Stella Kourembanas, MD – Chief, Division of Newborn Medicine Clement A. Smith Professor of Pediatrics; Academic Chair, Harvard Program in Neonatology
Dr. Kourembanas is the Clement A. Smith Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, Division Chief of Newborn Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital, and Academic Chair of the Harvard Neonatal Perinatal Medicine Training Program. She has served as Program Director of a NIH-funded T32 program training physician-scientists in neonatal-perinatal medicine since 2003. She is an Attending Neonatologist with particular interest and expertise on lung diseases of the newborn, pulmonary hypertension, and bronchopulmonary dysplasia and is an internationally recognized expert on the biology of hypoxia and the investigation of stem cell therapies for the treatment of developmental and vascular diseases of the lung. She is an elected member to American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Pediatric Academic Societies, and the Society of Perinatal Research. She has given several State-of-the-Art, Keynote lectures, and named lectureships on her research discoveries at National and International Symposia and has served as standing member of NIH study sections on Lung Biology & Pathology (LBPA), Respiratory Integrative Biology & Translational Research (RIBT), NICHD T32 Study Section, the Hood Foundation, and the Parker B. Francis Fellowship Program. She served as chair of RIBT and NICHD T32 study sections and chair of the Hood Foundation Scientific Review Board.
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Dr. Kourembanas’ research laboratory investigates the molecular and cellular basis of lung inflammation, hypoxic signaling, and developmental lung injury. Using various genetically modified rodent models, the Kourembanas lab has been investigating the pathobiology of pulmonary hypertension and the transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms by which hypoxia induces chemokine gene expression leading to lung inflammation and lung vascular remodeling.
As a PI on several previous and current NIH-funded grants including a SCOR program, Dr. Kourembanas has led several collaborative basic and translational studies that have contributed new knowledge to the field of lung biology. Most notably, she was among the first to demonstrate that inflammation plays a critical role in the development of hypoxic pulmonary hypertension, an area that has recently received wide interest and has become a major focus of study by lung biologists investigating both, mechanisms of disease, as well as therapeutic strategies targeting lung inflammation to treat lung diseases.
The Kourembanas Laboratory were amongst the first to detail the cell-free paracrine effect of MSCs on preventing and reversing neonatal hyperoxic lung injury in experimental models, paving the way for future cell-free therapy for BPD and other lung diseases. In addition, Dr. Kourembanas has over 3 decades of mentoring scientists in lung biology, many of whom are successful independent investigators and program leaders in their own right.
Dr. Kourembanas’ research laboratory investigates the molecular and cellular basis of lung inflammation, hypoxic signaling, and developmental lung injury. Using various genetically modified rodent models, the Kourembanas lab has been investigating the pathobiology of pulmonary hypertension and the transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms by which hypoxia induces chemokine gene expression leading to lung inflammation and lung vascular remodeling.
As a PI on several previous and current NIH-funded grants including a SCOR program, Dr. Kourembanas has led several collaborative basic and translational studies that have contributed new knowledge to the field of lung biology. Most notably, she was among the first to demonstrate that inflammation plays a critical role in the development of hypoxic pulmonary hypertension, an area that has recently received wide interest and has become a major focus of study by lung biologists investigating both, mechanisms of disease, as well as therapeutic strategies targeting lung inflammation to treat lung diseases.
The Kourembanas Laboratory were amongst the first to detail the cell-free paracrine effect of MSCs on preventing and reversing neonatal hyperoxic lung injury in experimental models, paving the way for future cell-free therapy for BPD and other lung diseases. In addition, Dr. Kourembanas has over 3 decades of mentoring scientists in lung biology, many of whom are successful independent investigators and program leaders in their own right.
