Ananamarie Saarinen
Annamarie Saarinen

Annamarie Saarinen is an American health advocate, economist and co-founder of the Newborn Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization that aims to accelerate the pace of early detection and intervention for treatable newborn health conditions.[1] Saarinen also co-founded Bloom Standard, a social impact innovation lab developing early diagnostic technologies for children in remote and resource poor settings.

Life

Saarinen is an adoptee, and she grew up in a small town in southwestern Minnesota.[1]

In 2008, Saarinen's daughter Eve was born with a critical congenital heart defect (CCHD) and survived two heart surgeries in the first months of her life.[2] This experience inspired Saarinen to create the Newborn Foundation | Coalition and launch the country’s first multi-hospital newborn heart screening pilot in collaboration with a state department of health, with the purpose of making CCHD screening a standard of care in the United States.[3]

In 2011, the Newborn Foundation | Coalition successfully lobbied the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to include pulse-oximetry testing for CCHDs in their universal screening recommendations.[4] The screening was endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association and the March of Dimes.[5][6] As a result, all 50 states, including the District of Columbia, adopted the Routine Uniform Screening Panel (RUSP).[7]

The BORN project has provided infant pulse oximetry screening training and implementation and a data collection framework for more than 1,200 health workers, expanding its screening cohort to nearly 300,000 newborns across 200 delivery sites in 10 low- and middle-income countries. It was also among the first formal public/private sector commitments to reduce preventable newborn mortality as part of the UN Secretary General's Every Woman, Every Child initiative.[8] Approximately 4 million U.S. newborns each year are now being screened for heart defects using pulse oximetry.[9] The BORN Project was selected to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which address human rights, health equity and innovation.[10][11][12][13]

In 2016, Saarinen was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services under the Obama administration to the federal Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children (ACHDNC).[14]

References

  1. 1 2 Marsh, Steve (1 July 2016). "The Power of One". Mpls.St.Paul Magazine. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  2. ↑ Kristina Crane, "Sent Home Too Soon? The Difficult Art of Hospital Discharge", U.S. News, Jan 29, 2015
  3. ↑ Sebelius, Kathleen (September 11, 2011). "Kathleen Sebelius letter of recommendation to the Secretary of Health and Human Services" (PDF). Health Resources & Services Administration.
  4. ↑ "Newborn Screening for Critical Congenital Heart Disease: Potential Roles of Birth Defects Surveillance Programs — United States, 2010–2011". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). December 26, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Endorsement of Health and Human Services Recommendation for Pulse Oximetry Screening for Critical Congenital Heart Disease". AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS. Jan 1, 2012.
  6. ↑ "March of Dimes Statement on New Nationwide Screening Test for Newborns". March of Dimes. September 22, 2011.
  7. ↑ "All States Now Have Policies Supporting Screening for Critical Congenital Heart Defects". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 2019.
  8. ↑ "Every Woman, Every Child initiative". everywomaneverychild.org. 20 February 2019. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  9. ↑ Multiple Authors (May 2016). "Lessons Learned From Newborn Screening for Critical Congenital Heart Defects". Pediatrics. 137 (5): e20154573. doi:10.1542/peds.2015-4573. PMC 5227333. PMID 27244826. Retrieved Feb 27, 2019.
  10. ↑ "UN Solutions Summit". Solutions Summit. September 2018. Retrieved Feb 27, 2019.
  11. ↑ "UN and partners to highlight innovations for achieving Sustainable Development Goals at Solutions Summit". UN.org. Aug 24, 2015. Retrieved Feb 27, 2019.
  12. ↑ Sukin, Gigi (April 3, 2017). "Denver serves as launch pad for global Solutions Summit boot camp". Colorado Biz.
  13. ↑ Acharya, Nish (September 28, 2018). "The Top 10 Entrepreneurs At The UN General Assembly". Forbes. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
  14. ↑ "Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children Meeting Summary" (PDF). Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA). May 14, 2021.
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