Francis A Akita, MD - CUIMC/NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital

Anna Penn, MD, PhD, a leading clinical neonatologist and developmental neuroscientist, coined the term neuroplacentology and has pioneered research on this topic, which examines the influence of the placenta on fetal brain development. She also studies sex differences in perinatal brain injury. Dr. Penn was previously an associate professor of pediatrics at George Washington University School of Medicine and an attending neonatologist at Childrens National Hospital in Washington, D.C. with appointments in the Fetal Medicine Institute, Neonatology, and the Center for Neuroscience Research. She received an AB from Harvard-Radcliffe College and her MD and PhD degrees from Stanford University School of Medicine. She completed her internship and residency in pediatrics at the University of California San Francisco and a fellowship in neonatology at Stanford University. Dr. Penn is a past recipient of a National Institutes of Health Directors New Innovator Award and maintains a grant-funded research laboratory. She also served as the director of membership for the Society of Pediatric Research for six years, working to support and improve the pipeline for physician-scientists.

Rakesh Sahni, MBBS, is Professor of Pediatrics at Columbia University Medical Center, Medical Director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at NewYork-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, and Director of the Infant Physiology Laboratory at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. After earning his medical degree from Maulana Azad Medical College, University of Delhi in India, Dr. Sahni did pediatric residency training in India, the United Kingdom, and the United States. He further completed fellowship training in neonatal-perinatal medicine at Columbia University in 1993 and has been a faculty member since then. Dr. Sahni’s major area of interest is neonatal physiology and behavior. His research goals are to understand the physiological basis of various processes during the neonatal period. He Investigates how these processes alter cardiorespiratory activity, thermal regulation, and neurobehavioral organization in the early developmental stages of infants with very low birthweights. He also studies the acute physiological effects of interventions in these infants, such as nutrition and postural alteration, as well as the long-term effects of early nutritional experiences, with emphasis on cardiovascular, metabolic, and cognitive alterations at the resting level and stimulus responsiveness of the maturing sympathetic nervous system. In addition, Dr. Sahni collaborates with researchers from the Department of Developmental Neuroscience to study the interactive relationships among body position during sleep, body temperature, and cardiorespiratory and neuroelectric activity in the regulation of heart functions during early development of low birthweight infants. His long-term objectives are to explain the body’s vulnerabilities underlying sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and to develop age-appropriate, noninvasive tests to identify infants at greatest risk for SIDS. His research interests also include continuous invasive and noninvasive physiological monitoring during neonatal intensive care in preterm and term infants. He has published more than 75 original papers and more than 95 abstracts, and is a recipient of several grant awards.

Dr Krishnan initially did her medical school, residency, and fellowship training in India. Subsequent to that she moved to the United States to complete her pediatrics residency at New York medical college and her Pediatric Cardiology fellowship at Columbia University. She then returned to India to head the Department of Pediatric Cardiology at the Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases and Madras Medical Mission in Chennai India. She set up the first fellowship program, training Indian and international fellows in Pediatric Cardiology in India and getting accreditation for Pediatric Cardiology with the National board of Education in New Delhi. She also co-founded the Pediatric Cardiology Society of India. In 2001 Dr Krishnan moved back to New York to take a faculty position at New York Medical College. She left there is 2010 to take a position at Columbia University in 2010 where she is currently. She is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics as well as an Associate Medical Director of the Pediatric Pulmonary Hypertension Center which is the first accredited pediatric and adult pulmonary hypertension center in the United States. In addition to clinical responsibilities, she is actively involved in medical education at every level. She is closely involved with the Pediatric Cardiology fellowship at Columbia University and is the director of the fellowship Clinical Competency Committee, which oversees fellow education and training. She is the director of medical student and resident education in Pediatric Cardiology and is closely involved with the Foundations in Clinical Medicine and Major Clinical Year training at the medical school. She was inducted to the Virginia Apgar Society of Medical Educators at Columbia University in 2018. She is also actively involved in research, both in Pulmonary Hypertension and Pediatric Cardiology and is PI/co-investigator in multiple clinical trials, both NIH sponsored and other grants. She has co-authored over 50 papers and has multiple invited lectures to her credit. She is actively involved in the Pediatric Pulmonary Hypertension Network and in multiple research activities of the network. She is involved in curriculum development for a Pulmonary Hypertension education series. She is involved in teaching e-learning courses for international fellows in Pediatric Cardiology through the Children’s heart link. She is on the editorial board of several journals including the Annals of Pediatric Cardiology and the Advances in Pulmonary Hypertension, and is a reviewer for multiple other journals.