National Children’s Study Federal Advisory Committee Member
Dr. DuPlessis is a pediatrician and senior advisor to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Center for Healthier Children Families and Communities (CHCFC), who divides her time between the UCLA CHCFC and Harbor/UCLA Medical Center. Dr. DuPlessis has extensive experience in policy development, program development and implementation, health care administration, and quality improvement processes. She is a sought after consultant for her extensive knowledge of health and health related programs and community pediatrics at the state and local level.
Prior to her current position, Dr. DuPlessis was the Chief Medical Officer of LA Care Health Plan, where she was responsible for the health care delivery to over 800,000 beneficiaries of government sponsored programs, where she established relationships with leaders in key community-based and other service organizations; designed and implemented effective quality improvement activities at the state and local levels involving thousands of providers and families; secured funding for innovative programs for at risk children; and developed and implemented strategic policies impacting health care delivery.
Her prior work in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and the Los Angeles County Department of Health included spearheading the development of an innovative school-based health insurance outreach and enrollment program that led to the development of local policy accelerating the enrollment of low income students; creating the tools and processes for mapping the health needs and resources in the LAUSD; directing the Community Pediatrics program for a large segment of the county; developing and implementing several countywide and local community health programs addressing specific health needs including perinatal substance abuse, immunizations, lead screening; and contributing to state level policy development on perinatal substance abuse and the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment program.
Dr. DuPlessis is active in the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), where she chairs the National Council on Community Pediatrics, and in the local AAP chapter, where she chairs a task force on pediatric obesity.