The fifth edition of the guide Protocols for High-Risk Pregnancies includes a chapter by Dwight J. Rouse, MD, MSPH, a clinician and researcher in the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine at Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island.
Dr. Rouse, a Providence resident who is also a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and heads the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units program at Women & Infants, wrote "Prevention of Cerebral Palsy" for the book, published by Wiley-Blackwell.
The 682-page guide to managing pregnancy complications is designed for obstetricians, obstetric nurses and primary care physicians. The information Dr. Rouse supplied on cerebral palsy is new to the book. The subject is familiar to Dr. Rouse, one of the nation's leading obstetric researchers: he was lead author on a research paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine that examined the use of magnesium sulfate during pregnancy to prevent cerebral palsy. The publication was honored as the best research presentation at the 2008 Annual Meeting of the Society of Maternal-Fetal Medicine.
In addition to his magnesium sulfate research, Dr. Rouse has investigated the use of progesterone in preventing preterm birth among women carrying twin and triplet gestations, the optimization of labor management, and the outcomes of various obstetrical screening and treatment policies. Currently, among other projects, he is working on Women & Infants' arm of "The National Standard for Normal Fetal Growth" study to develop more accurate algorithms for tracking fetal development and predicting which fetuses are abnormally small and unhealthy. Women & Infants' maternal-fetal medicine specialist Edward Chien, MD, is principal investigator on this project.
In addition to his domestic research, Dr. Rouse has spearheaded several international studies, including a $4-million venture to establish an electronic perinatal medical record system in Lusaka, Zambia, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and an NIH-funded study of chlorhexidine washing to prevent neonatal sepsis in Pakistan.
He serves as editor-in-chief for obstetrics of Obstetrical and Gynecological Survey and has served on the editorial boards of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Evidence-Based Obstetrics & Gynecology. He is also an author of the 23rd edition of Williams Obstetrics.