World Renowned Neonatologist to Lead Pediatrics Dept. at UC Davis

Lakshminrusimha also serves as medical director of UC Davis Children’s Hospital

Sacramento, Calif.- Satyan Lakshminrusimha, a world renowned neonatologist, has been named chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the UC Davis School of Medicine. Lakshminrusimha also serves as medical director of UC Davis Children’s Hospital, the only nationally ranked pediatric hospital in inland Northern California.

The department provides state-of-the-art clinical care, educates the next generation of pediatricians, and conducts research into disease conditions affecting infants, children, adolescents and young adults.

“My goal is to further enhance the reputation of this remarkable institution and establish it as a center for pediatric excellence in clinical care, teaching and research,” said Lakshminrusimha.

Lakshminrusimha is a highly respected clinician and researcher whose primary focus is the pathophysiology of the cardiopulmonary transition – how fetal lungs change at birth to breathe air – and disorders of this transition, such as birth asphyxia, persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn, retained lung liquid and respiratory distress syndrome. His laboratory’s translational research aims primarily at preventing and treating these disorders with optimal neonatal resuscitation techniques and with the use of steroids, nitric oxide, surfactant and judicious use of oxygen.

He has been a prolific scholar and writer, publishing almost 100 original peer-reviewed articles. In addition, he has published 25 review articles in refereed journals and 11 book chapters.

Prior to coming to UC Davis, Lakshminrusimha was vice-chair of the Department of Pediatrics and chief of the Division of Neonatology at the Women and Children’s Hospital of Buffalo. He also was the director of the Center for Developmental Biology of the Lung and professor of pediatrics at the University of Buffalo.

He will oversee a department encompassing 14 divisions with more than 300 staff, students, residents, fellows, and volunteer and full-time faculty.

His professional affiliations include the Indian Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Pediatric Society. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and was elected to the Society for Pediatric Research and the Eastern Society for Pediatric Research.

He was awarded the “Mentor of the Year” by the Eastern Society for Pediatric Research in 2016. He is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics – Neonatal Resuscitation Program Steering Committee and the subboard of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine of the American Board of Pediatrics. He is the co-editor in chief of the Biomed Central – Maternal Health, Neonatology, Perinatology journal.

He enjoys drawing medical illustrations and has published more than 100 illustrations in pediatric and neonatology textbooks, journal articles and apps.

Lakshminrusimha received his undergraduate degree in medicine and surgery from the University of Mysore, India and his medical degree from Mysore Medical College at the University of Mysore, India. He completed his residency in pediatrics at Brooklyn Hospital Center in Brooklyn, New York and fellowship in neonatal-perinatal medicine at the Children’s Hospital of Buffalo in Buffalo, New York.