Protected Time for Research:
- Fellows have 20 months of protected time, excluding vacation.
- The amount of time increases from the first to the third year, and is clustered to enhance productivity.
- In order to optimize research activities, calls are limited during research blocks (4 calls per block in the first year, 3 calls per block during the second and third years). Each fellow has on one call-free research block every year.
The 23 Division faculty, consisting of 16 neonatologists and 7 general pediatricians, interact with fellows in patient care, seminars and research. Research endeavors in the Division include both basic and clinical projects.
Basic science projects are focused on:
- Studies of placental blood flow
- Cellular and molecular regulation of nitric oxide and other vasodilators
- Endothelial cell biology with respect to cardiovascular and pulmonary development and disease
- Pathogenesis of inflammation and lung injury in animal models
- Hyaluronan (hyaluronic acid) and its role in inflammation and endothelial function
- Fetal and neonatal cardiovascular development and physiology
- Animal models of neonatal resuscitation
Division Clinical Studies include:
- Studies conducted through the collaborative projects conducted the Neonatal Network consisting of 15 other institutions in North America. The division has been a participating member of this network since its inception.
- Collaborative studies on the role of CMV infection in hearing loss and strategies to prevent this long-term disability
- Studies on delivery room resuscitation
- Novel therapies to prevent bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD)
- Evolution of blood pressure in preterm infants
- Neonatal infection
- Effect of gentamicin on hypocalcemia in the newborn
- Hyperbilirubinemia
- Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy
- Prevention and diagnosis of neurologic sequelae in high-risk infants
- Follow-up of the high-risk infant
- Relationship between antepartum events and neonatal outcome
- Alterations in fetal growth and long-term outcome.
Clinical projects in the division are facilitated by the comprehensive databases that are maintained in each area of the division’s activities including resuscitation, NBN and NICU as well as follow up. UT Southwestern Medical Center is also part of the Maternal Fetal Medicine Network and the Pediatric Pharmacology Research Units (PPRU) Network.
Our program is closely integrated with the Departments of Biochemistry, Obstetrics/Gynecology, Pharmacology, Physiology, Cell Biology, and Neuroscience, making research opportunities available outside of the Division.
Mentored research project and scholarship:
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- To date, 95% of the graduates have completed and published at least one manuscript arising from their research endeavors.
- Each fellow is expected to complete a research project under the guidance and with the help of a mentor and a scholarship oversight committee.
- Each fellow is encouraged to select the type of research that best meets her or his own interests and career plans. This project is expected to lead to presentation of one or more abstracts at regional or national meetings and publication of a manuscript in a peer-reviewed journal.
- Scholarship also includes chapters, state-of-the-art reviews and case reports.
- Third year fellows attend the national meeting of the Pediatric Academy Societies (PAS).
Opportunities for specialized research training during fellowship: Fellows who plan for a clinical research track may apply for training as Master in Public Health (MPH) or for one of three certificates available in the Department of Clinical Sciences: Graduate certificate (two-year program), Master’s Degree in Clinical Science (two-year program) or Masters Degree with Distinction (three-year program). Additional information is available on our Clinical Sciences Graduate Program site.
Opportunities for external and internal funding during fellowship:
- Fellows in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine are eligible for several external sources of funding from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the NIH and several other national organizations and foundations. List of Funding - Neonatology Fellowship
- UT Southwestern Medical School offers a Physician Scientist Training Program (PSTP), which provides 3 years of salary and allows highly individualized research training and career development.Additional sources of funding include the Children’s Medical Center at Dallas and the Department of Clinical Sciences. List of Funding - Neonatology Fellowship
- The University of Texas School of Public Health (UTSPH)/Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) offers a new Multimodal Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Training Program. This program covers a portion of the tuition for trainee fellows The UTSPH/BCM Multimodal MCH Training Program has four tracks:
- The MCH concentration, available to MPH students enrolled in in any of the six campuses of UTSPH (Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Brownsville, and El Paso)
- MCH Certificate Program, open to students not enrolled in the MPH program
- MCH Intensive Training Fellowship: Year-long intensive, experiential MCH training program
- Tailored Training Programs for State and Local Title V staff
