top of page
Search

FNNDSC Newsletter: September 1st

Writer: FNNDSC
FNNDSC
Sep 1
6 min read

Upcoming Center-Wide Events:

Lecture Series Calendar:

The FNNDSC Lecture Series will resume with speakers Tuesday mornings 10-11 am in September (for scheduled speaker slots).

 

FNNDSC Park Potluck:

Date: Saturday, September 12th 10-2 PM, Larz Anderson Park

All FNNDSC members and their families are invited to join us for the 2nd Annual FNNDSC Family Park Potluck!

 

September Coffee Social:

Date: Tuesday, September 15th 12-1 PM, LM Hancock Conference Room


Upcoming Holidays: Holiday Schedule

Monday, September 7th – Labor Day observed, FNNDSC will be closed   

For everyone celebrating a significant holiday in September, we celebrate with you!

 

Conferences & Workshops:

Recent Center News:

Notable Publications from Our Team:

  • Abaci Turk E, Dey N, Lei T, Feldman HA, Adalsteinsson E, Barth WH Jr, Golland P, Grant PE. Uteroplacental Responses to Physiological Challenges Throughout Pregnancy Using MRI. Read their work here.

  • Assis T, Galvin CP, Castillo JP, Haouchine N, Kersten-Oertel M, Gao Z, Crispin-Ortuzar M, Price SJ, Santarius T, Ou Y, Frisken S, Garcia NC, Golby AJ, Dorent R, Machado IP. Data-driven registration and modeling of brain deformation for image-guided neurosurgery. Read their work here.  

  • Yoshikawa MH, Figueroa G, Dominguez-Villasenor ME, Grant PE, Sutin J, Warf BC, Lin PY. Intraoperative effects of ETV and CPC on intraventricular pressure and pulsation amplitude: A preliminary investigation of the hydrodynamic model of infant hydrocephalus. Read their work here.

  • Darzidehkalani E, Hsiao CH, Bao R, Weiss RJ, Bates SV, Song Y, He S, Li J, Bjornerud A, Hirschtick RL, Grant PE, Ou Y. SparseMed3D: Foundation Models for Sparse Instance Medical Segmentation. Read their work here.  

  • Wilson S, Jeong S, Wilkins-Haug L, Grant PE, Rollins CK, Morton SU, Im K. Linking maternal blood pressure with fetal cerebral haemodynamics and cortical growth in congenital heart disease. Read their work here.  

  • Lima GP, Kummaragunta A, Ortega JG, Levin JC, Levy PT, Delgado M, Kheir J, Morton SU. Physiologic signatures during extubation readiness trials in neonates >35 weeks' postmenstrual age. Read their work here.

 

Awards & Noticings for Our Team:

Dr. Sarah Morton has been promoted to Associate Professor of Pediatrics at HMS! Her contributions have had a profound impact on the field of neonatology, genetics and CHD, and the broader scientific community at HMS and the FNNDSC. Well-deserved, Sarah✨!


Sarah also just received an R03 grant titled, Radiogenomics for Individual Neurodevelopmental Risk Prediction in CHD, as the lead PI. Dr. Yangming Ou and Dr. Arafat Hussain will be Co-Investigators on this project. Congrats team! 

 

Dr. Sheng He just received an R50 grant titled, nnBrainAGE: Software package of deep neural networks for robust brain age estimation. Incredible work, Sheng!

 

Dr. Andrea Gondova has been appointed the new Co-Chair of the Leadership Committee for the Postdoctoral Association at BCH! Congratulations Andrea! Way to empower the postdoc community and represent the FNNDSC strongly 🧠👏.


João Pedro Costa Cruz, Medical Student Intern, received the Trainee Professional Development Award from the Society for Neuroscience for work with Dr. Banu Ahtam on "Hippocampal Asymmetry as a Structural Affective Correlate in Pediatric Chronic Widespread Pain."

Amazing work, João!


We are proud to share that Luiz Felipe Tojal, Medical Student Intern, was selected to give an oral presentation at the 2026 Folkman Research Day titled, “CT and Head Ultrasound Linear Indices as Proxies for CSF Volume in Infants with Extreme Ventriculomegaly."

