Dr. Mark Klebanoff Appointed Director of Ohio Perinatal Research Network at Nationwide Childrens Hospital

September 20, 2010

Mark A. Klebanoff, MD, MPH, joined Nationwide Children’s Hospital in September as director of the Ohio Perinatal Research Network (OPRN) and principal investigator in the Center for Perinatal Research in The Research Institute. He comes to Nationwide Children’s from the Division of Epidemiology, Statistics and Prevention Research (DESPR) at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Dr. Klebanoff is a nationally recognized pediatrician and epidemiologist and comes to Nationwide Children’s to help understand the causes and prevention of prematurity. During his tenure at NIH, he focused on the epidemiology of pregnancy complications, particularly reduced fetal growth and preterm birth. With his new role at Nationwide Children’s, he will continue his research efforts in pregnancy complications while also researching prematurity across three disciplines: the population, clinical and in the lab.

“There is a need for integrated research in clinic in the lab and at the population level to try and understand the causes and prevention of prematurity,” said Dr. Klebanoff. “Nationwide Children’s Hospital has shown a serious commitment to improving pregnancy outcomes and strengthening prematurity research.”

Dr. Klebanoff received his undergraduate, medical and MPH degrees from the Johns Hopkins University while completing his pediatric residency at the University of Rochester. For more than 20 years, he worked as a tenured scientist at NIH where he focused on factors associated with preterm birth and fetal growth, as well as genital tract infections. Dr. Klebanoff also served as president of the Society for Pediatric and Perinatal Epidemiologic Research. He is a fellow of the American College of Epidemiology and a member of the Society for Pediatric Research, the American Epidemiological Society and the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars.

Ohio Perinatal Research Network (OPRN) is research collaboration between The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, The Ohio State University and The Ohio State University Medical Center. The OPRN’s mission is to improve the lives of children and families in Ohio and beyond by discovering and implementing actions that measurably reduce prematurity associated with morbidity and mortality.

NOTE TO EDITOR: Dr. Klebanoff is a resident of (Worthington, 43085).

About Nationwide Children's Hospital

Named to the Top 10 Honor Roll on U.S. News & World Report’s 2024-25 list of “Best Children’s Hospitals,” Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of America’s largest not-for-profit free-standing pediatric health care systems providing unique expertise in pediatric population health, behavioral health, genomics and health equity as the next frontiers in pediatric medicine, leading to best outcomes for the health of the whole child. Integrated clinical and research programs, as well as prioritizing quality and safety, are part of what allows Nationwide Children’s to advance its unique model of care. Nationwide Children’s has a staff of more than 16,000 that provides state-of-the-art wellness, preventive and rehabilitative care and diagnostic treatment during more than 1.8 million patient visits annually. As home to the Department of Pediatrics of The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Nationwide Children’s physicians train the next generation of pediatricians and pediatric specialists. The Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of the Top 10 National Institutes of Health-funded free-standing pediatric research facilities. More information is available at NationwideChildrens.org