The Center for Maternal Fetal Medicine at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center and Children's Hospital provides a wide spectrum of highly specialized diagnostic and therapeutic procedures to monitor pregnancy from conception through delivery. As part of their efforts to stay on the cutting edge of practice, our physicians participate in research trials.

Sacred Heart Perinatologists Dr. Reinaldo Acosta and Dr. Jorge Tolosa have been chosen as investigators in perinatal research by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Maternal Fetal Medicine Units (MFMU) Network.

The NICHD is one of the Institutes within the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In 1986, the NICHD created the MFMU Network to focus on clinical questions in maternal fetal medicine, particularly with respect to the continuing problems of preterm birth, low birth weight, and medical problems of pregnancy. Operating under cooperative agreements, the current Network is comprised of fourteen university-based clinical centers and a data coordinating center. Since its creation, the MFMU Network has been a driving influence for introducing new scientific discoveries into the field of perinatology. More than 30 randomized clinical trials, cohort studies and registries have been completed or are in progress. The studies to date have not only identified new therapies and evaluated technologies used in maternal-fetal medicine, but also have helped to abolish practices that are not useful.

The MFMU Network continues to rise to the challenge of designing programs and treatments to improve maternal, fetal and neonatal health using evidence-based medical practices. At Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center and Children's Hospital, Dr. Acosta and Dr. Tolosa, in collaboration with Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU), provide enthusiastic leadership, expertise and experience to our research team as part of this multi-center national network.

Click here to visit the Center for Maternal Fetal medicine web page