Newborn Medicine/
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Research
Members of the Division of Newborn Medicine have been involved in clinical and basic research related to several important groups of neonatal problems, including:
- Neonatal neurological injury, including hemorrhagic-ischemic cerebral injury in the preterm infant, hypoxic-ischemic injury in the term infant, neonatal stroke, neonatal seizures, and the genesis of cognitive injury in the preterm infant
- Neonatal resuscitation
- Mediators of neonatal inflammation and infections
- Neonatal growth and development, with interest on how changes in neonatal clinical practice influence outcome
- Mechanisms contributing to development of retinopathy of prematurity
- Assessment of pain in premature infants
Our research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, private or commercial grants and several of our faculty and fellows have received awards for their work.
Dr. Jeffrey Perlman has focused his work on understanding the pathogenesis of common neurologic disorders, including periventricular-intraventricular hemorrhage in the premature infant, periventricular white matter injury, hypoxic ischemic brain injury in the term infant, neonatal stroke, neonatal seizures and the genesis of cognitive injury in the preterm infant. He is also involved in many issues related to neonatal resuscitation.
Dr. Gail S. Ross has been studying the developmental outcome of different groups of NICU “graduates” for many years and provided valuable information how changes in neonatal clinical practice has influenced the outcome.
Dr. Joseph Schulman has been studying pulmonary mechanics and surfactant biochemistry. He is actively involved in evaluating and improving the neonatal intensive care and on using database technology and statistical software to manage and analyze patient data.
Dr. Susan J. Vannucci directs the laboratory of Newborn Medicine, where research is focused on acute injury to the developing brain, predominantly hypoxia-ischemia, hypoglycemia, and seizures. The overall goal of the research is to delineate the ways in which the neonatal brain is unique in the way it responds to an acute injury, relative to the adult, as well as how it develops following the injury. The laboratory utilizes experimental models in immature rodents to study the pathophysiology of injury as well as the efficacy of therapeutic interventions.
In addition, we have developed close collaborations with faculty members from other divisions and affiliated institutions.
