Donna M. Ferriero

Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology. Leader in the field of child neurology and a driving force behind neonatal brain research nation-wide, and especially research in neonatal brain injury, a major source of morbidity throughout the world. Early work on the unique features of the neonatal brain response to injury led to large multicenter clinical trials that demonstrated a clinically significant effect of cooling on outcome for encephalopathic neonates and set a new standard in pediatric clinical neuroscience. Using MR spectroscopy, she discovered that injury from neonatal seizures can be measured by cellular metabolism MRS metabolites (N-acetylaspartate, lactate), and developed a paradigm for predicting outcomes using early clinical markers (seizure scores) and MRS metabolites. She is also a national figure addressing problems of recruitment, retention, and promotion of women and underrepresented minority faculty in academic medicine. She is renowned as a mentor and role model for women in science, credited with inspiring many talented women to pursue careers in child neurology and research.