Stephanie Merhar

Stephanie Merhar, MD, is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati and attending neonatologist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Her clinical and research portfolio centers on neonatal neurology, advanced neuro-imaging in the NICU, and the developmental consequences of extremely preterm birth and prenatal opioid exposure.

Education & Training:
While specific degree dates are not listed, Dr Merhar’s extensive peer-reviewed output and faculty rank indicate subspecialty fellowship training in Neonatal–Perinatal Medicine following pediatric residency.

Research Interests:

• Neonatal brain development and injury in extremely preterm infants
• Functional and structural connectivity MRI applied to high-risk neonates
• Neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS) – pathophysiology, care pathways, and long-term neurodevelopment
• Advanced MRI techniques (diffusion tensor imaging, ultrashort echo-time pulmonary MRI, on-site NICU scanners)
• Early biomarkers of cerebral palsy and cognitive/ language impairment
• Feeding intolerance and post-hemorrhagic hydrocephalus biomarkers

Publication Trends:
Between 2021-2023 Dr Merhar has led or co-authored >25 high-impact papers. Work clusters into three major domains: (1) prospective multicenter trials of NOWS management (Eat-Sleep-Console, OBOE, ESC-NOW), (2) longitudinal imaging studies correlating neonatal MRI metrics with 2-year neurodevelopmental outcomes, and (3) technical innovations enabling safe, quiet, on-site MRI of unstable neonates. These publications appear in The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, Pediatric Research, NeuroImage: Clinical, and American Journal of Neuroradiology.

Scientific Awards & Honors:
None explicitly listed in the provided text.

Grants & Collaborative Networks:
Dr Merhar is an active investigator within the NICHD Neonatal Research Network, leading neuroimaging components of several multi-site trials. She collaborates closely with the Outcomes of Babies with Opioid Exposure (OBOE) consortium and serves as site PI for Cincinnati Children’s in the ESC-NOW stepped-wedge RCT.

Laboratories & Teams:
She conducts imaging research within the neonatal neuro-imaging program at Cincinnati Children’s, utilizing the on-site 1.5-T small-footprint MRI scanner and the hospital’s 3-T research systems. Her team includes MRI physicists, neonatal neuro-radiologists, developmental neuropsychologists and biostatisticians.