Laura Galganski, MD, MAS

My clinical specialty is pediatric general and thoracic surgery. I'm particularly interested in congenital disorders, including diaphragmatic hernias, lung lesions, esophageal atresia, gastroschisis and omphalocele. I also specialize in fetal surgery, minimally invasive surgery and the management of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). I take care of patients seen at the Fetal Care Center from their diagnosis through their neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) stay and as they continue to grow as children.

I became interested in pediatric and fetal surgery during my surgical residency and research fellowship at UC Davis with my mentor, Dr. Diana Farmer. I fell in love with the thought of being able to treat diseases before a child is even born. Dr. Farmer is an amazing example of a surgeon-scientist who changed the field through her translational and clinical research on myelomeningocele, and her work and dedication inspire me.

To do our best for patients, we must continue our research efforts to learn more and improve the way we practice. The field of fetal surgery continues to evolve as we develop new procedures and cellular and gene therapies. There are many opportunities for research to start treatment before children are even born. For congenital diaphragmatic hernias, we follow babies from diagnosis to birth, often with an opportunity to improve lung development in utero using the fetal tracheal occlusion balloon. After babies are born, we help with multiple aspects of the patient's care, from ECMO support to surgical repair and respiratory support. Seeing the progress from fetus to neonate to discharge home is fantastic.

I've been involved in fetal surgery since my residency. I won the George Henry Award at the International Fetal Medicine and Surgery Society 37th Annual Meeting for my work with Dr. Diana Farmer on cell therapy for fetal myelomeningocele repair. Since joining Cincinnati Children’s, I have been working on fetal cell and gene therapies, as many genetic diseases, like lysosomal storage diseases or osteogenesis imperfecta, have pathology that affects children before they are born. We hope we can treat a fetus in the womb before its disease progresses, much like we have done with myelomeningocele. Recently, we have seen multiple gene therapies hit the market for adults. It's only a matter of time and rigorous research before we can start preventing disease progression in unborn children.

When I'm not working, I love the Cincinnati Symphony, a good cup of coffee and the sight of downtown Cincinnati when it’s lit up at night.