Dr. Kathy Lalezarzadeh joined Boulevard Pediatrics in July of 2011. She was born in Iran as the youngest of 7 children and moved to Southern California at the age of 13. She completed her undergraduate degree in Psychobiology at UCLA and received her Osteopathic Medical degree as well as her Master's degree in Health Professions Education at Western University of Health Sciences. She went on to complete her pediatric internship at Kaiser Permanente Sunset and her pediatric residency at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. Prior to coming to Boulevard Pediatrics, Dr. Kathy worked at the Kids Care Urgent Care at CHLA and as a hospital-based NICU physician at UCLA/Olive View Hospital.
She loves pediatrics because she gets to focus on prevention and healthy lifestyle to impact long-term health. Dr. Kathy's traditional medical training balanced with her special interest in integrative medicine and nutrition gives her the ability to treat her patients more holistically and provide individualized care. She loves developing relationships with her patients and their families starting in the newborn period all the way through college.
Her special training in osteopathic manipulative medicine allows her to apply unique hands-on modalities to treat different conditions such as musculoskeletal injuries, migraines and tension headaches. Some of her special interests include treating and coordinating care for patients with eating disorders (i.e. anorexia, binge eating disorder), irritable bowel syndrome, ADHD, developmental delay, tics, depression and anxiety.
In her free time, Dr. Kathy enjoys hiking, yoga, meditation and travelling. She is currently accepting newborn patients and older children transferring into the practice.
She is fluent in Farsi and medical Spanish. Please call the office to arrange an interview with Dr. Kathy.
You might want to know, "What is a DO?"
Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine
A doctor of osteopathic medicine (D.O.) is a physician licensed to practice medicine, perform surgery and prescribe medication.
Like allopathic physicians (or M.D.s), osteopathic physicians complete 4 years of medical school and can choose to practice in any specialty of medicine. However, osteopathic physicians receive an additional 300-500 hours in the study of hands-on manual medicine and the body's musculoskeletal system.
Osteopathic medicine is dedicated to treating and healing the patient as a whole, rather than focusing on one system or body part. An osteopathic physician will often use a treatment method called osteopathic manipulative treatment (also called OMT or manipulation) -- a hands-on approach to make sure that the body is moving freely. This free motion ensures that all of your body's natural healing systems are able to work unhindered.
Osteopathic physicians hold to the principle that a patient's history of illness and physical trauma are written into the body's structure. The osteopathic physician's highly developed sense of touch allows the physician to feel (palpate) the patient's "living anatomy" (the flow of fluids, motion and texture of tissues, and structural makeup).
Like M.D.s, osteopathic physicians are licensed at the state level. Osteopathic physicians who wish to specialize may become "board certified" (in much the same manner as M.D.s) by completing a 2- to 6-year residency within the specialty area and passing the board certifying exams.