NICHD Neonatal Research Network -- Cincinnati Clinical Center

PROJECT SUMMARY The NICHD Neonatal Research Network (NRN) was established to conduct rigorous research in neonatal medicine, facilitating collaboration among centers to complete studies more rapidly than investigators acting alone. Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center has been one of the most productive sites in the NRN for over 30 years. Our site’s strong performance is due to our large, diverse patient population, outstanding research infrastructure and clinical facilities, strong faculty investigators with expertise in a wide variety of neonatal research, and experienced research support staff. Our leadership understands the importance of large, multicenter trials to answer clinical questions in neonatology. Dr. Stephanie Merhar, Principal Investigator for the Cincinnati site, has led NRN studies and other multicenter trials in Cincinnati for over 7 years. She is joined for this renewal by Dr. Tanya Cahill as Follow-up Principal Investigator and Drs. Vivek Narendran and Jae Kim as alternate PIs. During this next cycle, Cincinnati will work collaboratively with other Clinical Centers, outside investigators, and the Data Coordinating Center to develop and implement rigorous and reproducible common protocols. Due to our exceptional model of regional, population-based care with more than 1900 annual NICU admissions in our 3 recruiting NICUs, we are able to contribute a large number of subjects to NRN observational studies and clinical trials. Our well-established regional follow up infrastructure allows us to maximize retention rates for both 22-26 month and school age follow up. We are committed to conducting definitive multi-site clinical research through the NRN to improve outcomes for newborns born preterm and with other serious conditions.