Founded by and led by local pediatricians
BestStart Washington was founded in 2003 by Washington pediatricians Danette Glassy, MD, FAAP, Ed Marcuse, MD, MPH, FAAP and Kyle Yasuda, MD, FAAP.
Julian Ayer, MD, FAAP, is on staff at Pediatrics Northwest in his hometown of Tacoma. He joined the Board of Directors of BestStart Washington in 2012. An active member of the Board of the Washington Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Ayer earned his bachelor’s degree at Gonzaga University in Spokane and his MD at Rush Medical College in Chicago. He completed his pediatric residency at the University of Wisconsin. His community service includes volunteering at the Trinity Neighborhood Health Clinic serving underserved residents of Tacoma, and he has participated on an advisory committee to support Bridges, a family grief support center for local children. Dr. Ayer also co-founded the University of Wisconsin Chapter of PRIDE (Pediatricians Recognizing Individuals Demonstrating Excellence) to recognize outstanding youth in area schools.
Danette Swanson Glassy, MD, FAAP, is a co-founder and Board President of BestStart Washington. Recently retired as a primary care pediatrician at Mercer Island Pediatrics after 32 years, she earned her MD from the University of Washington and completed her pediatric residency at Seattle Children’s. Dr. Glassy is also a retired clinical professor in pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine, and past president of the Washington Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. She has held several leadership roles with the national American Academy of Pediatrics, and served for two years on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Head Start Research and Evaluation Committee. Dr. Glassy is co-editor of Caring For Our Children: National Health and Safety Performance Standards; Guidelines for Early Care and Education Programs, 4th edition, plus continues to contribute to ongoing updates. Awards Dr. Glassy has received include the Susan Aronson Early Education and Child Care Advocacy Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Richard A. Molteni Award for Professionalism and Quality from Seattle Children’s Hospital.
Kim Hauff (she/her) MD, FAAP is Pediatric Hospitalist at Swedish Medical Center and has been on the BestStart Washington board since 2019. She earned her MD from Tulane University and completed her pediatric residency training at Seattle Children’s/UW. She remains an active board member for the Washington Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics—currently serving as the chapter Secretary. Her areas of interest and work include adolescent inpatient pediatric care, kids access to play and the outdoors, and teaching pediatric inpatient medicine to family medicine residents.
Beth E. Harvey, MD, FAAP, joined the Board of BestStart Washington in 2012 and is a pediatrician with South Sound Pediatrics in her hometown of Olympia. She earned her bachelor’s and medical degrees from the University of Missouri in Kansas City and completed her residency at Primary Children’s at the University of Utah, where she ran an Americorps project focusing on healthcare access for the Hispanic community. After serving as Chief Resident at Primary Children’s, she returned home in 1997 to join the practice that cared for her as a child. A former President of the Washington Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Harvey serves on the Boards of the Washington Vaccine Association and Seattle Children’s Care Network. Her interests are in improving the quality of children’s healthcare through system improvements and focusing on mental health, structured screening and connecting families to the services that they need.
Kyle E. Yasuda, MD, FAAP, is a co-founder and Board Member of BestStart Washington. He is a retired Clinical Professor in General Pediatrics at the University of Washington and had been a primary care pediatrician in Seattle since 1983. He previously served as Medical Director for the Pediatric Clinics at Harborview and as head of the Pediatrics Section and Director of the Newborn Nursery at Virginia Mason. Dr. Yasuda earned his MD and completed his residency at the University of Washington. He has also served on the Board of Directors, then as President of the American Academy of Pediatrics.