Full-scale new program development is underway in our division. At present, there are fifteen full-time academic neonatologists serving as faculty members in broad areas encompassing research, education and training, and clinical practice. Several members of the faculty are engaged in nationally and internationally recognized basic, translational and clinical research activities, primarily focused on pulmonary and cardiovascular disease and development. Education and training continues to be a high priority of the neonatal faculty, including the continuing education of faculty members themselves through lecture profiles, evidence-based faculty-consensus clinical practice meetings, and attendance at multiple annual national conferences and symposia. In addition, the scope of postgraduate medical and nursing education continues to broaden with structured pediatric resident NICU rotations at the two primary sites, training of neonatal fellows (our Neonatal Fellowship Program is the largest one in Southern California), and training sessions for neonatal nurses, respiratory therapists and ECMO specialists. All of these activities involve core academic responsibilities for the division’s faculty.

Clinical activities remain dynamic at the division’s host sites and affiliated hospitals, as well as through collaborations such as with the USC Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, with whom we jointly administer the groundbreaking Institute for Maternal - Fetal Health. The Institute provides diagnostic and therapeutic services for pregnant women and their fetuses with complicated maternal or fetal conditions.

Faculty profiles from the Neonatal Division can be accessed from a listing here, or directly from individuals' names throughout the website; please note that not all profiles have been completed (7/04).

The Division's Neonatal Intranet (username/password required) has been launched and is being expanded, providing the many professionals in the Division with a convenient central location to access clinical, academic, and research materials. The objective of the intranet is to assist in maintaining high standards of clinical care for sick babies, as well as to provide useful materials for those being educated in the field of neonatology, for the educators training them, and finally for the researchers in the Division who are striving to increase the body of knowledge that ultimately can improve the therapies and outcomes of sick newborns in the NICU.

Timely and thorough parent education is an integral part of the responsibilities of the faculty while providing clinical service and is fundamental in providing state-of-the-art, compassionate and family-centered clinical services at the bedsides of our tiny patients. We believe that our unwavering commitment to serve our patients and their families combined with the experience and knowledge that continues to evolve from our participation in postgraduate medical education and cutting-edge basic, clinical and translational research enable us to provide the best possible care for all critically ill neonates and infants admitted to our NICUs.