About The Author
A Life Built Around Learning, Children, Families, and Discovery
Dr. Cheryl Gatewood Tolliver is a board-certified pediatrician, author, and educator with more than two decades of experience caring for children and guiding families.
Her professional journey, however, began somewhere very different.
Before entering medicine, Dr. Tolliver earned a degree in Industrial Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Master of Science in Systems Management from the University of Southern California. She spent several years working in engineering, software design and development, and software quality assurance, primarily involving missile systems.
Her desire to work more directly with people eventually led her to medicine.
Dr. Tolliver graduated from Morehouse School of Medicine and completed her residency training at Orlando Regional Hospital in Orlando, Florida.
Throughout her medical career, she has served in several roles, including primary care pediatrician, pediatric hospitalist, and associate professor. Her academic and professional experience has included affiliations with the Medical College of Georgia, Philadelphia College of Medicine, and Phoebe Putney Family Practice Residency Program.
Medicine, Education & Empowering Families
For Dr. Tolliver, pediatrics has never been limited to diagnosing and treating illness.
She believes that educating parents is an essential part of caring for children.
When families understand what is happening with their children and have reliable information available to them, they can become more confident participants in their children’s care.
That philosophy naturally extends into her work as an author and educator.
Writing gives Dr. Tolliver another way to communicate, teach, encourage curiosity, and connect with families and readers beyond the clinical setting.
The Author Behind the Books
Dr. Tolliver does not limit herself to a single genre.
Her published work includes parenting guides, children’s books, poetry, and fiction, reflecting the wide range of experiences and interests that have shaped her life. Her questionnaire also confirms that her literary work currently spans these four areas, with a sequel in development.
Her fiction explores human relationships, identity, family, resilience, and history, while her other writing allows her to educate parents, engage younger readers, and express ideas through poetry.
For Dr. Tolliver, these genres may be different, but they all begin in the same place:
A desire to communicate something worth sharing.
Beyond Medicine and Writing
Family remains an important part of Dr. Tolliver’s life.
She and her husband, Kevin, have been married for 43 years. Together they have four children, Kevin Paul (Melinda), Nicholas (deceased), Destiny, and Taylor, and two grandchildren, Russell and Tristan.
Her experiences as a physician, wife, mother, grandmother, educator, engineer, and author have given her a uniquely broad perspective, one that continues to influence both the subjects she explores and the readers she hopes to reach.