The Richard D. Wood Jr. Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment (CFDT) has a strong research infrastructure composed of an interdisciplinary network of fetal surgeons, fetal cardiologists, neonatologists, radiologists, geneticists and maternal-fetal medicine investigators. This collaborative research infrastructure promotes the solid foundation of the fetal research team at the CFDT.

Our mission is to advance cutting-edge discoveries through innovative clinical and translational research projects in hopes of improving overall pregnancy outcomes. Our team strives to promote novel research and discovery in order to provide advanced clinical care to patients with high-risk pregnancies.

Research topics

• Complicated twin pregnancies
• Congenital heart disease
• Genetics
• Obstructive uropathy
• Prenatal and postpartum psychosocial care
• Prenatal neurologic diagnosis
• Pulmonary hypoplasia (with a focus on congenital diaphragmatic hernia and fetal lung lesions)
• Congenital diaphragmatic hernia
• Lung lesions
• Sacrococcygeal teratoma
• Spina bifida

Basic and translational research

Read more about our work in pre-clinical, translational research that fosters future discoveries and scientific breakthroughs:

• Birth Defects Biorepository: Research to determine the cause of birth defects and how treatment can impact the long-term outcome for those affected is essential to develop prevention and improved treatment strategies. Established by the CFDT and the Department of Surgery in collaboration with families, the Birth Defects Biorepository is a centralized place to collect and store biological samples from mothers, fathers, babies, children, and other family members to be used in future research studies.
• Center for Fetal Research: We believe that unique therapeutic opportunities occur during fetal development. The investigative interests of our Center for Fetal Research are broad and include not only disorders directly affecting the fetus, but also many disorders that are first manifest in the child or adult.
• In utero gene therapy and stem cell transplantation research