CHRISTINE PEREZ
BOARD MEMBER
Dr. Christine Perez holds Ph.D. in Public Health specializing in Community Health and Education and is a Registered Nurse with over 25 years of experience working with neonatal and pediatric populations. During her NICU career, she had the opportunity to work as a travel nurse for 8yrs in 18 different NICUs across the country, primarily level III/ IV, leading to extensive knowledge of best practices. She was a NICU Nurse Educator for a 36-bed level IV NICU in charge of staff education, new hire orientation, research, and implementation of Evidence-Based Practice, as well as policy and procedure updates.
Her current position is the National Clinical Improvement Thought Leader NICU for Philips Healthcare. She is responsible for identifying gaps in the NICU space and developing clinical services to improve the overall quality of care through education and change management, including family-centered developmental care. She has passion for improving neonatal care, promoting early intervention, and family-centered care particularly in vulnerable populations.
Family-centered developmental care has always been her passion beginning with developmental certification in 2001, family-centered care committees, and internationally certified in infant massage since 2014. She has presented nationally on various topics, including “Supporting NICU Families During Separation, “ “Transformational Leadership Opioid Epidemic Perinatal Environment,” “Breastfeeding Benefits and Barriers in the Drug Exposed Infant, “Back to Sleep Positioning NICU to Home,” “The Journey to Baby- Friendly,” “Opioid Epidemic in the Perinatal Environment,” “Transformational Leadership’s role in Opioid Crisis, ”Redefining the Essential Care Team,” as well as featured in the San Diego Tribune for Safe Sleep and an International Podcast for compassionate neonatal care.
Her research study, “Exploring Infant Massage as Standard Nonpharmacological Treatment for Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome”, explored infant massage as a nonpharmacological intervention for Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome, identifying facilitators and barriers to standardizing nonpharmacological care. She was a co-author of a quantitative research study on Antibiotic Stewardship in the NICU. In addition, she serves as an advocate for improving Maternal Child Health, including co-author for the American Public Health Association National Public Health Late Breaker Policy LB21-02, Expanding Medicaid Coverage for Birthing People to One Year Postpartum.
“I believe that the greatest attribute of both nursing and public health professions is the ability to promote positive social change to improve lives for patients, families, and communities through collaborations, research, education, change management, policy, and high-quality, equitable care.”