This application is in response to RFA 90-HD-01 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development inviting investigators to participate under a Cooperative Agreement in an ongoing multicenter clinical study designed to investigate the safety and efficacy of treatment and management strategies to care for infants in Neonatal Intensive Care Nurseries, headed by Dr. David K. Stevenson, includes a strong team of eight Board-certified neonatologists. The existence of the General Clinical Research Center for Premature Infants, which is also directed by Dr. Stevenson and functions in conjunction with the Intensive Care Nurseries, is now in its 28th year of operation, and constitutes an institutional resource for multidisciplinary and multicategorical clinical research. This Center has a prolific history of innovative clinical research accomplishments dealing with the cause, prevention, control and cure of infants' diseases. This Center provides an optimal setting for controlled clinical investigation, encourages collaboration among basic and clinical scientists, and develops and maintains a nationally-recognized cadre of expert clinical investigators. There is a long and productive history of collaboration between the Division of Neonatal and Developmental Medicine and the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics as evidenced by joint research protocols as well as several publications on strategies to prevent preterm labor. The Center provides state-of-the-art facilities and physical resources, is staffed by highly qualified professionals, and is backed by a full complement of pediatric and obstetric subspecialists. Presently, there are over 50 research protocols representing nearly all major areas of newborn pathophysiology in which advances in basic scientific knowledge are being translated into new or improved methods for patient care. The High Risk Infant Follow-up Clinic is a strong complement to the General Clinical Research Center with an impressive publication record. This Follow-up program has a compliance rate of 95%. With the addition of the new Packard Children's Hospital which includes a Perinatal Center, scheduled for completion in March 1991, physical space and population resources will be further complemented, with new intensive care nurseries and contiguous labor and delivery room facilities. The NIH-funding Training Program in Developmental and Neonatal Medicine, which spans the concept of developmental biology from the molecular and cellular level to clinical applications in the newborn nurseries, covers a range of training opportunities from the pre-doctoral to the postresidency level. The Division of Neonatal and Developmental Medicine and the Intensive Care Nurseries, which are part of the General Clinical Research Center for Premature Infants, have the physical space, the technology, the professional staff and the large patient population to qualify as one of the finest centers to join the Cooperative Multicenter Network.
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