Baby Steps LA was created by Ashwini Lakshmanan, MD, MS, MPH. She is the Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics and Preventive Medicine at USC Keck School of Medicine and is an attending neonatologist at the Newborn and Infant Critical Care Unit at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. She also serves as the Laboratory Research and Director for Fetal & Neonatal Healthcare and Section Head for Epidemiology and Outcomes. Moreover, she is a member of the California Perinatal Quality Care Collaborative Health Equity task force and the Society for Pediatric Research.
Dr. Lakshmanan has a bachelor's degree in biological sciences and another one in economics from USC. She earned her MD from the Keck School of Medicine. She completed her pediatric residency at Children's Hospital Los Angles in 2008 and was also the chief resident. Following her residency, she held two fellowships at Boston Children's Hospital: a research fellowship through the Harvard-wide Pediatric Health Services and a fellowship in the Harvard Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Program. In 2012, Dr. Lakshmanan completed her Master's of public health with a concentration in clinical effectiveness from the Harvard School of Public Health. She also completed an additional Master's in Science from the Keck School of Medicine.
Dr. Lakshmanan holds several national leadership positions, including the Chair of the Perinatal Quality Improvement Panel Education Committee, Chair of the Academic Pediatric Association's Qualitative Research Group, and Leader in the Health Equity Taskforce for the California Perinatal Quality Care Collaborative (CPQCC). She has been a member of CPQCC since 2018, a speaker at Improvement Palooza in 2019 and 2021, and has been on the Education Committee since 2019 and the Improvement Palooza conference planning committee since 2020. In 2021, she began serving as the Education Committee's Chairperson.
Her interest in disparities in health care delivery and perinatal-neonatal medicine, maternal stress on birth outcomes, and quality of life for caregivers of preterm infants after discharge from the NICU inspired the creation of digital solutions, such as Baby Steps LA, to help families transition home from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for which in 2019, CHLA was awarded one of the American Hospital Association’s Innovation Challenge prizes.
Dr.Lakshmanan created Baby Steps LA to address gaps in healthcare delivery in perinatal-neonatal medicine. Her research revolves around the impact of maternal stress on birth outcomes and quality of life for caregivers of preterm infants after discharge from neonatal intensive care. She has created several databases inside the Division to help caregivers better understand the epidemiology and outcomes of neonates with high-risk disorders. Healthcare Utilization Project, Pediatric Health Information System, Development and California Perinatal Quality Care Collaborative (CPQCC), and California's Office of Statewide Health Planning are a few of the databases she has created.
Additionally, Dr. Lakshmanan has mentored numerous MD, MPH, and Ph.D. students and junior faculty during her research. Topics such as opioid exposure, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation are also part of her research work.
Ashwini Lakshmanan, MD, MS, MPH is an Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics and Preventive Medicine and serves as the Section Head for Epidemiology and Outcomes and is the Research and Director of the Laboratory for Fetal & Neonatal Healthcare Research. She is also a member of the Society for Pediatric Research and the California Perinatal Quality Care Collaborative Health Equity task force.
Dr. Ashwini is also an Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and an attending neonatologist at the Newborn and Infant Critical Care Unit (NICU) at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
Dr. Lakshmanan's work also involves the development and implementation of digital health technologies focused on helping and supporting new parents. Dr. Lakshmanan has implemented numerous databases to enhance caregiver understanding of epidemiology and outcomes of neonates with high-risk conditions.
Her interest in disparities in health care delivery and perinatal-neonatal medicine, maternal stress on birth outcomes, and quality of life for caregivers of preterm infants after discharge from the NICU inspired the creation of digital solutions, such as Baby Steps LA, to help families transition home from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for which in 2019, CHLA was awarded one of the American Hospital Association’s Innovation Challenge prizes.
Additionally, Dr. Lakshmanan has mentored numerous MD, MPH, and Ph.D. students and junior faculty during her research. Topics such as opioid exposure, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation are also part of her research work.
Mobile applications can be a great tool to assist new parents in giving their infants better healthcare.
Using an intuitive user interface to provide parents with information curated by healthcare professionals, digital health apps focus on parents’ mental and physical health and help them feel supported during the often difficult transition from hospital to home.
Healthcare applications and developments are intended to keep track of your health, making life easier for you and your healthcare provider.
Baby Steps LA app helps new parents to provide better healthcare for their newborn children by providing parents with an intuitive user interface.
Digital Health implementations are focused on parental support and contain pre-defined checklists, making it easier for parents to remember all the “To do” tasks when their newborns leave the hospital.
The app contains readily available curated content that each member of the family can “favorite,” allowing each family member to navigate to the content they need the most.
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