Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Banking Placental Tissue for Research

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A healthy placenta is essential to a healthy pregnancy—providing oxygen, nutrients, hormones, and other vital support to the fetus. And yet, scientists know surprisingly little about this important organ.

“The placenta is really the mediator of everything that happens between mother and baby, and it can tell us a lot about the intrauterine environment,” says Claire Baldauf, MD, a neonatologist in the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation Newborn and Infant Critical Care Unit (NICCU) at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. “But it’s been relatively understudied.”Dr. Baldauf and pathologist Linda Szymanski, DO, are working to change that. Together with Bruce Pawel, MD, Chief of Anatomic Pathology, and Rachel Chapman, MD, Medical Director of the NICCU, they are spearheading efforts to develop a placental registry at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles—banking placental tissue for future research.

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