Brenda Poindexter, MD, MS, is Division Chief of Neonatology at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and serves as Professor at Emory University School of Medicine. Prior to joining Children’s in 2020, Dr. Poindexter served as Director, Clinical and Translational Research, for the Perinatal Institute at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. For more than a decade, she was a principal investigator for the Eunice Kennedy Shriver NICHD Neonatal Research Network.

Dr. Poindexter completed her pediatric residency at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital before attending Indiana University for her fellowship training in neonatal-perinatal medicine. During her fellowship, her research training began in the laboratory of Scott Denne, MD, where she received the Society for Prevention Research (SPR) Fellow’s Clinical Research Award and the Midwest SPR Kenny Trainee Investigator Award for her work related to amino acid metabolism. Dr. Poindexter was mentored by James Lemons, MD, as her focus expanded to multicenter clinical trials. While at Indiana University, Dr. Poindexter also earned a master’s degree in clinical research.

Dr. Poindexter is co-editor of “Nutritional Care of Preterm Infants,” a textbook that is a practical resource for practicing neonatologists, dietitians and nurses in neonatal intensive care units across the globe.

Research

Dr. Poindexter has devoted her career to observational and interventional trials in newborn infants. Her primary research interests relate to the role of early nutrition on growth and developmental outcomes in premature infants.

Learn more about our neonatology research efforts.

Professional affiliations

• AAP committee, Fetus and Newborn
• Neonatal sub board, American Board of Pediatrics