Tierney Morrison

Tierney Morrison, MD is a Physician in Medicine within the Division of Newborn Medicine at Boston Children's Hospital and holds an academic appointment as Instructor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. She provides specialized care in neonatology with a focus on newborns requiring intensive care, particularly those affected by maternal substance use disorders.

Dr. Morrison completed her medical education at The George Washington University School of Medicine, followed by pediatric residency at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, and neonatology fellowship at the Harvard Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship Program where she served as Chief Fellow. Her clinical training has prepared her for specialized work in neonatal intensive care with particular expertise in neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome.

Her research focuses on critical intersections between parental mental health and infant outcomes, with particular attention to families affected by opioid use disorder. Through her work, she investigates how optimizing family experience in the NICU can improve both parental mental health and infant developmental outcomes. Her scholarship addresses key challenges in neonatal care including infant sleep safety practices, cortisol response in opioid-exposed infants, and adapting care during public health emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Morrison leads initiatives to improve communication and education for parents of children in the NICU, developing data-driven resources tailored to family-specific needs. Her clinical research examines decision-making processes among mothers with opioid use disorder regarding infant care practices, contributing valuable insights to this vulnerable population.

Her recent publications demonstrate a consistent focus on neonatal care for infants affected by maternal substance use, with particular attention to the opioid epidemic's impact on newborn care. Her work bridges clinical practice with research to improve outcomes for both infants and their families, addressing critical gaps in understanding how parental mental health affects infant well-being in the neonatal period.