Michelle-Marie Peña, MD

BIRCWH Scholar: 2024

Dr. Michelle-Marie Peña is a Neonatologist and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Emory and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Dr. Peña received her medical degree from Harvard Medical School, completed her pediatric and neonatology training at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and joined the Emory/Children’s faculty in July 2022. She is a physician scientist who studies social inequities in perinatal care. Her research focuses on strategies to support high-risk mother-infant dyads, including supporting breastfeeding and kangaroo care, where a preterm infant is placed skin-to-skin with a parent in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). She is currently completing her Master’s degree in Summer 2024 (Master of Science in Health Policy Research) at the University of Pennsylvania. Her prior breastfeeding equity work has been recognized by the Society for Pediatric Research Award to Enhance Diversity in the Research Workforce (1 of 4 awards nationally that year) and the Academic Pediatric Association Regional Young Investigator Award. She currently leads initiatives to improve kangaroo care and parent’s milk provision Grady Memorial Hospital. She is also a co-investigator and site PI for studies funded by the NIH and March of Dimes addressing racism and economic support for low-income, African American mothers of preterm infants in the NICU. She is also dedicated to improving workforce diversity as a strategy to address inequities in care and have led and co-led multiple national committees.