Linda Franck

Professor of Pediatric Nursing, University of California, San Francisco

Areas of Expertise:

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About Linda

Dr. Franck’s research focuses on maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health and development as well as the quality and safety of healthcare. Overarching themes in Dr. Franck’s research include: patient and family experience of health care, family and community partnership in healthcare delivery and research, health disparities, maternal-newborn and child healthcare and family-centered care. Dr. Franck’s research and teaching have influenced perinatal, neonatal and pediatric health care and health policy worldwide.

Contributions | No Jargon Podcast | In the News | Publications

Contributions

We Must Extend Postpartum Medicaid Coverage

Renee Mehra
Monica Rose McLemore

Commentary, January 2022

In the News

Opinion: "Abortion Doesn’t Have to Be an Either-Or Conversation," Linda Franck (with Daniel Felipe Martin Suarez-Baquero, Monica Rose McLemore, Amy Alspaugh, Renée Mehra, Nikki Lanshaw, and Toni Bond), Scientific American, December 8, 2021.

Opinion: "Structural Racism and Social Distancing: Implications for COVID-19," Linda Franck (with Renee Mehra), E Clinical Medicine, May 6, 2021.

Opinion: " A Child’s Hospitalization Is a Family Affair – And Why Caring for Families Is Good for a Hospital’s Health," Linda Franck (with Nicole Rubin and Deron Ferguson), Collaborative Family Healthcare Association, July 29, 2015.

Publications

"Research Priorities of Women at Risk for Preterm Birth: Findings and a Call to Action" (with Monica Rose McLemore, Shanell Williams, Kathryn Miller, Anastasia Y. Gordon, Schyneida Williams, Nakia Woods, Lisa Edwards, Tania Pacheco, Artie Padilla, Fanta Nelson, and Larry Rand). BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth (2020).

Discusses findings and a call to action. Mentions how women of color living in communities that experience disproportionately high rates of preterm birth generated and prioritized research questions to address the preterm birth epidemic.

"Improving Family-Centered Care for Infants in Neonatal Intensive Care Units" (with Robin Bisgaard, Diana Cormier, Jennifer Hutchison, Dishon Moore, Caryl Gay, Holly Christensen, Rebecca M. Kriz, Jennifer Mora, Mary Ekno, Heather Hackett, and Natasha Lare). Advances in Neonatal Care (2021).

Identifies a range of issues that support or impede delivery of family-centered care and provided actionable recommendations for improvement.

"Supporting Parents As Essential Care Partners in Neonatal Units During the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic" (with Nicole R. van Veenendaal, Aniko Deierl, Fabiana Bacchini, and Karel O’Brien). Acta Paediatricia 110, no. 7 (2021).

Provides and reviews the evidence on safety of maintaining family integrated care practices and the effects of restricting parental participation in neonatal care during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Makes recommendations for restoring essential family integrated care practices are discussed.

"Implementing Rapid Whole-Genome Sequencing in Critical Care: A Qualitative Study of Facilitators and Barriers to New Technology and Adoption" (with Rebecca M. Kriz, Seema Rego, Karen Garman, Charlotte Hobbs, and David Dimmock). The Journal of Pediatrics 237 (2021): 237-243.

Describes the implementation of rapid whole-genome sequencing as a first-tier test for critically ill children in diverse children's hospital settings. Provides new insights regarding the factors influencing adoption and sustainability of novel technologies in neonatal and pediatric critical care settings.

"Research Questions That Matter to Us: Priorities of Young People With Chronic Illnesses and Their Caregivers" (with Emily von Scheven, Bhupinder K. Nahal, Isabel C. Cohen, and Rosa Kelekian). Pediatric Research 89 (2020): 1659-1663.

Finds that young people experiencing different chronic conditions and their caregivers were able to achieve consensus on condition-agnostic research priorities that mattered most to them. Maintains that age and role influenced the research priorities. Tells how research priorities are to inform and influence local and national research agendas and funding priorities.

"Associations between Infant and Parent Characteristics and Measures of Family Well-Being in Neonates with Seizures: A Cohort Study" (with Renee A. Shellhaas, Monica Lemmon, Julie Sturza, James S. Soul, Taeun Chang, Courtney J. Wusthoff, Catherine J. Chu, Shavonne L. Massey, Nicholas S. Abend, Cameron Thomas, Elizabeth E. Rogers, Charles E. McCulloch, Katie Grant, Lisa Grossbauer, Kamil Pawlowski, and Hannah C. Glass). The Journal of Pediatrics 221 (2020): 64-71.

Surveys parents whose babies had been hospitalized for seizures and found that 1 in 2 had moderate or severe anxiety and 1 in 3 had depression. Discovers families as a whole faced financial and emotional challenges and sometimes struggled to cope.