He immediately agreed, becoming one of the very first of this powerful network of over 75 clinicians linking children to lifesaving care. “He, like all our SCAN Champions, was a walking heart, a compassionate model for caring for all children,” Dr. Griffin said. “Dr Dreyer, like all of the Champions and most Americans, will not put up with people hurting children or neglecting them.  They will not remain silent. This year, when we raise our voices it will be in remembrance of our friend and every child’s friend, Benard.”

As AAP President, Dr. Dreyer visited the US Southern Border and detention centers with a delegation of pediatricians and AAP officers, and wrote about the conditions under which asylum seekers are held and the health needs of the vulnerable children with whom he engaged. In an essay about the trip, he recounted the story told to him by one asylum seeker, who said he escaped El Salvador with his teenage son after drug gangs killed his father and brother, and threatened to kill his son. 

“Though it’s been weeks since I left the border, the border will never leave me,” Dr. Dreyer said after returning, reflecting on the parallels between migrant families’ journeys with his own family’s immigration story. Following the trip, the AAP began advocating in earnest for improved conditions for the children and their families, including through a policy statement on detention of immigrant children, and, not long after, Dr. Dreyer joined Pedi SCAN as the first Pedi SCAN Champion. 

“Dr. Benard Dreyer was a Godsend,” said Elizabeth Gonzalez Ibarra, the Health Network Associate who works closely with Pedi SCAN Champions as the primary coordinator of SCAN cases.

“Every time I had a case in the New York area, he was always one of the first SCAN Champions to reply; he was always happy to help. He made the process of getting someone into care so easy, it felt too easy. But that was just the kind of person he was. He cares about the people, the communities. It was an honor to be able to work in partnership with him and heartbreaking to me not being able to meet him in person. I know I need to continue to do this great work because we need more people like him.”

“While Dr. Dreyer’s incredible professional accomplishments and their positive impact will continue to improve the lives of countless children for years to come, it is who he was as a person that is likely the bigger gift with which we have been blessed,” added Karla Fredricks, MD, MPH, FAAP, a fellow Pedi SCAN Champion who works closely with Health Network. “To meet Dr. Dreyer was to befriend him, as his warm personality and genuine care immediately forged a strong personal connection. I consider myself beyond lucky to have collaborated with Dr. Dreyer on the care of newly arrived children and will miss him greatly. I can only hope that we will honor and reflect his compassion, dedication, and drive as we continue to work toward his ever-present goal of achieving health equity for all children.”