Diana V. Perry MD

Diana V. Perry, MD, MPH is a physician in Newborn Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital and South Shore Hospital. She is Clinical Instructor in Pediatrics Part-time at Harvard Medical School. 

Dr. Perry grew up in Houston, Texas, the ninth child of two physicians. Her father, one of the first African American interventional cardiologists in our country, served two terms on the Skidmore College Board of Trustees. Her mother is a pediatrician. Six of her nine siblings are also physicians. After completing her high school studies in three years, she came to Skidmore where she majored in Sociology. During her junior year, she won a research fellowship to travel to South Africa where she lived for eight weeks under Apartheid. She subsequently completed her senior thesis comparing the American Civil Rights Movement to the South African Movement to end Apartheid. An additional paper, Black Resistance vs. Nonracialism, The Changing Ideology to Black Resistance to Apartheid, was published in Skidmore's Periclean Honor Society journal. Dr. Perry was inducted into the Periclean Honor Society, Phi Beta Kappa, and the Sociology honor society, Alpha Kappa Delta. 

After completing Skidmore College in three years, she graduated, with honors, and entered Boston University School of Medicine. Following medical school, she completed her internship and residency in Pediatrics at The Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. She subsequently completed a three-year fellowship in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at the Harvard Combined Program in Newborn Medicine. She spent her senior year of that fellowship completing a masters in Family and Community Health at Harvard School of Public Health. 

After many years away from Skidmore, she returned participating in two science panels, including the Skidmore Science Summit Panel in October 2015. She has been a member of the Skidmore College Board of Trustees since July 2015 where she currently serves as Vice Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee. 

From 2009 through 2017, Dr. Perry served on the Women in Science Committee at the Museum of Science, Boston. She enjoys helping to develop programs at the museum that encourage young girls to enter science and medicine. Her current academic interests include neonatal ethics, neonatal resuscitation and care of the extremely preterm infant. 

Dr. Perry is an avid distance runner having completed 16 marathons including 10 Boston Marathons. She is the proud parent of William Gilson, age 20 and Gifford School class of 2021 and Charlotte Gilson, age 19. She currently resides in Marshfield, MA with her two college student children and her mini goldendoodle, Dixie. THE HONOR OF DIANA’S LIFE IS HAVING BEEN ASKED TO SERVE ON THE GIFFORD BOARD OF DIRECTORS. She feels as if her life has come full circle with this very important new role.