Neonatology
A concentration of scientists and clinicians embedded in the Research Department of Neonatology within the EGA Institute for Women’s Health at UCL focuses on innovation in diagnosis and therapy to improve outcomes of babies with common perinatal and neonatal problems. There are particular strengths in acute care of the preterm newborn infant in neonatal respiratory and intensive care and in neonatal neuroscience including developing novel therapy for lung disease and birth asphyxia combined with advanced neuromonitoring via optical and magnetic resonance techniques for biomarker discovery and validation. The Department is a major centre for clinical innovation in neonatology whose investigators have international reputations for pioneering new diagnosis and therapy for brain and lung injury in babies.
Professor Howard Clark leads the Research Department of Neonatology and his group focuses on developing better treatments for Neonatal Respiratory Distress Syndrome (RDS) which aim to reduce the incidence of neonatal chronic lung disease and improve neonatal outcomes after preterm birth by Targeted Lung Immunotherapy.
Professor Nicola Robertson has led the neonatal neuroscience group to major advances in the understanding of therapeutic hypothermia and novel neuroprotective strategies following perinatal hypoxic ischaemia. Her group focuses on translating these laboratory discoveries into novel therapy in the clinical care of the newborn with brain injury.
Dr Subhabrata Mitra joined the Institute in 2016 and is leading advances in neuromonitoring and neuroimaging in neonatal seizures and neonatal encephalopathy. The group’s research focusses on optimising brain monitoring for better understanding of pathophysiological changes and development of early biomarkers following perinatal brain injury. The group is also developing a non-invasive optical tool to assess placental function that will result in a better understanding of the physiological changes related to preterm delivery and stillbirth.
Professor Neil Marlow's work on preterm brain injury and developmental outcomes made UCL a leading centre for work on longitudinal cohort studies, such as EPICure, pioneering the investigation of the preterm brain combining imaging and novel neuropsychological strategies.
Research groups