New Pediatrician Joins Lompoc Health

Lompoc Valley Medical Center and Lompoc Health are pleased to welcome pediatrician Dr. Ayda Alavi to the medical staff. Dr. Alavi’s arrival underscores LVMC’s continued commitment to providing comprehensive and compassionate pediatric care to the Lompoc community.

Dr. Alavi recently completed her residency at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, where she most recently was Chief Resident. A native of East Lansing, Mich., Dr. Alavi earned her Bachelor of Science degree with high honors in Neuroscience from Michigan State University.

She will see patients at Lompoc Health – North Third Center, beginning Aug. 4.

“One of the reasons I came here is that I wanted a small town feel, to make sure I could reach as many kids as possible within the community I’m working in,” explained Dr. Alavi, who has an interest in weightlifting, roller blading, running and fitness.

She said she also appreciates that she’ll be able to provide pediatric care to patients in the clinic as well as those in the hospital, recovering from illness or surgeries.

“I love the small community hospital vibe that Lompoc has,” Dr. Alavi said. “I was here for interview day, and they talked about being in a ‘growth mindset.’ I love that. I like a place that’s open to new things, changing things, evolving things. I think Lompoc is definitely one of those communities trying to better the community in so many different ways, but always for the community, and I think that’s huge. I go to places and they say they’re a community hospital, but you never really get a sense of that from what they’re doing. Lompoc, from everyone I talk to – and seeing how the hospital runs – feels like the right fit.”

She said she never was one of those people who thought of becoming a doctor since childhood. Her parents, immigrants from Iran, are both engineers, as is her brother (her father and brother are computer engineers and her mother is a chemical engineer).

Because of the family’s engineering focus, Dr. Alavi said she started her college career at Michigan State University in that field. A first semester task to build a robot with Legos quickly made her realize it wasn’t the career that suited her strengths. She turned instead to neuroscience.

“Growing up, I never thought ‘doctor’ as a career at all, through my entire lifetime,” she says. “I love sports. What got me into sports, my pediatrician said I was verging toward the unhealthy specter of the growth chart, so my mom put me in a bunch of sports – soccer, running.”

As she got older, she started coaching a girls youth soccer team while in high school and in college also coached high school track team. She spent a bit of time as a gym teacher while in college. By her third year of college, many friends were considering medical school. Though she says she had no concept of what was ahead, she decided to apply to Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and was accepted. She received her medical degree in 2022.

While in medical school, Dr. Alavi continued coaching youth sports.

“Coaching is ‘happy kids,’” she says. “The things I loved in coaching – telling kids how to be healthy or do this or that – was what led me to pediatrics. I liked that you got to talk to a kid about their health. Once I was able to combine all the things I was doing outside of school with my career, I finally found something.”

She hadn’t considered California for her residency until her parents moved to San Diego for work. She applied to Santa Barbara Cottage and entered into its first class of pediatric residents. During her time as Chief Resident, she created a sports medicine lecture series for residents and created the first pediatric sports medicine elective rotation. She’s also been developing a “Fit Talk with a Peds Doc” quality improvement project, focusing on nutrition, strength training and sports supplements for teen athletes. Additionally, it features a community outreach initiative aimed at providing targeted counseling to establish healthy habits in adolescent teens.

“I enjoy talking to them about eating, staying active,” she explains. “There will be a few visits where I’m more of your health coach, to help you learn more about fitness, to see if you’re growing on the growth curves, or if you’re going a little too high, that’s something we really need to address, and I feel comfortable doing that. That’s something I love doing.”

Previously, she worked on a team project developing a curriculum to educate school-aged children on safe social media screen use.

She said she also knows young people have access to health information from multiple sources and social media platforms, but that it puts them at risk for getting misinformation.

“I’m very passionate about that and making sure people see me as their pediatrician and a source for information that they might be able to get unless they go online or through social media.”

She expects to bring her high energy and interest in fitness to the youth of the Lompoc Valley.

“I love getting to know all my pediatric patients and their families and really connecting with them,” she says. “Tell me about your hobbies, dreams, sports, school, friends, tell me everything! I’m super, super active, so I love being able to tap into that and talk about different activities that my patients are involved in.”