Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship Program Research and Scholarly Activities
Research and scholarly activity are central components of the UT Southwestern Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship Program. Each fellow completes a mentored scholarly project and submits a Scholarship Oversight Committee-endorsed report to meet American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) requirements for neonatal-perinatal medicine certification. Fellows are also expected to publish at least one scholarly manuscript and participate in a quality improvement project.
Each fellow works with faculty mentors and a Scholarship Oversight Committee (SOC) to design and complete a project aligned with their career goals. The SOC reviews project development, monitors progress, provides guidance, and determines whether the work meets ABP scholarly activity requirements.
Fellows may pursue scholarly work in:
- Clinical research
- Translational science
- Basic science
- Quality improvement
- Medical education
- Advocacy
- Outcomes research
- Neonatal follow-up
- Perinatal epidemiology
- Developmental biology
- Neuroscience
- Placental biology
- Related fields
The program also supports fellows interested in additional training through the Department of Clinical Sciences, certificate or master's-level work, clinical safety and effectiveness training, dual fellowship pathways, or other individualized career development opportunities.
The fellowship program offers a robust research training environment anchored by the National Institutes of Health-funded T32 program, Developmental Brain Science from Bench to Bedside. Led by Lina Chalak, M.D., Principal Investigator, with Imran Mir, M.D., and Rachel L. Leon, M.D., Ph.D., as Co-Principal Investigators, the program provides fellows with structured mentorship and scholarly training in developmental neuroscience, neonatal brain injury, fetal-neonatal biology, translational science, placental influences on neurodevelopment, and neurodevelopmental outcomes.
Fellows have access to a broad and highly collaborative research environment:
- Parkland Memorial Hospital
- Children's Medical Center Dallas
- NeuroNICU Program
- Resuscitation Program
- THRIVE Clinic
- Center for Translational Medicine
- Children's Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern
- Clinical Informatics Center
- Microbiome Core
- Advanced Imaging Research Center
- Transgenic Core
- Center for Human Nutrition
- Additional UT Southwestern centers, cores, and collaborative research programs