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Pediatric Emergency Medicine
Catherine (Cassie) Ferguson, MD

Catherine (Cassie) Ferguson, MD

Professor of Pediatrics; Director, Quality Improvement & Patient Safety Scholarly Concentration; Co-Director, Health Equity Scholars Program

Locations

  • Children's Wisconsin, Emergency/Trauma
  • 9000 W. Wisconsin Ave.
    Milwaukee, WI 53226

Education

Fellowship, Pediatric Emergency Medicine, University of Colorado at Denver, 2010
Residency, Pediatrics, University of Colorado, 2007
MD, Medical College of Wisconsin, 2004

Biography

Dr. Ferguson earned her undergraduate degree in psychology from UCLA before completing medical school at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She then completed her residency in pediatrics and fellowship in pediatric emergency medicine at the University of Colorado in Denver, returning to MCW as a faculty member in the Department of Pediatrics in 2010.

She is Professor of Pediatrics at the Medical College of Wisconsin (#275), where she serves as Director of the Health Systems Science Thread in the Medical School and Associate Course Director for Well-Being in The Good Doctor course. She is also the co-founder of the MKE Health Scholars Program, an innovative initiative that prepares future physicians to advance health equity through community partnership, leadership development, and holistic well-being.

Dr. Ferguson's educational scholarship focuses on helping medical students and physicians thrive while navigating the emotional and moral complexities of medicine. Her work explores self-compassion, professional identity formation, belonging, psychological safety, and the development of learning environments that foster both excellence and wholeness. She is the author of The Only Life You Could Save, a book that integrates evidence from psychology, medical education, and the lived experiences of learners and physicians to offer a practical framework for becoming an excellent physician without losing oneself in the process.

As a pediatric emergency medicine physician, Dr. Ferguson also leads quality improvement initiatives aimed at enhancing the quality, safety, and value of emergency care for children. Her work has focused on reducing unnecessary laboratory testing and imaging while improving the timeliness and effectiveness of care for children with acute and chronic medical conditions.

Publications

Publications of Catherine Ferguson MD from the Faculty Collaboration Database

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