Laura Jana

Dr. Laura Jana is an Omaha-based pediatrician and Director of Innovation at the University of Nebraska College of Public Health with a focus on early education and 21st C skill development. She serves as a strategic consultant for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and MIT Media Lab, is an award-winning parenting and children’s book author, and a nationally recognized parenting and health communicator.

Long focused on the intersect between education, health and nutrition in childhood, Dr. Jana has also been increasingly involved in children's advocacy and driving the professionalization of and investment in early education and child care in the US, including involvement with Ready Nation on social impact financing/pay-for-success efforts, and as a result of her 9-year ownership of a 200-student, AdvancEd accredited educational child care center. She also co-authored the CDC's Amazing Me! book for their national early childhood campaign dedicated to increasing awareness about the importance of social, emotional and cognitive development.

Having served as a consultant to Dr. Benjamin Spock, Dr. Jana went on to co-found the Dr. Spock Co - one of the first online health sites - in the late 1990's, and subsequently her own company- Practical Parenting Consulting. She serves as an expert consultant for national news media, academic and government organizations, non-profits, and major corporations alike, is a media spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics, and has served on the national Exec Committee for Early Education. Broadly focused on pediatric and health-related issues extending well beyond the four walls of a pediatric office, her professional efforts are increasingly dedicated to cross-collaborations that address the earliest and most pressing needs of children and families - especially those living in poverty both locally, nationally, and globally.

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