Director:

Leif Nelin, MD

Principal Investigators

Gail E. Besner, MD
Robert Castile, MD, MS
Bernadette Chen, MD
Warren J. Frazier, MD
Mark W. Hall, MD
Sudarshan Rao Jadcherla, MD, FRCP(I), DCH
Yusen Liu, PhD
Fred Long, MD
Lynette Rogers, PhD
Mike Stenger, MD
Stephen Welty, MD
Trent Tipple, MD

Associate Investigators

John Bauer, PhD
Louis Chicoine, MD
Peter Giannone, MD

Affiliate Members

William Ackerman, MD
Rachel E. Brown, MD
Cliff Cua, MD
Al Gest, MD
Jay Iams, MD
Douglas Kniss, PhD
Mark Landon, MD
George Mandy, MD
Richard E. McClead, MD
James A. Menke, MD
Alicia Moise, MD
Craig Nankervis, MD
Richard O'Shaugnassey, MD
Kris Reber, MD
Ed Shepherd, MD
Christopher J. Timan, MD

Center for Perinatal Research

The mission of the Center for Perinatal Research is to prevent premature delivery and to improve the outcomes of critically ill neonates and children through innovative interdisciplinary basic and translational research.

In the Center for Perinatal Research, basic science programs focus on molecular mechanisms of lung development and injury, digestive diseases, infection and inflammation, as well as pulmonary hypertension; with a particular focus on bronchopulmonary dysplasia and necrotizing enterocolitis. The Center for Perinatal Research has extensive collaborations with investigators in other Centers at The Research Institute and at The Ohio State University Medical Center.

The Center for Perinatal Research and the Section of Neonatal Medicine are the two entities within Nationwide Children’s Hospital that are charged with the successful implementation of the neonatology strategic plan. This ambitious strategic plan is centered on three specific aims:

1) Prevent delivery of premature infants
2) Prevent complications in infants born prematurely
3) Develop innovative and efficacious treatments for the complications of prematurity

These specific aims are being addressed by developing novel and innovative research and clinical programs. The clinical programs strive for uniform care in outstanding clinical venues so that the outcomes associated with variations in practice and environment can be minimized.

Additional novel clinical programs have been developed within the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine at OSU, with whom the Center has a close collaborative relationship. Clinical and translational research questions can then be addressed in these creative clinical programs. One important avenue that we are pursuing in this translational research endeavor is the development of a personalized medicine approach to prematurity and its complications. By identifying predilections to premature delivery as well as to the development of the complications of preterm birth, mechanism-specific interventions can be developed for this highly vulnerable population that will ultimately lead to the successful completion of our mission.