Leif Nelin, M.D., has been appointed Chief of the Division of Neonatology at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and The Ohio State University (OSU) College of Medicine.
“Dr. Nelin is the ideal physician and academician to lead the Division of Neonatology into the next phase of strategic growth,” said Michael Brady, M.D., Physician-In-Chief at Nationwide Children’s and Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at The OSU College of Medicine. “Our search process included a review of 51 nationally-prominent candidates from many prestigious pediatric academic centers and as we interviewed individuals from this impressive list of candidates, it became clear that Dr. Nelin is the optimal person for this position. He has all of the leadership, academic skills and vision needed to lead this large and successful division.”
Dr. Nelin has served as a neonatologist at Nationwide Children’s Hosptial since 2002 where he also led the Center for Perinatal Research in The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s. In 2010 he was named Interim Division Chief of Neonatology.
During Dr. Nelin’s tenure, both the clinical and research programs in neonatology have thrived. During this past year, he and other team members submitted a highly competitive grant application that allowed Nationwide Children’s to become a participant hospital in the prestigious National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Neonatal Research Network which is comprised of the top neonatal programs in the country.
Additionally, Dr. Nelin has been instrumental in developing and publishing protocols that standardize care for the tiniest premature infants, resulting in improved outcomes for the infants while shortening their length of stay in the hospital. He has successfully led recruiting efforts for key clinical and research faculty in areas of perinatal research, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, neonatal gastrointestinal motility, neonatal sepsis and central nervous system complications.
Dr. Nelin will be taking the helm of Nationwide Children’s perinatal network, one of America’s largest with more than 190 neonatal beds located at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and at satellite nurseries throughout the region. Patients are referred from throughout the region for Nationwide Children’s specialized expertise in extreme prematurity and complex conditions such as bronchopulmonary dysplasia and infant feeding disorders.
A Professor of Pediatrics at OSU, Dr. Nelin graduated with his medical degree from the University of South Florida. He completed his pediatric residency training and neonatal/perinatal fellowship at the Baylor College of Medicine. He also completed additional fellowship training in neonatology at the University of Uppsala in Sweden. Dr. Nelin joined Nationwide Children's Hospital and OSU in 2002.
Dr. Leif Nelin, Chief of the Division of Neonatology at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and The Ohio State University College of Medicine