Research And Education Committee

The Research and Education Committee is charged with creating and overseeing programs that support education, research in, and the teaching of neonatal-perinatal medicine. This mission includes support of the Association’s relationship with CPQCC, dissemination of educational materials, and review of applications for research grants from the Association. The Research and Education Committee is responsible for developing and maintaining academic relationships with key medical professionals such as neonatal-perinatal fellows (through TECaN) and neonatal nurse practitioners (through NANN). 

The CAN Research and Education Committee is a successful collaborative network of academic and community Neonatologists who meet monthly to create and oversee programs that support education, research in, and teaching of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine.  We have successfully conducted the Transcutaneous bilirubin study (TCB study) in extremely preterm infants with abstract presentations at PAS, AAP, and the Cool Topics Conference, and a manuscript in progress.

In addition to the multi-center research study, the committee invites faculty and fellow trainees to share their research (clinical and basic science) at the monthly meetings. The presentations have been very well received and have provided a unique opportunity for fellow trainees to obtain a broad perspective and interact with Neonatologists in the State.

Faculty presentations in 2020 & 2021:

• Recent Q/A with an expert speaker – Dr. Brenda Poindexter, on the AAP clinical report on Probiotic use in the preterm infant- Moderated by Clara Song, MD
• Probiotics study (Evivo B.Infantis) (Dr. Marielle Nguyen, Kaiser)
• Optimizing antibiotic use in the NICU (Dr. Kurlen Payton)
• Impact of the COVID-19 crisis among parents, families, and children born extremely preterm in California (Dr. Susan Hintz)
• PRIORITY (Pregnancy Coronavirus Outcomes Registry) study (Dr. Valerie Flaherman)
• Perinatal QI bundle to decrease hypothermia in ELBW infants (Dr. Dilip Bhatt)

Fellow presentations in 2021:

• Brief 10-15 minutes, followed by q/a
• Katie Strobel, Neonatology Fellow at UCLA, presented an interesting project on “Growth Failure in neonates with gastroschisis.”
• Neema Pithia, UCLA Use of human milk-based diet in late preterm and term infant in the NICU – A pilot RCT
• Jonathan Reiss, Stanford-Newborn Metabolic Screen’s Impact on Disorders of Pregnancy
• Jas Ranu, UC Davis- Virtual Family-Centered Rounds in the NICU: A Pilot study on patient and provider perspectives
• Pearl Houghtelling, Stanford
• Molly Easterlin, USC- Neonatal vascular thrombosis

Ongoing research studies:

A multicenter study of outcomes of infants with surgically managed NEC- Led by Dr. Gerald Gollin, UC San Diego. So far, 8-9 Centers (CA and TX) are interested in participating in this project.

Objectives of the study include:

• Evaluate the association of time from diagnosis of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) to intestinal resection with physiological and neurodevelopmental outcomes.
• Assess outcomes in physiologically matched infants with NEC who underwent intestinal resection with primary anastomosis vs. stoma and delayed anastomosis.
• Compare outcomes in infants with NEC managed with a primary stapled vs. hand-sewn anastomosis.
• Neonatal Toxic stress and long-term neurodevelopment in preterm infants by Rachelle Sey, MSN, CNS at Sharp Mary Birch, San Diego.
• Examine the relationship between socio-demographic factors, stress exposure in the NICU, neonatal morbidities at discharge, 2 -year neurodevelopmental outcomes
• Retrospective cohort study of VLBW infants less than 32 weeks gestation
• 5 centers are interested in participating in this project, and IRB submissions are in progress.