John Hutton, M.D.

Biography

John S. Hutton, M.D., M.S., FAAP, is an Associate Professor in the Division of General and Community Pediatrics at UT Southwestern Medical Center and an attending physician at Children’s Medical Center Dallas. He is also an adjunct Associate Professor of General and Community Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Originally from Kentucky, Dr. Hutton spent formative years in San Antonio before his family moved to the Midwest, and he is thrilled to be back in Texas. He is a primary care pediatrician.

In addition to scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals, Dr. Hutton has published numerous children’s books, many with health-promoting themes, including safe sleep, infant calming, breastfeeding, dialogic reading, and limiting digital media use (screen time). Several of these have been found effective in clinical trials. He is also collaborating in a series of picture books introducing organ systems, beginning with the heart and brain, including related pediatric conditions and how children can stay healthy. Inspiring and informing this work is his experience owning and operating an award-winning, independent children's bookstore (Blue Manatee) for almost 20 years.

Dr. Hutton is a “spokes-doctor“ for the Read Aloud 15 MINUTES national campaign, serves on the national Medical Advisory Board and Research Steering Committee of Reach Out and Read, works closely with the Children and Screens Institute of Digital Media and Child Development, and is a co-author (neuroscience lead) of forthcoming American Academy of Pediatrics Literacy Promotion Guidelines. His work has been funded by philanthropy, foundations, and the National Institutes of Health.

With his team, Dr. Hutton has published the first studies in the world using MRI to quantify relationships between home reading and digital media environments on brain structure and function in preschool-age children. He has also developed and validated measures of emergent literacy (The Reading House) and numeracy (The Number Farm) skills, shared reading quality (DialogPR, SharePR), and digital media use (ScreenQ). He is testing innovative approaches to empowering reading and screen-related guidance for families, including the SHARE/STEP approach to reading with infants, community-based training, specially designed children’s books, animated videos, and a free mobile app.

His scientific publications can be accessed via PubMed.gov