Associate Professor of Pediatrics; Associate Medical Director St. Louis Children's Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

• Patient Oriented Research
• Newborn Medicine

As a clinical neonatologist, my focus has been to provide high quality clinical care to medically fragile neonatal patients and their families. I am interested in developing and implementing clinical pathways to enhance quality of care and improve clinical outcomes in the high-risk newborn population admitted to our nurseries.

My research efforts have focused on understanding brain injury in the neonate. Working in the Biomedical Research Laboratory with Dr. Jeffrey J. Neil, I have used diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging to gain new insights into human brain development. This method has shown promise for early identification of infants with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy who may benefit from emerging neuroprotective strategies. I am also employing it to assess the impact of post- posthemorrhagic hydrocephalus on brain development in premature infants. Finally, I am evaluating the use of cerebral function monitoring, a bedside electroencephalography method, for detection of sub-clinical seizures in neonates at risk for adverse neurological outcomes.

Education

• B.Sc., Hansraj College, Dehli University (New Delhi, India), 1976
• M.B.B.S., University College of Medical Sciences, Delhi University (New Delhi, India), 1982
• M.D., S.N. Medical College (Agra, India), 1986

Training

• Fellowship in Newborn Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Mo., 1994-97
• Pediatric Resident, St. Louis Children's Hospital, St. Louis, Mo., 1997-98

Licensure and Board Certification

• Medical Council of India, 1982
• M.R.C.P (UK) Pediatrics General Medical Council, UK, 1991
• Missouri State Licensure, 1994
• American Board of Pediatrics, 1998
• American Board of Neonatal/Perinatal Medicine, 1999

Selected Publications

1. Mathur A, Blair W: Antenatal periventricular cysts and severe lactic acidaemia in a neonate-due to pyruvate carboxylase deficiency (PC). Eur J Pediatr 1995; 154:82-84.

2. Mathur A, Sims HF, Gopalakrishnan D, Gibson B, Rinaldo P, Vockley J, Hug G, Strauss AW: Molecular heterogeneity in very-long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency causing pediatric cardiomyopathy and sudden death. [Journal Article]. Circulation 1999 March 16; 99(10):1337-43.

3. McKinstry RC, Miller JH, Snyder AZ, Mathur A, Schefft GL, Almli CR, Shimony JS, Shiran SI, Neil JJ: A prospective, longitudinal diffusion tensor imaging study of brain injury in newborns. Neurology 2002 Sep. 24; 59(6):824-33.

4. Stika CS, Gross GA, Leguizamon G, Gerber S, Levy R, Mathur A, Bernhard LM, Nelson DM, Sadovsky Y: A prospective randomized safety trial of celecoxib for treatment of preterm labor. [Clinical Trial. Journal Article. Randomized Controlled Trial]. American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology 2002 Sep.; 187(3):653-60.

5. McKinstry RC, Mathur A, Miller JH, Ozcan A, Snyder AZ, Schefft GL, Almli CR, Shiran SI, Conturo TE, Neil JJ: Radial organization of developing preterm human cerebral cortex revealed by non-invasive water diffusion anisotropy MRI. [Journal Article]. Cerebral Cortex 2002 Dec.; 12(12):1237-43.

6. Akshaya V, Mathur A: Ultrasound- guided needle aspiration of cranial epidural hematoma in a neonate. Treating a rare complication of vacuum extraction. (case report). American Journal of Perinatology 2002; volume 19, number 8.