Researcher | Research Overview
My research focuses on improving the care of newborns seriously ill with medical and surgical conditions as well as those in resource limited settings. For medical patients, I am collaborating with engineers and industry to develop a Central Venous Catheter with decreased propensity for infection or clot formation have examined innovative approaches to the treatment of neonatal conditions including intraventricular urokinase for the prevention of posthemorrhagic hydrocephalus, once daily gentamicin dosing for infants, substitution of cord for infant blood in peri¬natal sepsis evaluations, and inhaled racemic epinephrine for the treatments of TTN. I developed and implemented the first therapeutic hypothermia program in New England. I am a coeditor of the Manual of Neonatal Care, now in its 8thedition. For surgical patients, I am collaborating with a BCH based surgeon to develop a novel, minimally invasive approach to esophageal growth induction for patients with long gap esophageal atresia. I was lead investigator in a study of Donation after Cardiac Death (DCD) in the NICU. I am co¬editor of the Manual of Neonatal Surgical Intensive care, now in its 3rd edition.
Using my experiences from the CHB NICU, I am working on several neonatology projects for the resource limited setting. In collaboration with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Institute for Globally Transformative Technologies, I am developing an inexpensive nonelectric infant warmer that we have tested successfully in Rwanda and are now working to scale nationally. In partnership with the Rwandan Ministry of Health (MOH), I helped to develop and implement a package of newborn medicine materials for Rwanda that was accepted as the national standard for neonatal care. We have written the 2nd edition and conducted national trainings with nurses and doctors from all Rwandan provincial hospitals. We are now working to produce videos of these trainings, taught by Rwandan doctors and nurses through OPENPediatrics, a web-based, open access learning platform supported by Boston Children's Hospital with a goal to provide high-quality video education to pediatricians around the world.
Researcher | Research Background
Anne Hansen received her MD from Harvard Medical School and her MPH from Harvard School of Public Health with a concentration in Clinical Effectiveness. She completed pediatric residency at Children’s Hospital Boston and fellowship in Newborn Medicine at Children’s Hospital Boston, Beth Israel Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Hansen joined the Harvard Medical School faculty in 1996 and is currently an Associate Professor of Pediatrics. Dr. Hansen has acted as Chair of the Harvard¬wide Neonatal Research Review Committee since 2004, and as Neonatology Consultant for the Rwinkwavu, Kirehe and Butaro Hospitals in Rwanda since 2010. She is a member of multiple committees, including the Boston Children’s Hospital Steering Committee (Medical chair), the Harvard Neonatal¬-Perinatal Medicine Training Program Fellowship Committee, the NICU Nutrition Committee, and the Neonatology Representative for the Advanced Fetal Care Center at Children’s Hospital Boston. She is also a Fellow in the American Academy of Pediatrics. Dr. Hansen has been nominated for the Harvard Medical School Prize for Excellence in Teaching twice, the Harvard Medical School Humanism in Medicine Award, and was awarded the Best Tutor of the Year Harvard Medical School Teaching Award.