Laura A. Jana

Dr. Laura Jana is an internationally acclaimed pediatrician, award winning author and renowned health communicator and parenting expert. Having most recently served as Director of Innovation in Public Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, she now holds a faculty appointment at Penn State University’s Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center. Dr. Jana’s professional involvement has long extended far beyond the pediatric office, with areas of focus that include education, community engagement, health technology, 21st century skill and workforce development, maternal child health, parenting, early brain and child development, injury prevention, immunization, and health and nutrition promotion. She has and/or currently serves as a strategic consultant for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Primrose Schools, MIT Media Lab's Emerging Worlds Initiative and Iowa State University’s Partnerships in Prevention Science Institute. For more than two decades, Dr. Jana has been recognized nationally for promoting children’s health and wellbeing and offering credible practical parenting advice to new and expectant parents. In addition to her longstanding role as a media spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics, she serves as a trusted consultant for parents, national news media, academic and government organizations, non-profits, and major corporations alike. Currently a blogger for US News & World Report, Dr. Jana has been featured in/on national media outlets such as CNN, The Today Show, Good Morning America, Fox, People Magazine, The New York Times, and Parents magazine. She is the author of 3 parenting books - The Toddler Brain (Hachette, 2017), Heading Home with Your Newborn (3rd Ed AAP 2015), and Food Fights (2nd Ed AAP 2012), as well as 4 children’s books (Jumping Into Kindergarten, Melvin the Magnificent Molar, It’s You and Me Against the Pee, and Amazing Me! It’s Busy Being 3). Dr. Jana earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Cellular Molecular Biology at the University of Michigan, her MD from Case Western Reserve University, and completed her pediatric training at the University of California – San Francisco and at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland. She put her clinical training to good use in pediatric practices in Ohio, Virginia, and Nebraska. After consulting for the famed pediatrician, Dr. Benjamin Spock, Dr. Jana also went on to co-found The Dr. Spock Company, one of the first major online health sites, in the late 1990’s, and subsequently her own consulting company. For nine years, she was also the proud owner of Nebraska’s first 200-student, AdvancEd accredited educational child care center (Primrose School of Legacy). Dr. Jana currently lives in Omaha, Nebraska with her three children and husband.