Our Programs in Newborn Care Lead the Way Nationally

Newborn baby folders mother's finger in hospital bed

Department of Pediatrics Annual Report – 2022

Neonatology and Perinatology

Department of Pediatric Annual Report 2022 Banner

Members of the Division of Neonatology and Perinatology are dedicated to the highest level of neonatal care and provide outstanding care for the sickest infants, including those with extreme prematurity or low birth weight, respiratory failure, congenital heart disease, and other complex congenital abnormalities that may require surgery. We have the only neonatology directed Infant Cardiac Care Unit in the country that partners with cardiology, cardiac surgery, and other intensivists to provide optimal care for newborns with complex congenital heart disease. New York State has designated our team at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital as a Regional Perinatal Center, the highest classification level. Our neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is recognized as a Vermont Oxford Network (VON) Center of Excellence. We are internationally recognized for our pioneering use of noninvasive gentle ventilation techniques, our novel infant cardiac intensive care unit, and our multidisciplinary perinatal-neonatal palliative care program.

Research

The division has a long history of clinical and translational research that has had a substantial impact on the field. The strength of our clinical research evolved from studies demonstrating the beneficial respiratory outcome of early use of bubble continuous positive airway pressure (bubble CPAP) and gentle mechanical ventilation in premature infants and babies with pulmonary hypertension. This work received worldwide recognition and acceptance in current standards of practice in neonatal respiratory care. This history of excellence continues in the innovative work we are doing to change how we communicate with and empower families, how we manage infections, how we support the neurodevelopment and growth of infants, and, of course, how we continue to help babies breathe. In the laboratory, we continue to make new advances in brain development and injury, in immune cell development, and in preterm kidney damage.

Honors and Awards

Sandhya Brachio, MD

  • Promoted to medical director for the NICU Growth and Development (GraD) clinic

Kathleen Brennan, MD

  • Received an Education Program award from the Children’s Health Innovation Nucleation Fund

  • Elected to the Virginia Apgar Academy of Medical Educators at Columbia University

Amelie Collins, MD

  • Received the 2022 Gerstner Scholar Merit Award

Ganga Krishnamurthy, MD

  • Accepted into the 2022 class of the Academy of Clinical Excellence (ACE) at Columbia University Irving Medical Center

Elvira Parravicini, MD

  • Held a three-day international training course on perinatal palliative care with more than 200 participants from 34 states and 18 countries

Anna Penn, MD, PhD

  • Jayant Shenai keynote speaker at Vanderbilt University Medical Center annual symposium

Richard Polin, MD

  • Received the Apgar Award at the Perinatal Section meeting

Sylvan Ryder, NP

  • Selected for the national Zero to Three fellowship

New Appointments

Major Grants

  • Cerebral autoregulation and neurodevelopment outcomes in neonates with single ventricle congenital heart disease. Mend-A-Heart Foundation Award in partnership with Children's Heart Foundation. Principal Investigator: Nimrod Goldshtrom, MD.
  • Cellular and molecular response to gentamicin-induced injury in underdeveloped kidneys. NIH. K08DK132519-01A1. Principal Investigator: Pamela Good, MD.
  • Experience of frontline healthcare workers during the COVID pandemic in France and in the USA: A pilot study. Joint project award of the Alliance Program of Columbia University. Principal Investigator: Kristina Orfali, PhD.
  • Therapeutic agents to prevent developmental neuroimpairment after placental hormone loss. NIH. R21HD092593. Principal Investigator: Anna Penn, MD, PhD. 
  • Neonatal comfort care program. Mother Cabrini Health Foundation. Principal Investigator: Elvira Parravicini, MD.

