Senior neonatologist A/Prof Atul Malhotra awarded prestigious Fulbright Scholarship
A world-leading expert in newborn care, A/Prof Atul Malhotra has been recognised with one of the most coveted academic honours in the world.
The 4-month scholarship will support neonatologist Associate Professor Malhotra in the United States in implementing a clinical trial to improve outcomes for extremely preterm babies through umbilical cord blood cell therapies.
‘Atul has been a long-term clinician-scientist within the Monash Health Newborn team and has spent many productive years building world-leading expertise in neonatal stem cell clinical trials in our service and within the Ritchie Centre at Hudson Institute of Medical Research and the Department of Paediatrics at Monash University,’ said Monash Health Newborn Service Medical Director Dr Lindsay Zhou.
‘In addition to his academic success, Atul has been notably focused on involving others in his work, including supervising PhD and Honours students, and co-leading the multidisciplinary Newborn Cell Therapies Group.’
Associate Professor Malhotra will travel to the US early next year to Harvard Medical School and the University of Texas McGovern Medical School, collaborating with colleagues there to accelerate translation of neonatal stem cell research, including the multi-national CORD-CELL RCT trial, which commenced here at Monash Health as the first recruitment site.
The CORD-CELL RCT trial aims to evaluate the effectiveness of using extremely preterm infants’ own umbilical cord blood cells to improve their survival rates and developmental outcomes. The trial will be conducted at multiple clinical locations across Australia, Singapore, Canada and the United States.
An earlier study from Associate Professor Malhotra’s team showed that re-infusion of a baby’s own cord blood-derived cells in extremely preterm infants in the second week of life was feasible and safe.
The next step is to test this innovation in the CORD-CELL trial for the efficacy of an intervention to prevent neurodisability in these babies.
Associate Professor Malhotra says the Fulbright Scholarship is a catalyst for taking Monash Health-led clinical trials to the global stage.
‘By expanding our research footprint into the US and beyond, we are accelerating the delivery of potentially life-changing neonatal cell therapies to families worldwide,’ he said.
