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Park J. White Professor of Pediatrics
Expertise: newborn medicine, genetic lung disease in infants
Bio:
F. Sessions Cole, M.D., the Park J. White Professor of Pediatrics, is the Director of the Division of Newborn Medicine, and he oversees the 52-bed neonatal intenstive care unit (NICU) at St. Louis Childern's Hospital. His research focuses inherited infant lung diseases, surfactant protein-B deficiency, newborn immunity and infections.
Education:
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M.D. at Yale University
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B.A. at Amherst College
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Additional Background: F. Sessions Cole, III, M.D., the Park J. White Professor of Pediatrics, specializes in newborn medicine and cell and molecular biology research. He is also a professor of cell biology and physiology, vice-chairman of the Department of Pediatrics, the Director of the Division of Newborn Medicine and Medical Director of Pediatrics for the BJC Health System.Cole is a member of numerous professional organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Association of Immunologists and the Society for Pediatric Research. He also serves on the community advisory board of the St. Louis Child Health Initiative and on the Missouri Medicaid Managed Care Physicians' Task Force.
One of Cole's primary research efforts focuses on one of the most serious forms of respiratory distress in infants, which results from a lack of pulmonary surfactant, a substance produced by the lungs that keeps them inflated during exhalation. Without enough surfactant, the lungs lose their elasticity, breathing becomes difficult and the baby may die. In 1993, researchers at the School of Medicine discovered the gene for surfactant protein B (SP-B) a key component of this lethal disease.
Cole's team received a five-year, $3.6 million grant from the NIH in 2001 to look for genetic variations in the SP-B gene in approximately 50,000 children on four continents. The research will help determine how frequently this illness occurs and how each mutation contributes to respiratory distress. The researchers aim to identify one or more genetic variants that may one day be used to screen fetuses or screen prospective parents to find out whether one or both of them carry mutations that might increase the risk of respiratory distress.
Affiliated with Barnes-Jewish Hospital and St. Louis Children's Hospital, members of BJC HealthCare.
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