The founder:
Padget Skogman M.D. F.A.A.P.
Pediatrician, child advocate, and mama to three little women
Why I’m building PediatricianPlus
I became a pediatrician because I wanted to spend my life teaching kids and their parents to be healthy. What I didn't expect was how much of that care would happen outside the exam room — in conversations parents (and I) desperately wanted to have but never had time for in a 15-minute visit.
PediatricianPlus is the practice I've been wanting to build for years. A clinic that has time for the question you've been carrying around since 2 a.m. A practice that talks about sleep and screens and nutrition and emotional regulation, not just ear infections. One where the visit ends when you feel ready, not when the schedule says it should.
I'm building it in eastern Iowa because this is home and I want all of our kids to thrive. And I'm building it now because the beautiful kids today — including my own — deserve a different kind of pediatric care than the one insurance companies and large healthcare organizations dictate we deliver.
Founding principles of PediatricianPlus:
I became a pediatrician because longevity and life-long health starts in pregnancy and carries into adulthood. The habits and health foundation we teach and imprint on our child sets them up for success over their life. Current American culture is far from ideal for lifelong health, so we’re here to help coach you to build the foundation you and your child need.
Wellness and prevention are paramount.
Access to your pediatrician matters, we want to be able to see each of our patients when they need us, and better be available to answer their parents questions along the way. We’re designing access for families that is realistic, convenient and delivered in 2026 style - sometimes at the office, sometimes via patient portal or phone call, and sometimes via video.
Time and convenience matter.
Whole body, whole child.
We CANNOT just treat the symptom without exploring the underlying cause. Yes, when constipated the might need a laxative - but what else is going on? We are here to take the time to help you figure out the underlying problem and try to not only treat it, but understand it, and stop it from happening again.
I am a mother to three little women. I am not their doctor, but their mom, and all the medical knowledge in the world cannot replace my motherly intuition. When my patient’s mother or father tell me that they are concerned something is not right, I take this very seriously and listen and evaluate until we both agree that the current explanation seems to fit. And as a general pediatrician, I rely heavily on my training in evidenced based medicine and all of my subspecialist colleagues to keep searching until we have found the cause and solution.
Parents are the experts on their child.
I’m a born and raised Iowa farm girl who also happens to love big cities and travel. Life has taken me from working on Wall Street in New York City to training at Vanderbilt in Nashville. In college, I studied economics (with a side of nutrition science) at the College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University in Minnesota. I even spent a semester abroad in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and wrote my thesis on The Economic Costs of Obesity.
From there, I went to medical school at the University of Iowa’s Carver College of Medicine. I recognized quickly in medical school that I would never be practicing what I preach without addressing my own struggles with an eating disorder, so I courageously took a year off for treatment after my first year there. This was one of the more difficult decisions I’ve made, but truly allowed me to practice medicine with integrity and authenticity. My final year of medical school, I spent time studying in Sweden, observing firsthand why and how their mothers and infants have some of the best health outcomes in the world. I learned a tremendous amount and it helped form the foundation for how I want to teach and practice health.
I trained as a pediatric resident at the Stead Family Children’s Hospital from 2014–2018. During that time, I faced severe peripartum depression and anxiety while pregnant, which meant taking a leave of absence. Honestly, I could write a whole book about that season. My psychiatrist and OB/GYN saved my life, and I learned something huge: physical health means nothing without mental and emotional health. We need all three to truly thrive.
In 2018, I became a board-certified pediatrician. A year later, I opened a pediatric obesity clinic inside my general pediatrics practice. In 2022, I shifted into hospital medicine, eventually serving as President of our Pediatric Department and Physician Wellness Director (I even went through Stanford’s wellness training in 2024). I started to get more involved in a social media presence and advocating for digital media mindfulness and citizenship for all of my families.
In 2025, I left full time employment and stepped into locums tenems (travel doctoring) in rural Iowa near where I grew up. While doing this, I started to daydream about my dream clinic and now 2 years later am opening my dream, PediatricianPlus.
Education + Credentials:
2007 BA in Economics from College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University.
2014 M.D. graduate from Carver College of Medicine at University of Iowa.
Married 2015 to one amazing man
Baby girl #1 2016
2017 Pediatric residency at Stead Family Children’s Hosptial at UIHC.
Baby girl #2 2018
2018-2022 Private practice pediatrician at Mercy
Baby girl #3 2021
2022 - 2025 Pediatric hospitalist at Mercy
2025-current Locum tenems pediatrician in rural Iowa
Outside of medicine
I do love to work but also play hard. I spend most of my free time with my husband and our girls - cooking, gardening, exercising (yoga, weight lifiting, running, and hiking), reading and sitting on our porch drinking coffee. I’m an old-school social justice Catholic, raised by amazing nuns who loves to give back to make the world better, sans any religious judgment. I try to practice what I preach and my own health as female with type one diabetes and celiac disease this involves, regular exercise, great sleep, daily meditation, cooking meals for my family, making sure I’m taking my insulin and living my best life.
