Welcome to Neonatology
You want the best possible start to your baby’s life, and we want that for your baby and family. University of Colorado Neonatologists provide expertise, compassion and support to ensure the best possible care for your baby, you and your family.
The Section of Neonatology provides full clinical support for infants and their families at multiple hospitals in the Denver metropolitan area and extends services throughout the Rocky Mountain Region and an 11-state area extending as far as Alaska. Our over 30 board-certified neonatologists are nationally and internationally recognized leaders in neonatal care as well as clinical and scientific research.
University of Colorado Hospital – Neonatal Care Unit
The UCHealth Anschutz Neonatal Intensive Care
Unit maintains more than 50 beds with expert care for critically ill premature infants and full-term newborns requiring advanced respiratory support and intensive care.
Children's Hospital Colorado
The Children's Hospital Colorado NICU is a nationally recognized leader
in the treatment of critically ill infants. Our state-of-the-art NICU provides 82 critical care beds and is designated a Level IV NICU, the highest distinction granted by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Children’s Colorado NICU is the only NICU in the region with the experience and technology to treat virtually any medical condition affecting newborns, including advance respiratory therapies, ECMO, and complex surgical intervention. Our neonatologists and neonatal nurse practitioners provide in-house coverage 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Maternal Fetal Medicine Program at Colorado Fetal Care Center
The Colorado Fetal Care Center is a comprehensive maternal-fetal program serving the special needs of high-risk mothers and newborns. This program is built on more than 30 years of partnership between University of Colorado Hospital, Children's Hospital
Colorado, and University of Colorado School of Medicine.
We offer access to a highly specialized team of adult and pediatric specialists and resources and provide at-risk moms and babies with the most advanced care and positive outcomes. The Colorado Fetal Care Center is among the busiest fetal care programs
in the nation and offers cutting edge fetal surgical interventions and a high risk delivery service based at Children’s Colorado.
Highlands Ranch Hospital
The UCHealth Highlands Ranch Hospital NICU is a 7-bed, community Level III unit providing care
to preterm and term infants. Located in the south Denver metro region, we offer advanced respiratory support and comprehensive multidisciplinary care to critically ill newborns.
Poudre Valley Hospital
Our 32-bed state-of-the-art NICU is designed to achieve the best possible
medical outcomes for critically ill premature and full-term newborns. Single family rooms empower parents to remain at their baby’s bedside and participate in their care. Our neonatologists are full time members of the Section of Neonatology
and provide consultative services and coordinate neonatal transports to PVH from surrounding areas in Northern Colorado, Southern Wyoming and Western Nebraska.
Denver Health Medical Center
The Denver Health Medical Center Neonatal ICU is designed for newborns who are
in need of intensive care following childbirth. This NICU features 22 neonatal ICU beds and is a practice site for our pediatric residency trainees and faculty. The hospital serves as a safety-net hospital for our region.
The Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship Training Program is sponsored by the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Children's Hospital Colorado. This is a three-year postdoctoral training program in neonatal-perinatal medicine and is approved by the Residency Review Committee of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. The program is directed by Jeanne Zenge, MD.
Fellows are supervised by faculty within the Section of Neonatology and the division of Perinatal Medicine and Research. The program includes 12 months of clinical training with 21 months of research activity. The program is primarily interested in helping trainees develop successful careers, based on excellence in research/scholarship, education, and clinical medicine.
The Section also trains pediatric residents and offers electives to fourth-year medical students.
The Section of Neonatology faculty are nationally and internationally recognized researchers with a broad range of research interests fostering programmatic areas of excellence.
Our Neonatology faculty have pioneered many critical developments in neonatal care for critically ill newborns and in many cases were the first in the world to develop new therapies and approaches including:
- Pioneers of inhaled nitric oxide therapy for pulmonary hypertension
- Innovators of optimal nutritional strategies for low birth weight babies
- Trailblazers in understanding metabolism in the growth-restricted fetus
- Early leaders in marijuana and breast milk research
Basic science research
The Section of Neonatology's basic science research is the foundation for the application of new therapies and approaches to care for neonates and infants in the NICU. Our ongoing basic science research focuses on:
- Understanding the processes involved in fetal growth and development and the mechanisms that regulate growth and development under normal and pathological conditions
- Interrogating the role of the placenta in regulating normal fetal growth and the mechanisms by which complications of pregnancy adversely impact placental function
- Examining the factors that influence normal cardiac and pulmonary physiology and development and the role of prenatal and postnatal insults on these processes
- Determining the response to injury in the perinatal brain, liver, muscle, and pancreas
Perinatal Research Center (PRC)
The Department of Pediatrics Perinatal Research Center (PRC) is the longest standing research and educational program at Anschutz Medical Campus. Faculty who conduct studies at the Center are on the leading edge of research in maternal, placental, and fetal physiology.
Clinical research
The clinical researchers in our department seek to continually improve the diagnosis, treatment and outcomes of neonates. Our ongoing clinical research includes:
- Efforts aimed at improving neonatal resuscitation practices around the world
- Determining the complexity and impact of perinatal exposure to THC and other substances of abuse on newborn outcomes
- Creating and testing innovations in the care of patients with congenital diaphragmatic hernias and other patients requiring inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) and/or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)
- Optimizing care for the extremely preterm newborn including those that go on to develop serious pulmonary complications
- Working with large patient databases to determine best clinical practices for a variety of conditions
- Focusing on the patient family experience and how to optimize the implementation of best medical practices for all patients