Muglia to direct new Center for Prevention of Preterm Birth
Louis J. Muglia, MD, PhD, has been recruited to direct our new Center for Prevention of Preterm Birth at Cincinnati Children’s, effective Jan. 1, 2012.
Muglia joins Jeffrey Whitsett, MD, and James Greenberg, MD, as a co-director of the Perinatal Institute. He also will serve as professor of pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.
Muglia will lead an interdisciplinary team of clinicians and scientists seeking to identify the biological, socioeconomic, and cultural determinants of prematurity. Because preterm birth remains one of the most common causes of infant mortality and childhood disability, he will work closely with community, state, national, and international organizations to develop strategies to predict, prevent, and treat preterm birth.
Muglia comes from Vanderbilt where he served as the Edward Claiborne Stahlman professor, professor of molecular physiology and biophysics, and vice chair for research affairs in pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Before joining Vanderbilt in 2008, Muglia was an alumni-endowed professor of pediatrics; professor of pediatrics; molecular biology and pharmacology, and obstetrics and gynecology at Washington University School of Medicine; and director of the Division of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes at Washington University School of Medicine.
Muglia has pioneered the study of endocrine stress responses and the molecular pathways leading to birth using novel genetically-altered mouse models. His studies have elucidated the importance of corticotropin-releasing hormone, glucocorticoids, and prostaglandins in neuroendocrine modulation, behavior, and perinatal adaptation relevant to the initiation of labor and the timing of birth. The mechanisms controlling the timing of birth in human populations are studied using genetics and comparative genomics. The nature of the biological clock that meters the duration of human gestation remains a central question in reproductive biology. Muglia seeks to understand the molecular machinery comprising this biological clock in order to prevent or treat human preterm labor and delivery.
Muglia’s achievements include more than 150 publications and many awards, including a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Development Award in the Biomedical Sciences, the Society of Pediatric Research Young Investigator Award, and election to the American Society for Clinical Investigation. In 2010, Dr. Muglia was elected a Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is an active member of the Society for Pediatric Research, Society for Neuroscience, and the Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society. Muglia chairs the Board of Scientific Counselors for the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health.
Muglia earned doctorates in medicine (1988) and philosophy (1986) from the University of Chicago. He received a bachelor’s degree in biophysics from the University of Michigan in 1981.
