Newborn Medicine
The Division of Newborn Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine is comprised of basic and clinical sciences investigators, clinician educators and neonatal-perinatal fellows. The research in the division can be divided into several areas: newborn brain development and injury, relationship of the human microbiome with diseases, genetic contributions to respiratory disease, molecular and cellular regulation of development, whole organ physiology and clinical investigations. The division currently maintains approximately $3 million in direct cost extramural funding from a variety of sources, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH).The educational focus of the division includes a fellowship program of 12 fellows, active participation in pediatric residency and medical student teaching and summer programs for medical, college and high school students.
The clinical services of the division are anchored in the 75-bed level III neonatal intensive care unit at St. Louis Children's Hospital(SLCH) that provides care to newborn infants born locally as well as transported by physician-nurse staffed transport teams from all over the UnitedStates and abroad. The delivery services at Barnes-Jewish Hospital (4,000deliveries annually), Missouri Baptist Medical Center (MBMC, approximately 15minutes west of the medical center) and Progress West Hospital (PWH, approximately30 minutes west of the medical center) support a 20-bed level II special care nursery and a 30-bed normal nursery at Barnes-Jewish Hospital as well as a 18bed special care nursery at MBMC and normal nursery at PWH. These services are coordinated with the division of Maternal-Fetal medicine in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, a full range of pediatric medical and surgical subspecialty services including extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, primary care pediatricians, an active Fetal Care Center and with an infant follow-up clinic at SLCH.
These services have resulted in several important clinical observations, including the description, diagnosis and successful treatment by lung transplantation of infants with disorders of surfactant synthesis and metabolism, an atlas for normal and abnormal development of the human brain based on MRI imaging of premature and term newborns, evaluation and treatment of seizures in newborn infants, and the contribution of the neonatal enteric microbiome to neonatal morbidities such as necrotizing enterocolitis and bronchopulmonary dysplasia.
The division also hosts a newborn brain symposium every 2 years as an update in neonatal neurology for physicians and health care workers(cme.wustl.edu/newbornbrain/).
Mission Statement
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Improve the health status of pregnant women and newborn infants by fostering the development of outstanding investigators and educators and by providing excellent clinical services for newborn infants and their families. |