The HealthySteps National Advisory Committee provides recommendations and guidance for effective sustainability, replication, and scaling of HealthySteps. We asked Dr. Castillo about the “why” behind her work with the Committee.
Maja Theresa Castillo, MD, MHA, is the Assistant Vice President and Pediatric Medical Director at Healthfirst. She leads programs that improve access to care, enhance health outcomes, and support effective care and utilization management for complex and vulnerable pediatric populations. Dr. Castillo brings extensive frontline experience from years as a practicing pediatrician in New York City, including roles in both primary care and the Pediatric Emergency Department at Columbia Presbyterian. Her work integrates clinical expertise with systems-level strategy to advance pediatric health delivery.
How did you find out about HealthySteps?
I first heard about HealthySteps when I joined Healthfirst. As a pediatrician practicing in a community-based practice, I had never heard of it or been exposed to a practice that had access to it. My first thought was, “This is exactly the kind of support I had wished for in my practice and the reason that I went back into system-level change!”
What do you see as HealthySteps’ unique contribution to child and family health?
Families need a lot of support around their child’s development, behavior and emotional regulation over the first years of life, much more than a busy pediatrician can offer. Families are usually left to try and piece together this support from different sources. And frankly, we know that once a family leaves the office, their competing needs (work, other children, cooking, etc.) often mean that these issues don’t receive the follow-up they deserve.
By embedding this role in the practice and making it scalable to support the needs of all families in a practice, it provides a stable and dependable source of support, right at their pediatrician’s office.
What motivates you personally to support HealthySteps’ mission?
Personally, having lived through having twins who were born early and had special needs, I wish I had received the support of a HealthySteps Specialist. And if I, a pediatrician, found it difficult to navigate my children’s needs, then I don’t know how anyone else figures it out!
What do you see as the role of the National Advisory Committee?
It is our job to help think outside the box about how to make HealthySteps a standard service in every pediatric office. As a medical director at a health plan and a certified coder, I can bring these different hats to the work and move forward the mission from other angles.
HealthySteps matters because…
Parenting is hard!