Dr. Brotanek is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at UT Southwestern Medical Center, where she works to better understand and reduce disparities in health among Latino children. She completed a three-year fellowship in General Academic Pediatrics at the University of Rochester. Before coming to UT Southwestern, she was Assistant Professor of Pediatrics for three years at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Her areas of research interest encompass asthma, infant feeding practices and iron deficiency, as well as cultural and language barriers to care among Latino children.
Her publications include "Inadequate Access to Care among Spanish-speaking Children" (Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved 2005;16:63-73) and "Iron Deficiency, Prolonged Bottle-feeding, and Racial/Ethnic Disparities" (Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine 2005;159:1038-42). She has also co-authored with Dr. Flores an editorial "The Healthy Immigrant Effect: A Greater Understanding Might Help Us Improve the Health of All Children" (Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine 2005;159:295-297) and a book chapter "Cultural Competency" for the Teaching Resource for Instructors in Prehospital Pediatrics.
She was one of 15 junior faculty nationwide selected to receive a 2006 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Physician Faculty Scholars Program award. Her most recent 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 Robert Wood Johnson Physician Faculty Scholar, she will conduct a series of studies using both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies to provide a comprehensive understanding of the contribution of infant feeding practices to iron deficiency.
