Dana C. Ostermiller

Luca Brunelli, M.D., Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Division of Neonatology at the University of Utah, School of Medicine. He provides neonatology services at three facilities, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at University of Utah Hospital, Primary Children’s Hospital and Intermountain Medical Center. Among his responsibilities is educating Pediatric Residents, Neonatology Fellows and Neonatal Nurse Practitioners.

Dr. Meznarich received her medical degree from the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, Washington. She then completed her residency in Pediatrics and fellowship in Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at the University of Utah/Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. She joined the faculty of the University of Utah in 2016, where she is currently an Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology. Her clinical and research interests are in non-malignant hematology, bleeding disorders, thrombosis and clotting disorders, and hemoglobinopathies including thalassemia and sickle cell disease.

Christian Con Yost, MD, is a tenured Professor in the Department of Pediatrics within the University of Utah School of Medicine. Dr. Yost serves as the Director for the Neonatal ExtraCorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) program at Primary Children’s Hospital – Salt Lake Campus. He provides clinical care as an attending physician to critically ill patients admitted to the newborn intensive care units at the University of Utah Medical Center, Primary Children’s Hospital – Salt Lake and Miller campuses, and Intermountain Medical Center. His clinical areas of expertise include all aspects of neonatal care with a particular interest in improving clinical outcomes for patients with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH), and all neonatal patients requiring ECMO as treatment for cardio-respiratory failure. His translational research program uses preclinical models and clinical samples to determine the beneficial and pathogenic effects of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) in inflammatory syndromes affecting patients of all ages including sepsis, ischemic stroke, and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. His research laboratory discovered NET-Inhibitory Peptides, generated by the placenta, which modulate NET formation during human gestation.