Dr. Jacob T. Kilgore named 2025 Advocate of the Year for WVAAP
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Jacob T. Kilgore, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.A.P, assistant professor of pediatrics at the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine and medical director of Hoops Family Children’s Hospital at Cabell Huntington Hospital, has been named the 2025 Advocate of the Year for the West Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (WVAAP).
Given annually at the WVAAP spring conference, the Advocate of the Year award honors individuals who demonstrate exceptional commitment to improving child health through policy, community engagement and professional leadership. WVAAP selected Kilgore for the 2025 award in recognition of his outstanding leadership in advocating for childhood immunization policies in West Virginia. A pediatric infectious disease specialist, Kilgore has been a consistent and influential voice for evidence-based public health. According to WVAAP, his efforts to defend and protect the state’s immunization requirements—considered among the strongest in the nation—have helped preserve protections that safeguard the health of children statewide.
“Dr. Kilgore exemplifies what it means to be a champion for children,” said Jennifer Gerlach, M.D., president of the WVAAP. “His tireless advocacy has ensured that scientific integrity and children’s health remain at the forefront of legislative discussions, helping to safeguard the well-being of countless West Virginia families.”
Kilgore, a Kenova, West Virginia, native and graduate of the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, completed his combined internal medicine–pediatrics residency at Marshall University. He then pursued a fellowship in pediatric infectious diseases and served as chief resident in Quality and Safety at Duke University. During this time, he also earned a Master of Public Health from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health.
He returned to Marshall in 2021 as a faculty member in the Department of Pediatrics, where he leads quality initiatives, mentors trainees, and provides inpatient and outpatient pediatric infectious diseases consultation. His tenure on the West Virginia Immunization Network (WIN) steering and advocacy committees also began in 2021.
In 2022, Kilgore co-founded the West Virginia Antimicrobial Awareness Initiative to promote responsible antibiotic use and reduce resistance statewide. In 2025, he was appointed Medical Director of Hoops Family Children’s Hospital, providing clinical leadership and strategic oversight to advance pediatric care in alignment with Marshall Health Network’s mission: Advancing Health. Inspiring Hope. Serving You.
His academic interests include health equity and advocacy, quality improvement and patient safety, antimicrobial stewardship, and medical education, all of which inform his work as a physician-leader in clinical and public health arenas.