Message from the Co-Chairs
The last decade has witnessed exponential growth in the field of Neonatal Hemodynamics and functional echocardiography in neonatal intensive care units, driven in response to the need for improvement in understanding and management of the rapidly changing cardiovascular physiology in critically ill neonates. The limited exposure to quality education in neonatal cardiovascular physiology during neonatal-perinatal medicine training has been raised as a major concern by trainees. In addition, the absence of scientific validation of measures of cardiovascular function in newborns and lack of standardized integration of echocardiography techniques in research design further hinders diagnostic precision and optimization of therapeutic interventions. Optimal use of echocardiography may enable better appraisal of ambient physiology, provide key mechanistic insights, enhance phenotypic characterization, and facilitate the investigation of disease/physiology-specific pharmacological interventions.
Therefore, the Neonatal Hemodynamic Research Center (NHRC) was envisioned to establish an independent platform to increase the scientific and educational engagements between hemodynamics researchers, expert hemodynamic clinicians and upcoming faculty and trainees in academic programs globally. The independent nature and virtual design enable the NHRC to transcend regional and geographical barriers.
The overarching mandate of the NHRC is to advance the field of neonatal cardiovascular ultrasound and improve lives through excellence in education, research, innovation, advocacy, and service to the profession and the public. The vision of NHRC is to create an international network of thought leaders in neonatal hemodynamics and foster high-quality collaborative education, research, and quality improvement work. Content delivery through global education rounds, physiology-based case reviews and online workshops/courses ensures broad dissemination of knowledge and scientific updates to trainees, neonatologists, sonographers, and cardiologists. It is also the vision of NHRC to establish structured review processes for research ideas, grants and publications which will enhance the quality of support and mentorship for clinicians pursuing hemodynamic sciences. Finally, the NHRC strives to play an important advocacy role in the establishment and accreditation of new clinical programs, and facilitate future expansion of the field.
Dr. Amish Jain
Co-Chair, NHRC
Dr. Patrick McNamara
Co-Chair, NHRC
