Investigation Tracks Discredited Child Abuse Pediatrician from Wisconsin to Alaska

Dr. Barbara Knox left the University of Wisconsin and American Family Children’s Hospital after colleagues complained of workplace bullying and parents accused her of misdiagnosing abuse. Now, complaints about her are surfacing in Alaska, where she is the state’s top child abuse pediatrician. Here, Knox is seen testifying on Sept. 14, 2017, at a murder trial in Huntington, W.Va. In that case, Aaron Brendon Miles and Mariya Ajena Jones were found guilty of second-degree murder of a 3-year-old. (Courtney Hessler / The (Huntington, W.Va.) Herald-Dispatch)

Grantees at Wisconsin Watch are investigating a child abuse pediatrician whose declarations of abuse have been rejected at least a dozen times by police, prosecutors, jurors, child protective services officials and other doctors. Dr. Barbara Knox was placed on leave from the University of Wisconsin in 2019 for allegedly bullying her colleagues. Now she is medical director of Alaska CARES, a statewide forensic child abuse clinic. A joint investigation by Wisconsin Watch and the Anchorage Daily News finds that University of Wisconsin officials took steps to hide the full story of Knox’s tenure in that state, which continues to reverberate for many parents and caregivers in Wisconsin — and now in Alaska. The entire medical staff of Alaska CARES has left, lodging numerous complaints over Knox’s medical judgment and behavior. Investigation Tracks Discredited Child Abuse Pediatrician from Wisconsin to Alaska – The Fund for Investigative Journalism