Ongoing

  • Mapping the unique features of fetal and neonatal hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells conferring susceptibility to inflammation and infection. NIH. K08DK124657. Principal Investigator: Amelie Collins, MD.
  • Hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell biology in the developing fetus and neonate. Louis V. Gerstner Jr Scholar Award. Principal Investigator: Amelie Collins, MD.
  • VentFirst: A multicenter RCT of assisted ventilation during delayed cord clamping for extremely preterm infant. University of Virginia. Site Principal Investigator: Tina Leone, MD. 
  • Early detection and intervention initiative. Cerebral Palsy Foundation. Principal Investigator: Faith Kim, MD. 
  • Ambiguity, values and risk perception in medical prognosis. Fondation Jean-Jacques Laffont. Principal Investigator: Kristina Orfali, PhD.
  • Neonatal comfort care program. Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation and the Bravo Foundation. Director: Elvira Parravicini, MD.
  • Novel roles of placental allopregnanolone in brain development and injury. NIH. R01HD092593. Principal Investigator: Anna Penn, MD, PhD. 
  • NANO (NICU antibiotics and outcomes) Trial. NIH. R01HD097578-01A1. Co-Principal Investigator: Richard Polin, MD.  
  • Predictive informatics monitoring in the neonatal intensive care unit. NIH. R01HD072071. Site Principal Investigator: Rakesh Sahni, MD. 
  • Intravenous Remodulin as add-on therapy for the treatment of pulmonary hypertension of the newborn: A randomized, placebo-controlled safety and efficacy trial. United Therapeutics. Site Principal Investigator: Rakesh Sahni, MD.
  • Milrinone in congenital diaphragmatic hernia trial. RTI International. Principal Investigator: Rakesh Sahni, MD.

Selected Publications

Bakalar D, O'Reilly JJ, Lacaille H, Salzbank J, Ellegood J, Lerch JP, Sasaki T, Imamura Y, Hashimoto-Torii K, Vacher CM, Penn AA. Lack of placental neurosteroid alters cortical development and female somatosensory function. Front Endocrinol. 2022;13:972033. PMID: 36313771.

Hays T, Thompson MV, Bateman DA, Sahni R, Tolia VN, Clark RH, Gharavi AG. The prevalence and clinical significance of congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract in preterm infants. JAMA Netw. 2022;5(9):e2231626. PMID: 36103177.

Brachio SS, Reichman V. Scoring quality, scoring equity: The promise and power of scorecards to facilitate bidirectional, real-time communication. J Pediatr. 2022;247:14-16. PMID: 35577117.

Goldshtrom N, Vasquez AM, Chaves DV, Bateman DA, Kalfa D, Levasseur S, Torres AJ, Bacha E, Krishnamurthy G. Outcomes after neonatal cardiac surgery: The impact of a dedicated neonatal cardiac program.  J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2022:S0022-5223(22)00709-7. PMID: 35927084.

Fleiss N, Tarun S, Polin RA. Infection prevention for extremely low birth weight infants in the NICU. Semin Fetal Neonatal Med. 2022;27(3):101345. PMID: 35550785.

Morowitz MJ, Katheria AC, Polin RA, Pace E, Huang DT, Chang CH, Yabes JG. The NICU antibiotics and outcomes (NANO) trial: a randomized multicenter clinical trial assessing empiric antibiotics and clinical outcomes in newborn preterm infants. Trials. 2022;23(1):428. PMID: 35606829.

Corallo J, Bieda A, Garland M, Dowling D, Timoney P, Bateman DA. The impact of a donor human milk program on the provision of mothers' own milk at discharge in very low birth weight infants. J Perinatol. 2022;42(11):1473-1479. PMID: 35864217.

Shah BA, Fabres JG, Leone TA, Schmölzer GM, Szyld EG, International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation Neonatal Life Support Task Force. Continuous positive airway pressure for term and ≥34+0 weeks' gestation newborns at birth: A systematic review. Resusc Plus. 2022;12:100320. PMID: 36386766.

Lacaille H, Vacher CM, Penn AA. Preterm birth alters the maturation of the GABAergic system in the human prefrontal cortex. Front Mol Neurosci. 2022;14:827370. PMID: 35185465.

Hammond J, Kamboj R, Kashyap S, Sahni R. The interaction between diet and neurobehavior in very low birth weight infants. Pediatr Res. 2022;91(3):646-651. PMID: 33767376.

Highlights

Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia: Supporting Intricate Decisions on Mechanical Ventilation

In an article in the American Journal of Perinatology and featured in NYP Advances, a team of Columbia neonatologists demonstrated that high-frequency positive pressure ventilation may be used as an intermediary mode of rescue ventilation prior to high frequency oscillatory ventilation without adverse effect, is more widely available and can mitigate the limitations faced when using high frequency oscillatory ventilation, and allows for intra- or inter-hospital transfer of neonates with congenital heart disease.

NYP Advances