Deb Discenza

I stared at my 2 lb. 15.5 oz daughter in her incubator, struggling against all of the medical equipment. My mom emotions brimming over with equal parts worry, fear and love. Suddenly I felt the burden of a lack of knowledge to help my daughter through this journey in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). What does that term mean? What questions should I ask? What resources are out there that might help me around a specific topic? That is why The Preemie Parent's Survival Guide to the NICU exists. No parent should go through the days, weeks and months in the NICU feeling as lost and heartbroken as I did. No one should feel as ignorant as I did in trying to work around medical terms, my weak advocate voice and unbelievable guilt that I somehow caused this to happen. - Deb, October 2020.

Combining fields in technology and publishing, Deb has created PreemieWorld as the go-to space for education, support and resources for the preemie community including the acclaimed book, The Preemie Parent’s Survival Guide to the NICU. Prior to PreemieWorld Deb founded and ran the award-winning Preemie Magazine along with a national partnership with the March of Dimes.

When not sought after for speaking engagements, media and news-related spots for the medical and general public, Deb provides public service to her community in the form of being a founding member and steering committee member of the National Premature Infant Health Coalition and a founding member and former Leadership team member of the Preemie Parent Alliance (now NICU Parent Network) as well as a Leadership Team member for the International Neonatal Consortium (INC). She is also is a regular Column Editor for the Neonatal Network’s Neonatal Network Journal, and a columnist for both the quarterly newsletter for the Council of International Neonatal Nurses (COINN) and for Neonatal Intensive Care magazine.