Newborn Medicine | Clinical Investigation

The clinical care of newborns has greatly improved over the past 10 years. Increasing knowledge in many fields has been efficiently translated into new approaches for the care of newborns, with steady improvement in neonatal morbidity and mortality.

The Division of Newborn Medicine's Section in Clinical Investigation provides the future clinical investigator with strategies to evaluate the latest advances in engineering, molecular biology, cell biology, and pharmacology, and apply them to the intensive care environment. Fellows have the opportunity to enroll in a master's of public health program or the Scholars in Clinical Science Program. There are two-year post-graduate training programs in health outcomes and clinical research, respectively, and consist of formal didactic coursework, a longitudinal seminar series, and a mentored research project. Fellows will develop strategies both within the laboratory as well as in the newborn ICU that will prepare the trainee to improve clinical care in the areas of diagnostics, therapeutics, and information management. Ongoing projects and clinical trials involve mentors in Newborn Medicine as well as affiliated laboratories in the Harvard medical complex, and all four program-affiliated NICUs. Current projects include:

• clinical trials of recombinant cytokines
• clinical trials of new therapies for bronchopulmonary dysplasia
• clinical trials of new therapies for persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn
• non-invasive assessment of cerebral metabolism using near-infrared spectroscopy
• trials of new molecular diagnostics and information systems

These activities provide the trainee with opportunities to collaborate with colleagues in other Harvard Medical-area departments and divisions, including cardiology, genetics, endocrinology, gastroenterology, infectious diseases, nephrology, pathology, pulmonary, and obstetrics and gynecology.