Dr. Todd Peters ’02

When he first enrolled at McDaniel College, Dr. Todd Peters ’02 thought his Biochemistry major and pre-med route might lead him to pediatrics. But he found himself pivoting in his third year at Penn State College of Medicine.

“The parts of medicine that I really liked — and what I loved about my education at McDaniel — were thinking creatively and systematically, working within teams and learning to cherish getting to know people’s stories,” Peters says. “Once I did psychiatry — especially child and adolescent psychiatry — I was like, ‘Ohhh. That’s what that is.’”

He went on to complete his residency and fellowship at Brown University, where he was double board-certified in general psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry. He then spent seven years at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where he served as inpatient medical director and assistant chief medical information officer (CMIO). But Peters, a Pennsylvania native, found himself closer to home in June 2018 when he accepted a job with Sheppard Pratt Health System as director of child and adolescent services and CMIO.

“The parts of medicine that I really liked — and what I loved about my education at McDaniel — were thinking creatively and systematically, working within teams and learning to cherish getting to know people’s stories.” – Dr. Todd Peters ’02

“Sheppard Pratt always felt homey to me and has done wonderful work throughout the state of Maryland,” says Peters. “The opportunity to be around all this great work and to be closer to the McDaniel alumni network was too good to pass up.”

One year later, Peters was appointed vice president and chief medical officer (CMO) in addition to his role as CMIO. He has adjusted to workdays that are now full of meetings, observations and site visits rather than direct clinical care.

“My day-to-day activities as CMO are geared toward how we can create a system that allows somebody to say, ‘I don’t know what I need right now, but I can trust Sheppard Pratt to help me figure it out,’” Peters says. “With my other hat that I wear as CMIO, I think about connecting all of our systems from an IT solutions standpoint. How do we take all of these parts that are doing great work and figure out how to make them communicate best with each other? I don’t like doing the work without knowing why we’re doing it, how we’re doing it and how it all relates to each other.

“I’m not apt to sit on the sidelines. I’d rather be part of the solution than just complain about it.”