We also congratulate several FNNDSC members who were selected to present posters at Folkman Research Day:

In the Clinical Research Section

Harumy Yoshikawa, MD, Research Fellow: "Development of a Scoring System to Predict the Need for Hydrocephalus Surgery in Neonates with Myelomeningocele"

Aryn Lee, Clinical Research Assistant: Associations Between Placental Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Based T2* Mapping, Estimated Fetal Weight, and Umbilical Artery Doppler in Complicated Monochorionic-Diamniotic Twin Pregnancies"

Sofie Chung, Clinical Research Assistant: Automated Delineation of Individual Twin Fetuses in Prenatal MRI Using Synthetic Data Augmentation"

In the Translational Research Section

Navaneeth Makaram, PhD, Research Fellow: Reduced Complexity of Intracranial EEG Images is a Persistent Biomarker of Epileptogenic Tissue and Predicts Postsurgical Outcome"


This is a remarkable achievement as only 20 of the 190 submitted abstracts were selected for oral presentation and 60 of 190 were selected for poster presentation. Amazing work, team!!!

We can support these presenters during Folkman Research Day on Tuesday, September 22nd in the boardroom of the Karp building and Inn at Longwood Medical.


Our Summer COACH Student Interns presented work on August 12th, highlighting their valuable internship experiences!

Interns, Maymuna Ibnat and Rachel Nyguen, with their fetal team colleagues.
Interns, Maymuna Ibnat and Rachel Nyguen, with their fetal team colleagues.
Intern, Ali Imraan, with colleagues from the Morton Lab.
Intern, Ali Imraan, with colleagues from the Morton Lab.

Funding Opportunities for Faculty and Fellows:

 Grant writing resources:

 

U.S. Immigration Resources:

Please check the Office of Immigration Services (OIS) page for regular updates and communication: Office of Immigration Services 

 

 

Reminder for Research STAFF: Complete Annual Mandatory Education (AMEs) in Cornerstone - September 30th

 

Studies Recruiting:

Dr. Borjan Gagoski and team are in search of participants for their study on Pediatric Edited MRS of the Brain. Please see details in the flyers below: 



The Healthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study team at Boston Children's Hospital is looking for 9- to 15-month-old infants and toddlers to volunteer for one or both of the play-based neurodevelopmental assessments below as part of the training and piloting of these assessments for the HBCD Study.

  1. Bayley Assessment of Infant and Toddler Development (up to 2 hours, $50 compensation): A play-based assessment that evaluates multiple areas of child development, including motor, visual, cognitive, and language skills.

  2. NIH Baby Toolbox (45 minutes, $20 compensation): This assessment primarily uses an iPad, along with several play-based activities, to evaluate cognition, executive function, language, early math skills, self-regulation, social functioning, and motor development.

In addition to compensation, all volunteers will receive diapers, an Uber Eats meal voucher, and small gifts for both mom and child as a thank-you. Transportation costs and childcare for siblings can also be provided, if needed. If you are interested, or know someone who might be, please email hbcd@childrens.harvard.edu.

 

Patient/Family Stories and Publications Sharing:

The Department of Newborn Medicine wants to stay informed about the exciting and impactful research happening in the FNNDSC. As part of this effort, the team is working to feature patient stories and publications that highlight both research and its clinical impact.

If you have a project or publication that you feel would be a good fit for this effort, please fill out the Research Highlight Form or reach out to caroline.schutz@childrens.harvard.edu with the details.

 

 Helpful Links:

FNNDSC Fun!

Join the FNNDSC Walking Club - We're going to start monthly group walks around the Back Bay Fens & Muddy River. Everyone is welcome! Our next walk will be in mid-September.

Walking crew on 8/25. Beautiful views and great company 😊
Walking crew on 8/25. Beautiful views and great company 😊

BCH Events & Involvement

Save the Date: FALL in Love with ELGs Festival

Wednesday, October 7th • 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM

The Green at 401 Park (Fenway, Boston)

Join Boston Children’s Hospital for a festive afternoon celebrating the season and our Employee-Led Groups (ELGs)! Expect to meet ELG representatives, pet therapy dogs, and enjoy Autumn treats!


Boston Events 🎆🎉🪩:

 

Way to Shine!🌟

Have you seen a teammate or colleague do something exceptional? Have they gone out of their way to exceed someone's expectations? Let them know that you noticed and that you care! To send a Way to Shine, please follow this link: Bravo! Way to Shine - Boston Children's Hospital (harvard.edu)

 

Brain Games 🧠 📝


HAVE SOMETHING TO SHARE?

If you have something that you would like to see featured in the next newsletter, please contact Caroline Schutz caroline.schutz@childrens.harvard.edu

 

 
 
 

Comments

bottom of page