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.

Ananamarie Saarinen
Annamarie Saarinen

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 launched 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 neonatal 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 addressing 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. 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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