Meet Fetal Surgeon Laura Galganski, MD
Laura Galganski, MD, MAS, is an assistant professor and a member of the Division of Pediatric General and Thoracic Surgery and Fetal Care Center.
Her experience as a pediatric surgery fellow at Cincinnati Children’s made her want to stay.
“I saw the institution’s commitment to being a national leader in pediatric surgical and fetal care for both clinical and research excellence,” Galganski says. “Now I’ve been given the opportunity and resources to push the field of fetal therapy forward.”
Galganski’s specialties are fetal care and congenital anomalies, including diaphragmatic hernias, lung lesions and esophageal atresia.
She fell in love with the possibility of treating diseases before birth during her surgical residency and a research fellowship at the University of California at Davis.
She enjoys providing care and following babies from prenatal diagnosis to birth and after birth. The field of fetal surgery keeps evolving with research to start treatment before children are even born.
For example, with congenital diaphragmatic hernias, the care team follows babies from the time of diagnosis to birth, often with an opportunity to improve lung development in utero using the fetal tracheal occlusion balloon. After babies are born, the team helps with multiple aspects of the patient’s care, from extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support, surgical repair and respiratory support.
“It’s amazing to see the progress from fetus to neonate to discharge home,” Galganski says.
Many genetic diseases, like lysosomal storage diseases or osteogenesis imperfecta, have pathology that affects children before birth.
“We know we can treat fetuses in the womb before diseases progress, like we have done with myelomeningocele,” Galganski says.
Galganski’s research focuses on fetal cell and gene therapy. Her interest is in the many genetic diseases with pathology that affect children in utero.
In the past year, multiple gene therapies hit the market for adults.
“I look forward to seeing where we can go next,” Galganski says. “Cellular and gene therapies are just around the corner. It’s only a matter of time and rigorous research before we can start helping prevent progression of disease before children are born.”
Galganski completed a fellowship in pediatric surgery at Cincinnati Children’s in 2023. Before her fellowship, she completed a residency at the UC Davis Medical Center. She earned her medical degree from the University of Louisville.
(Published January 2024)
