Dr. Lakshmanan’s passion has been to improve infant outcomes and address health equity in the field of perinatal-neonatal medicine leveraging patient centered research, process improvement methodologies, and digital technology. She has numerous publications that have examined the impact of preterm birth and NICU hospitalization on the various domains of family including quality of life, financial burden, mental health, and access to services such as early intervention programs. She also has conducted large population cohort studies that have examined resource utilization and adherence to follow-up. This work has been published in Journal of Pediatrics, JAMA Network Open, Journal of Perinatology, BMC Pediatrics, Clinical Pediatrics, and Academic Pediatrics among others. Dr. Lakshmanan has expertise in both qualitative and quantitative analysis.

Additionally, she has held several leadership positions. She was Director of the Laboratory for Neonatal and Infant Health Outcomes at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. She also holds several national leadership positions such as the Chair of the Academic Pediatric Association’s Qualitative Research Group, Chair of the Perinatal Quality Improvement Panel Education Committee and Leader in the Health Equity Taskforce for the California Perinatal Quality Care Collaborative (CPQCC). She has had numerous national speaking engagements in the area of social determinants of health, technology and innovation, preterm follow-up, and family centered care including at the Pediatric Academic Societies, CPQCC Improvement Palooza, and the Academic Pediatric Association.