Nationwide Children's Hospital has been accepted to join an elite group of research centers dedicated to studying neonatal medicine. The Neonatal Research Network, developed by the National Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD), is comprised of 18 research centers focused around one cause: to improve the care and outcome of neonates.
Led by Principal Investigator, Leif Nelin, MD, interim Division chief of Neonatology at Nationwide Children's Hospital and director of the Center for Perinatal Research of The Research Institute, this network was formed to help conduct multi-center clinical trials and observational studies in neonatal medicine. Founded in 1986, there was a need for multiple clinical trial centers to provide a large enough population from which samples could be drawn.
"We are extremely excited to become a part of this national network of investigators leading the way in neonatal medicine," said Dr. Nelin, also a professor of Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. "This designation is a testament of the work the Center for Perinatal Research is doing to help improve the lives of the most fragile infants."
The Center for Perinatal Research of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital is the eighteenth center to join this network. The Center will contribute patient data to a registry of very low birth weight infants. This registry provides network investigators with premature-patient information including days hospitalized, gestational age, birth weight, respiratory support, delivery room resuscitation, necrotizing enterocolitis, intraventricular hemorrhage, sepsis and mortality rates. These factors are important variables that affect the short and long-term health outcomes of premature infants.
Ranked in U.S.News & World Report's 2010 "America's Best Children's Hospitals" and Parents magazine's 2009 top 10 "Best Children's Hospitals" lists, Nationwide Children's Hospital is one of the nation's largest not-for-profit freestanding pediatric healthcare networks providing care for infants, children, adolescents and adult patients with congenital disease. As home to the Department of Pediatrics of The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Nationwide Children's Hospital faculty train the next generation of pediatricians, scientists and pediatric specialists. The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital is one of the top 10 National Institutes of Health-funded free-standing pediatric research facilities in the U.S., supporting basic, clinical, translational and health services research at Nationwide Children's Hospital. Currently, two buildings totalling approximately 300,000 square feet are dedicated to research on the Nationwide Children's campus. An additional 225,000 square feet of research space will be added when a third research building opens in 2012. More information is available at http://www.NationwideChildrens.org/Research.
Dr. Leif Nelin: http://www.nationwidechildrens.org/gd/applications/controller.cfm?page=237&pname=pprofile&pid=8866&Gsection=PFV