Alan W. Flake

About

Alan W. Flake is a Professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgery at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, affiliated with the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. His educational background includes a B.S. from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in 1977 and an M.D. from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in 1981. His professional work involves research and clinical practice related to fetal and maternal health, with a focus on prenatal therapies, maternal-fetal surgery, and congenital malformations. His contributions include developing animal models for prenatal gene therapy, exploring gene transfer techniques for fetal lung and skin conditions, and advancing surgical interventions for congenital anomalies such as diaphragmatic hernia and sacrococcygeal teratomas.

Research topics

• Engineering
• Medicine
• Engineering ethics
• Gynecology
• Pediatrics
• Psychology
• Internal medicine
• Obstetrics
• Surgery
• Biology

Selected publications

• Initial Laparotomy Versus Peritoneal Drainage in Extremely Low Birthweight Infants With Surgical Necrotizing Enterocolitis or Isolated Intestinal Perforation

  Annals of Surgery · 2021 · 126 citations

  OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine which initial surgical treatment results in the lowest rate of death or neurodevelopmental impairment (NDI) in premature infants with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) or isolated intestinal perforation (IP). SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA: The impact of initial laparotomy versus peritoneal drainage for NEC or IP on the rate of death or NDI in extremely low birth weight infants is unknown. METHODS: We conducted the largest feasible randomized trial in 20…

  DOI

• Artificial placenta and womb technology: Past, current, and future challenges towards clinical translation

  Prenatal Diagnosis · 2020 · 101 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Extreme prematurity remains a major cause of neonatal mortality and severe long-term morbidity. Current neonatal care is associated with significant morbidity due to iatrogenic injury and developmental immaturity of extreme premature infants. A more physiologic approach, replacing placental function and providing a womb-like environment, is the foundational principle of artificial placenta (AP) and womb (AW) technology. The concept has been studied during the past 60 years with limited success.…

  DOI

• Ethics Considerations Regarding Artificial Womb Technology for the Fetonate

  The American Journal of Bioethics · 2022 · 86 citations

  Since the early 1980's, with the clinical advent of in vitro fertilization resulting in so-called "test tube babies," a wide array of ethical considerations and concerns regarding artificial womb technology (AWT) have been described. Recent breakthroughs in the development of extracorporeal neonatal life support by means of AWT have reinitiated ethical interest about this topic with a sense of urgency. Most of the recent ethical literature on the topic, however, pertains not to the more imminent…

  DOI

• The artificial placenta and EXTEND technologies: one of these things is not like the other

  Journal of Perinatology · 2023-07-01 · 27 citations

  letter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• A fetal wound healing program after intrauterine bile duct injury may contribute to biliary atresia

  Journal of Hepatology · 2023-08-21 · 22 citations

  articleOpen access

  •Fetal and neonatal extrahepatic bile ducts have high levels of hyaluronic acid, located directly around the lumen.•Damage to the fetal extrahepatic bile duct is followed by increased hyaluronic acid deposition.•Biliary atresia remnants show increased hyaluronic acid deposition around epithelial structures compared to controls.•Hyaluronic acid in neonatal extrahepatic bile ducts is degraded after injury.•Hyaluronic acid polymers of different sizes have distinct biological effects on cholangiocyt…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R01HL064715

  NIH · $2.7M · 2011

• NIH Grant R01HL063434

  NIH · $1.4M · 2003

• NIH Grant T32HD046402

  NIH · $999k · 2010

Frequent coauthors

• N. Scott Adzick

  University of Pennsylvania

  432 shared

• Holly L. Hedrick

  Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

  276 shared

• William H. Peranteau

  Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

  219 shared

• Mark P. Johnson

  Rolls-Royce (United Kingdom)

  219 shared

• Enrico Danzer

  Stanford University

  154 shared

• Timothy M. Crombleholme

  Connecticut Children's Medical Center

  149 shared

• R. Douglas Wilson

  University of Calgary

  120 shared

• Lori J. Howell

  Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

  111 shared

Education

• B.S.

  University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

  1977

• M.D.

  University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock

  1981

Similar researchers at University of Pennsylvania

• John Q. Trojanowskih-296
• Craig B. Thompsonh-277
• Daniel J Raderh-236