NICHD Cooperative Multicenter Neonatal Research Network

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The NICHD Neonatal Research Network is a cooperative group of academic centers that perform multicenter clinical protocols to investigate problems in neonatal medicine, particularly those related to low birth weight, prematurity, and common neonatal medical problems. Indiana University School of Medicine is the only medical school and the site of the only comprehensive children's hospital in Indiana, a state with a population of 6.2 million and 85,000 annual births. Located at the geographical center of the state in Indianapolis, the Indiana University Medical Center and Riley Hospital for Children serve as the principal referral center for high-risk perinatal patients and critically ill neonates. The Indiana Neonatal Research Network Center includes a combined delivery service of more than 8000 infants and ~2000 NICU admissions (including 350 VLBW and 200 ELBW infants per year). Since 1991, Indiana has made substantial contributions to the Neonatal Research Network because of the large patient population, strong faculty, basic and clinical research experience, state-of-the-art clinical and research facilities, and excellent research support staff. In the past five years, Indiana has made important scientific contributions to the Neonatal Research Network and has consistently enrolled a large proportion of subjects to the Generic Data Base and to clinical trials conducted by the Network. Dr. James Lemons has provided tremendous leadership for the past 15 years as the Network Principal Investigator.and has served as an excellent mentor to Dr. Brenda Poindexter, who has been actively involved in all aspects of Network activities and is well qualified to assume to role of Principal Investigator during the next funding cycle of the Network. The clinical, teaching and research programs of the Section of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at Indiana University Medical Center have a long tradition of excellence. Specific areas of expertise include clinical trials, fetal and neonatal nutrition, developmental hematopoiesis, molecular immunology, and stem cell biology. The strong clinical service and extensive research experience at Indiana are uniquely balanced and form the basis for this competitive renewal application.