Karen Marie Puopolo

About

Karen Marie Puopolo, MD, PhD, is a Professor of Pediatrics specializing in Neonatology and Newborn Services at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She serves as an Attending Physician in Neonatology at the same institution and is the Medical Director of the NICU and Well Nursery at Pennsylvania Hospital. Dr. Puopolo has over 25 years of experience practicing neonatology in large perinatal centers and has conducted significant research in neonatal infectious diseases, sepsis risk assessment, and neonatal health outcomes. Her research career began with laboratory investigations into the virulence mechanisms of Group B Streptococcus, a key neonatal pathogen. She then focused on neonatal sepsis risk assessment, developing models and practical tools such as a Sepsis Risk Score that have been widely adopted and have changed national perinatal practices. Her work includes studies on infection epidemiology, antibiotic practices, and the long-term health effects of perinatal antibiotic exposure. During the COVID-19 pandemic, her team leveraged existing infrastructure to study maternal COVID seroepidemiology and transplacental antibody transfer. Dr. Puopolo is also actively involved in medical research training, mentoring multiple fellows and junior faculty, and serving as a primary mentor for investigators with NIH grants.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Internal medicine
• Pediatrics
• Psychiatry
• Intensive care medicine

Selected publications

• Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome

  PEDIATRICS · 2020-10-26 · 353 citations

  review

  The opioid crisis has grown to affect pregnant women and infants across the United States, as evidenced by rising rates of opioid use disorder among pregnant women and neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome among infants. Across the country, pregnant women lack access to evidence-based therapies, including medications for opioid use disorder, and infants with opioid exposure frequently receive variable care. In addition, public systems, such as child welfare and early intervention, are increasingly…

  PublisherDOI

• Assessment of Maternal and Neonatal Cord Blood SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies and Placental Transfer Ratios

  JAMA Pediatrics · 2021-01-29 · 298 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Importance: Maternally derived antibodies are a key element of neonatal immunity. Understanding the dynamics of maternal antibody responses to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection during pregnancy and subsequent transplacental antibody transfer can inform neonatal management as well as maternal vaccination strategies. Objective: To assess the association between maternal and neonatal SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody concentrations. Design, Setting, and Participants:…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Routine Neuroimaging of the Preterm Brain

  PEDIATRICS · 2020 · 98 citations

  Neuroimaging of the preterm infant is a common assessment performed in the NICU. Timely and focused studies can be used for diagnostic, therapeutic, and prognostic information. However, significant variability exists among neonatal units as to which modalities are used and when imaging studies are obtained. Appropriate timing and selection of neuroimaging studies can help identify neonates with brain injury who may require therapeutic intervention or who may be at risk for neurodevelopmental imp…

  DOI

• Incidence of and Neurodevelopmental Outcomes After Late-Onset Meningitis Among Children Born Extremely Preterm

  JAMA Network Open · 2022 · 22 citations

  Importance: Late-onset meningitis (LOM) has been associated with adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes in children born extremely preterm. Objective: To report the incidence of LOM during birth hospitalization and neurodevelopmental outcomes at 18 to 26 months' corrected age. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study is a secondary analysis of a multicenter prospective cohort of children born at 22 to 26 weeks' gestation between 2003 and 2017 with follow-up from 2004 to 2021. The study…

  DOI

• Early Intratracheal Budesonide to Reduce Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia in Extremely Preterm Infants

  JAMA · 2025-09-30 · 11 citations

  articleOpen access

  Importance: Extremely preterm infants are at high risk for bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and death. Multiple small randomized clinical trials showed that a combination of budesonide with surfactant compared with surfactant alone reduced BPD or death. Objective: To determine if early intratracheal administration of a combination of budesonide (0.25 mg/kg) mixed with surfactant, compared with surfactant alone, reduces physiologic BPD or death by 36 weeks' postmenstrual age in extremely preterm…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant M01RR002635

  NIH · $27.3M · 2010

• NIH Grant K08HD041534

  NIH · $668k · 2007

Frequent coauthors

• Sagori Mukhopadhyay

  253 shared

• Dustin D. Flannery

  Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

  158 shared

• Jeffrey S. Gerber

  Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

  111 shared

• Brenda B. Poindexter

  74 shared

• Eric C. Eichenwald

  Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

  72 shared

• Miren B. Dhudasia

  Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

  55 shared

• Lawrence C. Madoff

  48 shared

• Gabriel J. Escobar

  Kaiser Permanente

  44 shared

Similar researchers at University of Pennsylvania

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