Dr. Stella Kourembanas, MD

r. Stella Kourembanas is a practicing Neonatologist, the Chief of the Division of Newborn Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital and the Academic Chair of the Harvard Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Program. As a physician scientist, her research focuses on newborn lung biology exploring the pathophysiology of lung injury and repair and regenerative medicine, testing stem cell - based therapies for diseases affecting infants in the perinatal period. Her contributions to newborn health span the realm of basic science, translational research and clinical trials that have led to new treatments for critically ill neonates, including those with pulmonary hypertension and bronchopulmonary dysplasia.
Under her leadership, the Division of Newborn Medicine has pioneered unique programs aimed at providing science-based care to critically ill newborns in the level IV Boston Children’s Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Such key initiatives include a Program in Neonatal Genomics …headed by Dr. Pankaj Agrawal and a Center for Fetal Neonatal Neuroimaging & Developmental Science with Dr. Ellen Grant as founding director. Both programs aimed at the diagnosis, monitoring, and personalized treatment of sick newborns that is tailored to the individual patient’s condition. Another Program in Neonatal Epigenetics with Dr. Yang Shi as director, explores the epigenetic regulation of developmental diseases, innate immunity, and transgenerational heritability of disease. She has also established a Program in Newborn Regenerative Medicine headed by Dr. S. Alex Mitsialis, as well as a continually growing program in Neonatal Clinical Research directed by Dr. Martha Sola-Visner that includes over 100 clinical studies testing novel monitoring devices and therapies, including clinical trials in neonatal transfusion medicine and stem cell-based treatments for diseases of the newborn infant.
Dr. Kourembanas serves on many national scientific review committees including those in the National Institutes of Health. She has authored >100 original research papers as well as review articles on state-of-the-art next generation treatments for conditions affecting the newborn lung and brain in the perinatal period.