Fetal Neurology: An emerging subspeciality?

Professor Adré Jacques du Plessis is the Chief of Fetal and Transitional Medicine at Children’s National Medical Center and Professor of Pediatrics at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. He was previously the Director of Fetal and Neonatal Neurology at Children’s Hospital of Boston, and Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. He developed and directed the first pediatric program dedicated to neurocritical care, as well as the largest program in fetal-neonatal neurology at Children’s Hospital in Boston. His research and clinical activities are focused on mechanisms of injury to the immature brain in high risk populations including the fetus and infant with congenital heart disease, infants born prematurely, and infants exposed to perinatal asphyxia. 

He has developed techniques for evaluating continuous cerebral blood flow and metabolism at the bedside of high-risk infants using primarily near infrared spectroscopy. He has received NIH funding for his research since 1994 and has mentored trainees from multiple disciplines with philanthropic and more recently NIH (K24) support. A number of these trainees have achieved independent research funding and leadership positions in large academic centers around the world.