Nationwide Children’s Hospital welcomes three new neonatologists to the Section of Neonatology: Thomas Bartman, MD, PhD, Susan Lynch, MD, and Nehal Parikh, DO, MS.
Thomas Bartman, MD, PhD, joins Nationwide Children’s as the director of Quality Improvement for the Section of Neonatology and an associate professor of Pediatrics. Dr. Bartman will be responsible for directing and coordinating quality improvement efforts throughout Neonatal Services’ 191 bed network. Currently, these efforts occur in conjunction with the Vermont Oxford Network (VON), the Children’s Hospital Neonatal Consortium (CHNC), the Ohio Perinatal Quality Consortium (OPQC), the Neonatal Research Network (NRN) and the Ohio Better Birth Outcomes (OBBO), in addition to internal efforts on improving safety of care. His areas of initial focus will be on reducing medication errors, reducing the readmission rate for recently discharged newborns and assisting OBBO in reducing the prematurity rate in our region. Dr. Bartman will also work with senior leadership to teach other Nationwide Children’s faculty and employees about Quality Improvement Science.
He completed his pediatric residency and neonatal-perinatal medicine fellowship at The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). His postdoctoral research, completed at UCSF’s Cardiovascular Research Institute, focused on using zebrafish to discover that biomechanical forces in the developing embryonic heart control later steps of structural development. He continued his research founding the zebrafish research program at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and authored numerous peer reviewed publications and research studies.
Susan Lynch, MD, comes to Nationwide Children’s and will serve as the director of the Comprehensive Center for Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia (CCBPD) and an associate professor of Pediatrics. The CCBPD is comprised of an interdisciplinary team that addresses the medical, nutritional, developmental and social needs of patients and families in a single medical home. She completed her pediatric residency and a fellowship in neonatology and perinatal medicine at West Virginia School of Medicine. She has authored several professional publications on neonates with sleep disorders, hypotension and bronchopulmonary dysplasia among others.
Nehal Parikh, DO, MS, joins Nationwide Children’s as a principal investigator in the Center for Perinatal Research of The Research Institute and as an associate professor of Pediatrics. His goal is to eliminate the neurodevelopmental disabilities that occur in the vast majority of very preterm infants. His lab focuses on developing accurate and reliable brain segmentation methods for advanced brain MRI, and employing epidemiologic principles to elucidate the etiology, pathogenesis and diagnosis of perinatal-neonatal brain injury in high-risk preterm and term infants.
He completed his pediatrics residency at Winthrop University Hospital of State University of New York at Stony Brook. Following his residency, Dr. Parikh completed a fellowship in neonatal-perinatal medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia and received an MS in Clinical Research from University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. His research has been cited by the American Academy of Pediatrics, featured by NIH (NICHD web-based Outcomes Estimator) and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Pediatrics and other widely cited journals. He is a study sub-committee member and site principal investigator for the NICHD Late Hypothermia Trial for newborns with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.
“I am thrilled to welcome these world-class physicians to the Neonatology team here at Nationwide Children’s Hospital,” said Edward Shepherd, MD, chief of the Section of Neonatology. “Each will be a valuable part of our team as we work toward not only treating, but ultimately preventing, all complications of prematurity, including BPD and neurodevelopmental abnormalities and ensuring quality standards in our NICUs."
The Section of Neonatology at Nationwide Children's Hospital has become one of the largest neonatal networks in the country. The main goal of this Section is to establish the resources and expertise necessary to provide extraordinary, family-centered care. Each program within the Section provides state-of-the-art capabilities for the diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of extremely premature and medically fragile neonates.
NOTE TO THE EDITOR: Dr. Bartman resides in Dublin, Ohio (43017), Dr. Lynch resides in Dublin, Ohio (43017) and Dr. Parikh resides in Upper Arlington, Ohio (43220).
Dr. Thomas Bartman, director of Quality Improvement for the Section of Neonatology
Dr. Susan Lynch, medical director of the Comprehensive Center for Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia
Dr. Nehal Parikh, principal investigator in the Center for Perinatal Research