The Kristine Sandberg Knisely Memorial Fund was established in 1980 to honor the memory of Kristine Sandberg Knisely, MD, and expand perinatal physiology research and its application to public health efforts.

With the generous support from the Knisely family and the Division of Neonatology at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the focus has expanded to include the endowment of a professorship and an annual lectureship and award.

2023 Speaker

Mark R. Mercurio, MD, MA

Professor of Pediatrics

Director, Program for Biomedical Ethics

Yale University School of Medicine

Director, Yale Pediatric Ethics Program

Dr. Parker will be speaking on “Sound Ethical Decision-Making in the NICU”

Date: Tuesday, May 23, 2023

Location: The HUB for Clinical Collaboration Auditorium – 1st Fl.

Time: 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

About Dr. Knisely

Kristine Sandberg Knisely, MD, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1949 and completed her residency at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Knisely was an associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics and a clinical associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania. She was also a staff neonatologist in the Division of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Head of Maternal and Child Health in Philadelphia's Department og Public Health.

Additionally, Dr. Knisely was a member of many organizations devoted to child and maternal health, including the Philadelphia Pediatric Society, Philadelphia Neonatal Society and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Following Dr. Knisely's death in 1979, her husband, Samuel E. Knisely, established the Kristine Sandberg Knisely Memorial Fund as a way to carry on her profound legacy.

History of the Kristine Sandberg Knisely Lectureship Award

In 1996, the first Kristine Sandberg Knisely Lectureship Award was held and it has become an honored event drawing prominent speakers from around the world. It is held annually at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Barbara K. Schmidt, MD, FRCP(c), MSC, is currently a professor emeritus of pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a former attending physician in the Division of Neonatology and director of Clinical Research. In 2006, Dr. Schmidt was chosen as the Kristine Sandberg Knisely Lecturer and Award Recipient. In 2008, she was named the Kristine Sandberg Knisely Chair in Neonatology and held that role until her retirement in 2017.

Scott Lorch, MD, MSCE, currently holds the Kristine Sandberg Knisely Chair in Neonatology. He is a professor of pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Director for the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics. He also serves as Associate Chief of the Division of Neonatology. 

Kristine Sandberg Knisely Lectureship Award recipients

2022

Meg Parker, MD, MPH

Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Boston University School of Medicine
Director, Newborn Research
Boston Medical Center
"Addressing Social Care in the NICU"

2019

David K. Stevenson, MD

Harold K. Faber Professor of Pediatrics
Senior Associate Dean for Maternal & Child Health
Stanford University School of Medicine
Department of Pediatrics | Division of Neonatal & Developmental Medicine
"Solving the Puzzle of Preterm Birth"

2018

Alan H. Jobe, MD, PhD
Professor of Pediatrics
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital
Division of Neonatology
“Pitfalls of Applying Research Evidence Obtained in Highly Developed Settings Elsewhere in the World”

2017

John Zupancic, MD, ScD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Harvard Medical School
Boston Children’s Hospital
Division of Newborn Medicine Research
“Burdens Beyond Biology for Sick Newborn Infants and Their Families"

2016

Phyllis A. Dennery, MD
Chair, Department of Pediatrics
Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Physician-in-chief, Hasbro Children’s Hospital, Rhode Island
“Too Often, Too Soon and Too Small: A Narrative of Perinatal Health Disparities”

2015

Alice Goffman, PhD
Assistant Professor of Sociology
University of Wisconsin-Madison
“On the Run – Fugitive Life in an American City”

2014

Jennifer F. Culhane, PhD, MPH
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
“The Philadelphia Preterm Prevention Project: Rationale, Methodology and Results”

2013

Lex W. Doyle, MD, BS, MSc, FRACP
Professor of Neonatal Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, and Associate Director of Research, The Royal Women's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia
“Long-Term Outcomes for Extremely Preterm or Low Birthweight Infants — Nature or Nurture?”

2012

Neil Finer, MD
Program Director, Division of Neonatology, UCSD Medical Center, and Professor of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA
"Video and Data Recording in the Delivery Room: Opportunities for Improvement”

2011

Betty R. Vohr, MD
Professor of Pediatrics, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and Director, Neonatal Follow-up Clinic, Women and Infants' Hospital of Rhode Island, Providence, RI
"Post Discharge Health Care Needs of Preterm Infants." 

2010

Michael Msall, MD
Professor of Pediatrics, Pritzker School of Medicine, and Chief of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, University of Chicago Comer Children's and LaRabida Children's Hospitals, Chicago, IL
"Neuroprotection After Extreme Prematurity: Optimizing Outcomes in an Era of Scarcity."

2009

Michael S. Kramer, MD
Professor of Pediatrics and of Epidemiology and Biostatistics Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health, The Montreal Children’s Hospital, Montreal, Quebec
“The Short- and Long-Term Child Health Effects of Prolonged and Exclusive Breastfeeding: Results of a Cluster-Randomized Trial in Belarus”

2008 

Marie C. McCormick, MD, ScD
Summer and Esther Feldberg Professor of Maternal and Child Health Department of Society, Human Development and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Cambridge, MA
“Interventions to Improve the Outcomes of Premature Infants: The Evidence Base”

2007

Seetha Shankaran, MD
Professor of Pediatrics and Director, Division of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, Wayne State University/Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Detroit, MI
“Neuroprotection of Term Infants with Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy” 

2006

Barbara K. Schmidt, MD, FRCP(c), MSC
Professor of Pediatrics and Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario
“Caffeine for Apnea of Prematurity — A Common Therapy in Search of Evidence” 

2005

Maureen Hack, MD
Professor of Pediatrics, Case Western Reserve University
Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital, Cleveland, OH
"Neurodevelopmental Outcomes of Preterm Children"

2004

Diana Bianchi, MD
Chief, Division of Genetics, Tufts-New England Medical Center and Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA
“Fetal Cell-Free Nucleic Acids in Maternal Body Fluids: New Clinical Applications”

2002

James W. Collins, MD, MPH
Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Northwestern University School of Medicine, Chicago, IL
“New Insights into the Social Determinants of The Racial Disparity in Infant Birthweight: The Role of Transgenerational Factors”

2001

David A. Grimes, MD
Clinical Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC
“Evidence-Based Medicine in Maternal-Child Health” 

1999

Richard J. Martin, MD
Professor of Pediatrics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and Director, Division of Neonatology, Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, Cleveland, OH
“Strategies for Prevention of Neonatal Lung Injury”

1997

Mary Ellen Avery, MD
Physician-in-chief
Children's Hospital of Boston
Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA

1996

Maria Delivoria-Papadopoulos, MD
Professor of Pediatrics, Physiology, OB/GYN at Drexel University College of Medicine, and The Ralph Brenner Endowed Chair in Pediatrics, St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, Philadelphia, PA
“Cerebral Injury in Perinatal Asphyxia and Strategies for Prevention”