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Jane Brotanek, M.D., M.P.H.
JDBrotanek@gmail.com
2006-2009 Cohort
Project Title: "Iron Deficiency, Prolonged Bottle-Feeding, and Racial/Ethnic Disparities"

About the Project:

The goal of this series of studies was to use both qualitative and quantitative research methods to provide a comprehensive understanding of the contribution of infant feeding practices to iron deficiency.

Biosketch:
Jane Brotanek, M.D., M.P.H. is a pediatrician currently working at Ridgefield Pediatrics, a pediatric practice in Ridgefield, CT. She most recently was Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Medical Center of Dallas, where she worked to improve the health and healthcare of underserved children. Before joining UT Southwestern, she worked for three years as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics as part of the Center for the Advancement of Underserved Children at the Medical College of Wisconsin and the Children’s Research Institute of the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. She completed her fellowship in General Academic Pediatrics at the University of Rochester, which included obtaining an M.P.H. degree. Multilingual and fluent in Spanish, she provides healthcare to children from a variety of backgrounds.

Dr. Brotanek’s publications have examined healthcare disparities for Latino children, cultural and language barriers in healthcare, and the healthy immigrant effect. These publications include an analysis of the National Health Interview Survey on language barriers for asthmatic children, a book chapter on cultural competency for paramedics, and an editorial on acculturation and the "healthy immigrant effect." She has also developed a tool for evaluating the cultural competency of asthma educational materials as co-chair of the Disparities Workgroup of the Wisconsin Asthma Coalition, and conducted a qualitative study of effective multilingual signage in a children’s hospital.

Her article,"Iron Deficiency, Prolonged Bottle-Feeding, and Racial/Ethnic Disparities," published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, showed that children with prolonged bottle-feeding and Mexican-American children are at higher risk for iron deficiency. As a Physician Faculty Scholar, she conducted a series of studies using both qualitative and quantitative methods to provide a comprehensive understanding of the contribution of infant feeding practices to iron deficiency. Her project, entitled "Iron Deficiency and Prolonged Bottle-feeding: Risk Factors and Racial/Ethnic Disparities," aimed to identify ways that infant feeding practices can be modified to lower the prevalence of iron deficiency.


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