Research

Billie Lou Short, M.D., as chief of the Division of Neonatology, is responsible for overseeing the division’s clinical and research efforts. Her background has been in the area of brain physiologic changes related to therapies such as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), and clinical studies in analyzing outcome related to brain injury in this population. She provides leadership on the international Children’s Hospitals Neonatal Consortium Executive Board, which organizes and initiates multicenter quality outcome research programs across the nation.  

Khodayar Rais-Bahrami, M.D., is the director of the Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship Program and Professor of Pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine. His major focus is to ensure that fellows are matched with mentors who will assure their success in clinical and/or bench research, while directing their long-term goals for their fellowship training. His clinical and research interest include research into the evaluation of devices being considered for use in the neonatal population, including the NIRS system for brain and enteric monitoring of oxygenation in the neonatal population, evaluation of wireless cardiovascular monitoring systems to be used both in the NICU and as home monitors, and recent investigation of a novel non-invasive cardiovascular monitor systems used to measure cardiac output, blood volume and ductal shunt in the neonatal population as well as cardiac output and recirculation measurements in neonatal ECMO population. He has mentored numerous fellows in projects in these areas and as director of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship Program and the 2011 Children’s Research Institute Mentorship Award recipient, he continues to be committed to mentoring the research development of young fellows and investigators at different levels of training who work synergistically to answer critical questions in neonatology.

Nickie Andescavage, M.D., completed fellowships in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, as well as Fetal-Transitional Medicine. She also serves as the medical director of Neonatal Transport, as well as the neonatal-perinatal director of the Zickler Family Prenatal Pediatric Institute. Her research areas of interest include intrauterine development in healthy and high-risk pregnancies, specifically placental health and fetal-neonatal neurodevelopment, as well as the role of maternal exposures on fetoplacental health. Additionally, she has supervised medical trainees in neonatal-perinatal ethics and palliative care.

Sudeepta Basu, M.D., focuses his research on understanding of brain injury and development using advanced magnetic resonance techniques measuring in vivo concentrations of GABA in preterm brain. He is investigating role of glycemic homeostasis in infants with perinatal asphyxia and its influence on brain injury and outcomes. He is also developing pathways to guide judicious use of antimicrobials in NICU as QI initiative. 

Sweta Bhargava M.D., FAAP, is an assistant professor of Pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine. Her research interest is in neonatal hemodynamics and in the use of point of care ultrasound in the NICU. In her previous post at NYU, she demonstrated the feasibility of creating a POCUS training curriculum for neonatal providers and continues with this initiative at the current institute. She has experience in using simulation, technology and quality improvement methodologies to improve procedural skills in the NICU. She is a part of working group addressing neonatal PICC practices and policies. She remains actively involved in resident and fellow education. She is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Society of Echocardiography. She is a part of our nocturnal neonatal attending team.

Kelsey Donoho, M.D., is a neonatologist at Children's National and an assistant professor of Pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine. She joined the faculty in 2021 after completing residency training at Children's Hospital Los Angeles and neonatal-perinatal medicine fellowship at Los Angeles County-University of Southern California. She has expertise in point-of-care-ultrasound (POCUS) in the NICU. Her clinical research interest focuses on the use of POCUS to enhance medical care of sick infants in the NICU. She is also conducting a QI initiative to improve success with PICC line insertion in the NICU.

Panagiotis Kratimenos, M.D., is a neonatologist and developmental neuroscientist whose research focuses on elucidating mechanisms of perinatal brain injury. Dr. Kratimenos studies mechanisms of injury of the developing cerebellum with the ultimate goal of developing therapeutic interventions and improve functional development

Hallie Morris, M.D., joined the Children's National team from the Washington University in St. Louis program where she was involved in their neonatal brain research program, with plans to participate in the Children’s National clinical Neo-Neuro Program. She also has expertise in Quality/Safety methodologies and will be joining the strong QI/Safety program in the NICU. She is also one of our attendings rotating between our Perinatal Center at George Washington University Hospital NICU and CN Level IV NICU, with expertise in perinatal medicine. 

Nneka Nzegwu, D.O., M.P.H., is the associate director of quality and safety for the Division of Neonatology. Her area of interest is using quality improvement methodologies to improve the care of our patients at the bedside. Her areas of focus are preventing hospital-acquired conditions, neonatal nutrition and antibiotic stewardship in the NICU. She enjoys educating and mentoring residents, fellows and colleagues about quality improvement science and patient safety principles. 

Katherine Marie Ottolini, M.D., is an attending neonatologist at Children’s National Hospital and assistant professor of pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. She completed pediatric residency at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and neonatal-perinatal fellowship at Children’s National Hospital. Following completion of fellowship training, she served as a neonatologist in the U.S. Air Force in Okinawa, Japan for four years prior to returning to Children’s National. Her research through the Developing Brain Institute is aimed at optimizing neurodevelopmental outcomes in preterm infants through early nutritional interventions. 

Mary Revenis, M.D., focuses on neonatal nutrition, newborn metabolic/cardiac screening programs, immunizations program and advocacy for the newborn at the District of Columbia and national level. She is the medical director of Nutrition Services in the NICU. She also collaborates with the Division of Nephrology in multicenter studies on acute renal failure in the newborn, an area that is continuing to evolve.

Lamia Soghier, M.D., FAAP, CHSE, is interested in improvement of procedural skills training in neonatology through simulation and technology, and as NICU medical director, she is a key sponsor of many quality improvement initiatives. Currently, Dr. Soghier and Dr. Okito collaborate on parental mental health projects and have mentored and supervised several resident and fellow projects. Current funding includes grants for universal postpartum screening in the NICU. Fellows interested in pursuing medical education, quality improvement or community health research projects can be mentored and supervised by her.

Simranjeet Sran, M.D., focuses on medical education for trainees and students. He recently graduated from the Master Teacher Leadership Development Program and is pursuing his master's in education and human development at GWU. He is a member of our nocturnal neonatal attending team, which oversees the NICU patient care on the night shift. He is working on developing curriculum for daily education of pediatric residents rotating through the NICU, including those on call overnight. For our fellows, Dr. Sran helps lead and develop curricula for weekly Fellow Education Sessions, Board Review, and Simulation.

Lakshmi Sridhar, M,D., joined the Children’s National team after completing her neonatal-perinatal medicine fellowship along with a M.S. in Health Professions Education at the University of Rochester. Prior, she completed pediatric internship, residency, and chief residency at Children's Hospital of New Jersey (Rutgers-RWJ-Newark Beth Israel). Her clinical and research interests are in telesimulation, distance learning, simulation, education, point of care ultrasound, and quality improvement. She is a part of our nocturnal neonatal attending team.

Keisha Dale Wolfe, D.O., joined the Children’s National team after completing fellowship in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at Georgetown University Hospital. She completed her pediatrics residency at Naval Medical Center at Portsmouth, Virginia and served as general pediatrician for the U.S. Air Force prior to her fellowship. Her research background included neonatal studies in probiotics and the immune system, the gut microbiome, hyperbilirubinemia and quality improvement. Her ongoing research interests include nutrition, growth, POCUS, and QI. She enjoys teaching residents, fellows, and NICU staff and has been a long standing instructor for NRP and STABLE. She is a part of our nocturnal neonatal attending team and also rotates at the GWU NICU.