Robin Steinhorn, MD Division Head, Neonatology

On behalf of the faculty, staff, and fellows, welcome to the Division of Neonatology in the Department of Pediatrics at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine!  Our goal is to train fellows to become both excellent clinicians and academic neonatologists.  You can find more information about our faculty and fellows, honors and awards, an overview of our fellowship training program, as well as a calendar of our monthly divisional events by clicking on the corresponding links.  You will also find information about our clinical and research activities, including recent publications.  We hope the time you spend in the researching the Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Program will be both educational and enjoyable.

The Division of Neonatology at Children's Memorial Hospital is a nationally recognized leader in the treatment of critically ill newborn infants. The hospital's 42-bed Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is designated by the state of Illinois as a Level III nursery, which means we can provide infants with the type of highly specialized care unavailable at many other area hospitals.

Special Services

Nearly 550 critically ill newborn infants are admitted each year to the unit, many of them from other nurseries that also carry the same Level III designation. In fact, nearly half of all NICU transports to Children's Memorial are from other Level III nurseries.

The infants are transferred to the Children's Memorial NICU because our physicians and facilities allow us to provide every possible therapeutic option.

(This Virtual Tour takes you into the one of the rooms within the unit.)

The Division of Neonatology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Children's Memorial Hospital leads regionally and nationally in the treatment of newborns for these reasons:

• The ECMO program (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, a highly sophisticated mechanical heart/lung support system), under the direction of pediatric surgeon Marleta Reynolds, is widely recognized for its excellence. ECMO provides an important safety net for infants with pulmonary hypertension and other serious conditions because it allows the heart and lung to rest during the time needed for recovery. There are fewer than 100 such programs nationally.

• The physicians in the Division of Neonatology, headed by Robin Steinhorn, MD, are internationally recognized leaders in the delivery of cutting-edge therapies such as nitric oxide and high-frequency ventilation. All are board-certified by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

• The division's research team is composed of both physicians and full-time investigators, and is funded by the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association. The team uses a translational or bench-to-bedside approach to research to better understand the causes of pulmonary hypertension and other conditions and to develop new therapies.

• Children's Memorial was the first hospital in Chicago to have a full-time developmental care specialist dedicated to the NICU. The position is supported by the Founders' Board. "Developmental care involves modifying a newborn's environment and learning to read and respond to an infant's behavioral cues to determine his or her current capabilities and needs," according to Sue Horner, RN, currently the NICU developmental specialist at Children's Memorial. Developmental care is based on the premise that aggressive brain development occurs prior to birth (and continues until age three).