Multicenter Network of Neonatal Intensive Care Units

Stanford University, Stanford CA

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

In response to the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development RFA HD-00-010, the Division of Neonatal and Developmental Medicine of Stanford University submits a competing renewal to participate under a cooperative agreement in the ongoing Multicenter Network of Neonatal Intensive Care Units (Neonatal Research Network). The division has a long and productive history of innovative basic and clinical research accomplishments establishing the etiologies, pathophysiologic processes and management of diseases afflicting the neonate. This expertise dovetails with the Neonatal Research Network goal of rigorous evaluation of treatment and management strategies used in the care of neonates. As a participant in the last two neonatal research network grant cycles the center has proven to be a strong and productive asset, contributing extensively in study design, development, execution, analysis and result dissemination. Led by the Principal Investigator, David K. Stevenson, MD, the Division of Neonatal and Developmental Medicine includes an experienced team of 16 board-certified neonatologists with solid research experience. For several decades much of the research conducted within the Division has been facilitated by the presence of a General Clinical Research Center (GCRC), with Dr. Stevenson as the head of the Pediatric Component. The GCRC continues to provide a milieu that encourages collaboration among basic and clinical scientists, fosters the development of new investigators, and maintains a nationally recognized cadre of experienced clinical investigators. There are currently over 30 research protocols, including Neonatal Research Network protocols, underway in the Pediatric Component of the GCRC, representing nearly all major areas of newborn pathophysiology in which advances in the understanding of basic science are being translated into improvements in patient care. The Division of Neonatal and Developmental Medicine and the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine have an extensive history of collaboration, which in 1997 resulted in the establishment of the Charles B. and Ann L. Johnson Center for Pregnancy and Newborn Services, which currently has a delivery base of approximately 9,000 infants per year. Within the Johnson Center is the Mary L. Johnson Infant Development Clinic which, in addition to providing follow-up for high-risk infants, also provides preemie graduate services for children through the school years (age 18). The clinic provides follow-up for research subjects and has a return for follow-up compliance rate of over 90%. In summary, the Division of Neonatal and Developmental Medicine possesses the physical space, technology, professional staff and extended patient population necessary to qualify as one of the finest centers participating in the Cooperative Multicenter Neonatal Research Network.