Our Team
A multidisciplinary group dedicated to understanding and improving outcomes for preterm infants.
Panagiotis Kratimenos, MD, PhD
Principal Investigator & Co-Director of Research, Division of Neonatology
Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation, Children's National Hospital
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, George Washington University School of Medicine
Dr. Kratimenos is a newborn intensivist and neuroscientist who leads a translational research program focused on understanding the complex mechanisms underlying prematurity and its effects on the developing brain. His laboratory combines cutting-edge spatial transcriptomics, advanced neuroimaging, neuropathological analysis, and computational approaches to decode how prematurity disrupts normal developmental trajectories. With $1.1 million in funding from the Raynor Cerebellum Project and collaborative partnerships with Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, his team works to transform mechanistic understanding of prematurity's far-reaching effects into comprehensive care strategies for preterm infants.
Lab Members
Research Staff & Trainees
Georgios Sanidas, MD
Research Postdoctoral Fellow
Postdoctoral Fellow studying how prematurity affects infant brain development, SIDS mechanisms, and neonatal neuroprotection.
Gabriele Simonti, MA
Clinical Research Coordinator
Research Scientist studying cerebellar development, prematurity effects, and motor rehabilitation in preterm infants.
Courtney Lowe Reed, BA
Research Technician I
Research Tech bridging clinical-translational research in NEC brain injury, SIDS pathology, and neonatal outcomes.
Robinson Vidva, MBA, MS
Research Technician I
Research Tech specializing in multi-omics bioinformatics and behavioral analysis for preterm brain injury models.
Javid Ghaemmaghami, MS
Research Trainee
PhD student at UMich studying SIDS pathology through bioinformatics, machine learning, and spatial transcriptomics of cerebellar development.
Helen Chen, MD, PhD
Pediatric Resident
Pediatric Resident researching how maternal stress and perinatal experiences shape neonatal immune development and infection response.
Rodolfo Cardenas Trejo, MD
Fellow
Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellow with residency training at Children's National Hospital.
Sophie Reid, MD
Neurology Resident
PGY-3 Child Neurology Resident researching neurodevelopmental outcomes in critically ill pediatric patients across NICU, CICU, and PICU.
Daniel Bittel, PhD
Research Postdoctoral Fellow
Postdoctoral Fellow researching bio-physiological connections between movement, exercise, and skeletal-muscle plasticity in injury and disease.